'We brought the ROOMS TO LIFE’

Colour-confident couple Sophie and Robin turned a run-down townhouse into a maximalist’s dream using a bold, dramatic palette

- LAURA EWART/LAURIE DAVIDSON

We certainly weren’t looking for a project when we found this house,’ says Sophie. ‘We’d outgrown our little two-bed and wanted somewhere near transport links that had plenty of space, especially as I work from home as a content creator. Ideally, we wanted a four-bedroom house in the Colchester area, but we couldn’t find one that had more than two double bedrooms.

When this house came on the market it was very affordable because it needed renovating completely, and although it had three double bedrooms and a big single bedroom (rather than the four doubles we originally wanted), we were drawn to its potential and fantastic room sizes.

Surprise discovery 

We knew we’d want to decorate, whatever house we bought – but it wasn’t until we got the keys on moving day that we realised how big a project the house was. And I had no idea how stressful renovating a house can be! We had no intention of starting the project immediately, but our new home forced our hand – on the day we were handed the keys we discovered rats nesting in the kitchen roof! Luckily we had managed to keep our little two-bed house, so we lived there while we renovated. It was difficult as we hadn’t planned on paying two mortgages at the same time.

Starting point