Charming and saturated in colour, when stepping into homeowner Rosalind Miller’s Victorian end terrace in Kentish Town you’re guaranteed to get a serious dose of dopamine.

Ros, a born-and-bred Londoner, academic and self-proclaimed ‘crazy person who actually enjoys renovating’ lives in the property with her husband and two young children. “We bought the house with the intention of renovating and changing a few things around. We felt that the original layout didn’t make the best use of the space. It originally had three bedrooms, a small kitchen, a living room where we also had our dining table, and one huge family bathroom,” she tells KBB editor Georgina Townshend as she sips her steaming-hot tea.

The Victorian terrace renovation

A two-storey extension and total internal reconfiguration later, the Victorian terrace boasts a new kitchen-diner and five bedrooms. Speaking of the new kitchen-diner, the layout was born after Ros – known as @rainbowrosalind on Instagram – discarded the idea of wall-to-wall bi-folding doors and went for a pivot window instead.

“I envisaged a lovely big window seat underneath to sit and bask in the sun with a cup of tea. Furthermore, I loved the idea of being able to open the window up, swing your legs over, and be in the garden. This huge window is the focal point of our dining area, and the starting point for designing the rest of the space.”

However, when it came to choosing a kitchen company, the decision wasn’t so simple. “I was really drawn to the idea of having a bespoke kitchen – however, these are expensive. This is when my persistence and PhD level research skills came in handy. I spent days, nights, weeks scouring the internet and enquired at many different places for a quote – all of which were too pricey.

“One night I was putting my 100th different search term into Ebay, and scrolling endlessly, and I came across a bespoke wooden sink unit that looked to be very well made, and also very good value. I ended up contacting the maker and it turned out he made entire kitchens in his workshop in Sheffield – and could make anything you wanted. He was a member of ‘The Guild of Master Craftsmen’ and whilst I didn’t know what that was at the time, it sounded legit and impressive. So, I sent over some (terrible) initial drawings of a layout, and we went from there.”

Designing the kitchen

The layout features a single run of cabinetry with a good-sized island. “We are not a particularly tidy family and for this reason, storage is Queen. When designing the kitchen, a friend (who also happens to be a designer) gave me a good piece of advice: write down everything that you own that you want to keep in your kitchen and then design the space for your stuff.

“This way I knew where to have cupboards and where to have drawers – and even what size to make them. I wanted to make sure we had one large high unit to house a ‘breakfast station’ and grouped this next to the fridge, with the rest of the kitchen being open.”

The colour palette

For the look, Ros went for simple, Shaker-style cupboards, “because, despite all my craziness, I do actually have quite a traditional style,” she laughs. “I then like to use colour to give things a fresh twist and stamp my personality on it.”

But not just any colour; oh no no. “When we started this renovation, I knew one thing for certain: the kitchen was going to be mint green. But, as it turned out, the kitchen is now pink – and that summarises my approach to choosing colours. I choose them as I go, as I feel something, as the space evolves. The thing is that the doors and windows were ordered and locked down before the kitchen (because they had a longer lead time) and I couldn’t resist choosing mint for them. RAL6019 – my favourite colour.

“I didn’t choose the kitchen cabinet colour until the day before these were painted – one of the final jobs of the whole renovation. One day, I was looking through my YesColours fan deck trying to choose a shade for the middle room, and one of the colours, Graceful Neutral, spoke to me. As soon as I saw it, it just felt right for the kitchen. I used Graceful Neutral in the middle room too, which I think ties the spaces together. It’s very pale and delicate but although it has ‘neutral’ in the title it is sufficiently pink for me.”

The finishing touch

The final piece of the kitchen design is what Ros likes to call the ‘wavy cupboards’. “As the kitchen is the heart of the home, I wanted to have somewhere for my kids to store their games, and toys, and pens and paints, etc. Things that I knew were going to be used at the kitchen table.

“And that was the thinking behind this bespoke piece of joinery. It is slightly shallower than the seating bench, so it doesn’t obstruct the view, but is full to the brim and keeps mess out of sight.”

Renovating the upstairs

Ros’s love of colour, especially pastels – which she describes as her love language – is obvious throughout the rest of the Victorian terrace, too. Even her upstairs laundry area features plenty of blues, pinks and greens. Her girls’ rooms and bathroom are equally playful.

However, it’s a slightly different story for her own bedroom. “This was my attempt at decorating a ‘grown up’ room. I loved the idea of a calming, nature-inspired green and put this all over the walls and woodwork.”

While Ros’s style of renovating may have “annoyed her builders endlessly”, her Victorian terrace completely suits her and her style. “It’s a very functional space, and all that attention to detail in terms of storage really paid off. I couldn’t be happier with it, although some days I do think about painting the island blue…”

Photography: Anna Stathaki | Styling: Becca Callum-Green

This house tour was featured in the July 2024 issue of Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms magazine.

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