City Homes
Inside an English Victorian Home Layered With Antiques
Published on February 17, 2026
Auctions are pressure-cooker affairs defined by urgency and luck: ruminate on your bid, and you lose out. Designer Elizabeth Macfarlane and her husband, James Kay, a film and television lawyer, weren’t about to let that happen when their dream house in London, U.K., popped up for sale by auction. “James and I wanted a big detached house, and I’ve always loved period properties,” says Elizabeth. “I’m attracted to the English style and its use of antiques. I like old stuff — vintage lighting, textiles, paintings — because its history and imperfections give it soul.”
They weren’t the only ones drawn to the circa-1895, three-storey, 3,500-square-foot Victorian in northwest London’s Mapesbury Conservation Area. The leafy pocket boasts expansive gardens and charming red brick Victorian and early Edwardian villas. The house even had breathing room from the neighbours. “It’s rare in London where terraced houses, joined on each side, are the norm,” says Elizabeth. “On the auctioneer’s viewing day, there were hundreds of people and a two-hour window for viewings.” Stressful sale notwithstanding, the couple was pleased with their “prized possession.
“It was as bad as you can imagine,” continues the designer, describing the drab kitchen, grey office carpet and 14 sinks. “The house was chopped up into bedsits. All of the period features had been stripped from the interior and the façade.”
Elizabeth Macfarlane (seated), with her design firm co-founder Eva van der Heul.
Elizabeth is originally from Toronto and moved overseas in 2002. A passion for design led her to the KLC School of Design in London, then she set out on her own in 2018. In 2022, Elizabeth co-founded Macfarlane Van der Heul alongside designer Eva van der Heul, a design school colleague. Today, they dispense their brand of “New English Design,” a relaxed, elegant look with a bright and clean-lined sensibility.
Mike Milton of Milton Architects and contractor Blockhouse Build were hired for the two-year-long project; they stripped the walls to the brick and reconfigured the layout while deVOL crafted the kitchen. “The most important aspect, for me, was the restoration,” says Elizabeth. “It was bringing the house back to its former glory. I wanted it to feel like the elegant Victorian villa it would have been.”
The living room is a more formal entertaining space. Designer and homeowner Elizabeth Macfarlane commissioned a new fireplace surround with classic Victorian style made from Arabescato marble. “I sourced a lot of lighting at auction; you can get the most beautiful vintage lights,” she says. “In the living room, there’s a chandelier that used to be at a racecourse in Cannes, which is fun because my husband is in the film biz and goes to Cannes every year.”
The finishes that add richness to the design include ceiling medallions, plaster cornices, cast brass hardware, interior glazing and, underfoot, checkered floors and zippy parquet. Rousing shades of green, blue, brown, yellow and pink, meanwhile, ripple throughout layered rooms that are dressed in antique furniture and vintage light fixtures. Every inch of the home, top to bottom, has been invitingly finessed.
“The devil is in the details,” says Elizabeth. In James’ study, custom bookbinding-like marbled paper lines the ceiling (while staying at The Fife Arms in Scotland, James was smitten with a patterned painted ceiling, so Elizabeth incorporated something similar into her design).
In the kitchen, when she couldn’t find a suitable new light fixture, she commissioned a skirted brass pendant inspired by Edwardian lighting. It hangs like a halo over the dairy table from deVOL Kitchens. Muddy pink, Shaker-style cabinets are accented with Arabescato marble, Perrin & Rowe faucets and creamy tile.
Because the kitchen was moved to the heart of the house, there were some challenges. Due to a lack of windows, internal glazing was installed, which let in light from the hallway. “I didn’t want the space to feel kitchen-y; I wanted a feeling of grandeur,” says Elizabeth. Victorian plaster cornicing trims the top of the room, the ceiling fixture is accented by an ornate medallion and decorative accents including an antique oil painting over the sink contribute to the elegant look.
The kitchen’s dusty pink and chocolate brown palette originated with a piece of vintage fabric Elizabeth found in a Paris flea market and used for the undercounter curtain in the pantry. The wall and door in wood and glass brings light to the space.
Off the kitchen is a passageway to the laundry room lined with open shelves for linens, dishware and other decorative accents.
The charming laundry room boasts creamy yellow beadboard panelling and fetching terracotta- and pink-hued floor tile. “Even the usually mundane laundry room feels special. “I wanted to bring cheer to domestic tasks,” says Elizabeth.
Elizabeth’s main-floor study features an antique oval burr elm centre table as a desk, Chippendale-style faux bamboo armchairs and a portrait of Virginia Woolf by contemporary British artist Poppy Ellis. “Maybe the reference to A Room of One’s Own is too on the nose, but I like it,” says Elizabeth of the cheeky nod to the designer’s first home office of her own.
The inspiring space is kitted out with a Victorian settee and antique secretary.
The dining room is the only structural addition to the house; they wanted it to feel like an Edwardian conservatory. Large French doors lead out to the garden.
The back garden is a delightful space filled with greenery and various seating areas.
Stripes, florals, polka dots and zigzags happily collide in the sunroom. Elizabeth prefers separate snug spaces over open plans: “I like having different rooms,” she says. “It gives you opportunities to create lots of interiors with different personalities.”
The house, which the couple shares with their two teenage sons, has been imbued with a jaunty personality that tips its hat to the past. Six bedrooms are spread across two floors: three on top that make up the kids’ relaxed domain and three on the next floor down, plus James’ study. One son’s bedroom is wrapped in soothing blue shiplap panelling.
“We wanted the guest room to have a sense of occasion, so we started with Pierre Frey wallpaper,” says Elizabeth. The 19th-century French Aesthetic Movement bed frame adds distinction.
The principal bedroom is awash in pinky- peach hues and layered in lush drapes and patterned textiles.
The dressing room oozes charm with its French Empire basket chandelier and custom closet doors with gathered panels.
Elizabeth’s detail-oriented eye is also apparent in the principal ensuite. Large format marble tile, vintage lighting and a commissioned reproduction of a Murano glass chandelier command attention, and beautiful brass fixtures and peach limewashed walls layer in more charm. “I love a bath,” says Elizabeth.
“I’d been yearning for a freestanding tub made by The Water Monopoly for years because they have such elegant lines. That tub was the jumping-off point for the room. After such a gruelling and intensive restoration, what a perfect way to cap off an ambitious project: taking a well-deserved soak in surely the most beautiful bathroom on the block.
Astrid Templier
House & Home
Milton Architects (architecture)/Elizabeth Macfarlane (design)