Salvaged & stylish

Interior designer Paula Barnes employed her flair for rescuing and repurposing antique and vintage finds in her latest project: a renovated Victorian mews and garden store

- SARA EMSLIE

My partner Paul had never so much as thought about knocking through his kitchen/ dining room in his previous home, so he was a complete novice to house renovations, laughs Paula Barnes as she describes the thrills and spills involved in her most recent project: converting a Victorian mews property that had formerly been the garden store, vinery and stables, into a habitable home. 'It was our first house together post both of our divorces, so it was a new life and new start, which I loved.'

Originally built to serve the large townhouse on the street behind, the mews building had long since fallen into disrepair, and was, according to Paula, literally a garage full of stuff'. On the upside, the lack of use meant that most of the period features remained, the most impressive of which was the dilapidated vinery on the upper level - a glorified roof-top greenhouse, which was difficult to use. It was boiling in the summer, cold in the winter and had become a dumping ground,' Paula explains.