A thing of beauty

It may be in the middle of a bustling city but Tina Orlando and Ian Waring's Victorian townhouse has the look of a lovely, laid-back rural idyll

- SEÁN O'CONNELL/JULIET BENNING

HOME TRUTHS

THE PROPERTY Victorian townhouse

ROOMS Sitting room, kitchen-diner, TV room, playroom, utility room, cloakroom, five bedrooms (three en suite), dressing room, three bathrooms

LOCATION West London

Moving from a loft apartment in New York to a Victorian house in London meant a big change in lifestyle for Tina Orlando and Ian Waring, and their two young children. 'We'd spent eight years stateside - we must have loved it as we moved there only intending to stay for two years,' says Tina.

When looking for a new home in the UK, the couple came across a narrow five-storey Victorian house in Chelsea but they had to call on all their imagination to see how it could work for them. They asked designer Tom Rutt of TR Studio to help. The house had been renovated 10 years previously, but the space and flow needed to be reorganised to suit our needs,' says Tina.