Before and after: How we modernised a Grade II-listed family home

When a blended family of five found themselves living somewhat unhappily in an open-plan barn conversion during lockdown, it became apparent that space alone doesn't necessarily create the perfect sanctuary. With three growing boys and competing demands for family life – quiet and privacy, workspaces and entertaining areas – they began the search for a home that could offer more than just square footage.
That led them to a large historic house on the banks of the Thames in Berkshire, a property said to have been seized by Elizabeth I from the Bishop of Winchester and gifted to the courtier and politician Henry Neville, and which then belonged to the same family for centuries. 'It was a beautiful house from the outside,' recalls designer Nicky Mudie, founder of interiors studio Violet & George, who was brought in by the owners on the recommendation of a friend. 'The core of the house is medieval, with Arts and Crafts and Victorian additions, but inside it was completely unmodernised. It hadn't been touched in 40 or 50 years.'
The Grade II-listed, six-bedroom house, situated on a floodplain, presented both opportunity and limitations. 'While there was a need to strip things back for refurbishment, we couldn't, or didn't, want to just rip things out,' says Mudie, who collaborated with architectural practice CSK Architects and specialist contractors Tenon on the project. 'Everything had to be done with care and respect for the history and structure of the building. We worked closely with English Heritage on aspects of the renovation.'
The brief
The owners wanted to preserve the soul of the building, but make it modern and usable. Along with necessary upgrades such as insulation, new wiring, repairs to the windows and flood protection, Mudie also took on the restoration of a set of Victorian tapestries in the entrance hall – a somewhat dominant feature the clients had initially loathed. 'The tapestries were quite moth-eaten, but they are listed, so they had to stay,' says Mudie.
'We cleaned them, reframed them more simply, and rebalanced the entire scheme of the room so that they could sing.' Additionally, some fireplaces were replaced with versions by Chesney's and Jamb, which were acceptable to the conservation officers, and the roof was repaired with handmade tiles. The flooring, too, required careful consideration – the engineered oak herringbone chosen for the entrance hall was tanked for underfloor heating and to protect against possible flooding.
The layout
The architects designed a large, contemporary, timber-framed extension to house a new, larger and lighter kitchen on the ground floor, and a large main bedroom directly above it. Elsewhere in the house, the family's brief defied the trend for knocking down walls. 'They definitely didn't want open plan,' says Mudie. 'They'd had that in their previous home, and it was a bit of a disaster with everyone on top of each other.' So, while the new extension introduced the large kitchen, dining and living room, the rest of the house was kept as separate rooms tailored to each family member's needs – although the functions of several rooms were changed to fit the way they wanted to live.
The previous kitchen for example, a relatively dark room with low ceilings, has become a cosy cinema room; the former dining room became a study; and the former sitting room is now a serene drawing room, reading room and workspace. Upstairs, a new main bedroom suite was added on the first floor, above the kitchen extension.
The look
Another of Mudie's design challenges was reconciling the couple's differing aesthetic tastes. 'She would have gone far more traditional — antiques, vintage, colourful and layered,' says Mudie, 'while he loves very contemporary design: clean lines, sleek finishes, little colour, very John Pawson.' The compromise? A quiet, natural palette, a mix of hand-crafted pieces, and a luxurious feel throughout that nods to the home's Arts and Crafts heritage.
Built-in storage, designed by Mudie and made by Tenon Construction, was also key to enable an uncluttered, streamlined look: 'The husband is precise and neat and was adamant everything should have its place,' she says. 'We even designed a designated place for storing parcel boxes.'
The entrance hall
Mudie's first hurdle here, after replacing the front door, was to convince the clients to trust her vision for the listed Victorian tapestries. After being restored, they were recontextualised in contemporary frames, which chime with the contemporary furniture in the room. Once the herringbone floor was down, Mudie played with textures, colours and just a few showstopping pieces.
'I think the juxtaposition of the mirror over the fireplace and that amazing table by Barber Osgerby for B&B Italia – that mix of contemporary furniture, the strength of the paint colours, the warmth of the floor – meant all of a sudden, the tapestries looked cool,' she says. 'I could picture how it would look straight away, but we did have to get the clients on board with it.' The upholstered bench is from Soho Home, the pendant plaster light is by Paolo Moschino and the black armchairs are by B&B Italia.
The kitchen/dining room
This was the major structural change of the two-year renovation: a full-width rear extension designed to create what Mudie calls 'a modern beast'. Mudie, along with the architects and the kitchen company Roundhouse, created a kitchen-dining space that feels open, airy and sociable. To work with the Benchmark dining table and chairs, which the clients already owned, Mudie added a large chandelier by Giopato & Coombes.
The light, bright kitchen offers a lot of practical storage, while decoratively, the natural materials create a homely, cosy and liveable feel. In the sitting area of the room, microcement walls by Clayworks are the perfect backdrop to stoneware wall lights by Mariza Galani and a custom-made sofa by Violet & George, upholstered in a Marvic fabric, and the big fluffy armchairs from SCP contrast perfectly with the smooth surfaces of the walls and floors.
The cinema room
The former kitchen, a low-ceilinged room at the back of the house, has been transformed into a dark and quiet cocoon with a large modular sofa, moody walls, and a carpeted floor. It has become a favourite spot for family film nights.
The study
What was the dining room is now a serene study for the husband, who has a tech business that handles auction-house platforms. 'He'd bought a lot of the artworks that you see in the house, and particularly in his study,' says Mudie. He wanted a room geared towards work, with a decorative scheme that would complement the desk, which he already owned. Mudie set about adding plenty of built-in storage, along with sumptuous soft furnishings including a B&B Italia sofa and linen curtains in a fabric by Elitis. A pendant light from Pinch completes the look.
The drawing room
This room was designed specifically for the wife, who used to work in HR and gave up her job during the project to give the house her full attention. Her brief was for a soft, comfortable place to escape to with friends for a quiet glass of wine, but where she could also work, so Mudie added a foldaway desk from Another Country. The palette is light: sofas by DePadova and Paul Smith and a Tacchini marble coffee table are combined with a patterned wool and jute rug by Coral & Hive.
Main bedroom and dressing room
Upstairs, in the extension, the new main bedroom was kept modern, pared-back and light-filled, an effect that is enhanced by its vaulted ceilings, clad in tongue-and-groove panelling. To contrast with the raw look of the microcement walls by ClayWorks, Mudie added warmth with light oak floorboards and softness with simple soft furnishings.
The bed and headboard were made in the Violet & George workshop and upholstered in a fabric by Yarn Creative, while the Benchmark bench, which already belonged to the clients, was reupholstered in a Kirkby Design fabric. The ash and stainless-steel floor-lamp is by Joe Armitage.
The bedroom leads into an en-suite bathroom with a free-standing bath and walk-in shower, and on the other side of the bathroom, Mudie turned a former bedroom into a dressing room with built-in cabinetry and a leather-topped dressing table by Porro. The curtains here, as throughout the house, were made at the Violet & George workshop.

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