Little GEM

Determined to get on the property ladder, Elly MacDonald found an apartment in need of some serious TLC and gave it a new lease of life

- RUTH CORBETT

When interior designer Elly MacDonald was moving back to the UK, after five years of living and working in Singapore, she was determined to find a place she could do up and call ‘home’. ‘I’d been living in a rental apartment abroad and I wanted to get on the property ladder and do my first extensive renovation,’ explains Elly. ‘When I first saw this property – a two-bedroom apartment in a converted Victorian villa – I loved its high ceilings and large sash windows. I could also see there was scope to reinstate even more period features and wanted to create a modern take on the Victorian aesthetic.’