Inside a beautiful Georgian flat in Edinburgh which has had a stunning makeover

After a whirlwind romance with Georgian architecture last winter, interior designer Lisa Guest hasn’t abandoned her transatlantic instincts

A year ago, interior designer Lisa Guest – then Lisa Vannucci – wasn’t intending to move to the UK.

She was living and working in Los Angeles, having been a resident of California for seven years and LA for six months, and was planning a visit to Edinburgh to stay with a friend and welcome in 2017.

Picture: Rettie

While on that trip she went to a Hogmanay party, in a Georgian New Town flat, which was being hosted by the flat’s owner, Olly Guest.

Arriving at number 18 London Street that evening, little could Lisa have imagined that she’d soon be refurbishing and redesigning the property, packing her belongings into a 40ft container and having them shipped from LA to live in Scotland with her new husband Olly.

A lot can happen in 12 months, clearly, and this interior has been just as dramatically transformed.

Lisa’s trip to Edinburgh was also her introduction to the handsome Georgian architecture of the New Town.

Picture: Rettie

Olly had purchased this four bedroom ground and first floor flat a few months beforehand and had already started making some changes to the interior, having refitted the bathroom on the first floor and redecorated, replacing the previously brighter colour palette with a more neutral one.

“We started working on the flat straight away, that first week we met, as Olly already had a contractor lined up,” Lisa explains.

“Olly knew what he wanted here; he already had a vision for the space.”

There’s no doubt that this vision evolved, however, once Lisa took on the project, as her design influences naturally encompassed her life in California and the style of houses she worked on there, as well as her own taste.

“I have a lot of mid-century pieces from California, and quite bohemian pieces,” she reflects.

“I’ve always loved collecting and mixing antiques from different periods and making them work together.”

One of Lisa’s objectives was to create a more homely feel, which meant swapping the neutral colour palette for richer hues.

“Olly took me to the west coast for the first time and I was blown away by the colours and richness I saw there.

That was a big influence for me,” she says. “Also, there are some colours I’ve loved my whole life like greens and oranges.

Picture: the kitchen, Rettie

The kitchen cabinets here are Hague Blue – the same colour I chose for my dining room in LA. I’m not afraid of using colour. Paint is one of the cheapest ways of transforming a space.”

Lisa worked with colours from Farrow & Ball and chose a warm range of hues, from the Studio Green of the beautiful bow-ended dining room on the ground floor to the darker Green Smoke that adds drama to the first floor drawing room.

“Olly had already wall-mounted the TV here, so my thought was, how can I try and hide this?” says Lisa. “I decided to paint the walls the darkest colour I could.”

Picture: the living room, Rettie

The volume of these spaces with their generous proportions and high ceilings, combined with the wonderful natural light thanks to the south-facing aspect, has ensured that these richer tones create warmth rather than gloom.

When re-laying the floor the couple specified an engineered wood that was chosen for its pale finish which enhances the light in the dining room, as well as the grand entrance hallway and the kitchen.Indeed the biggest aspect of this refurbishment was levelling the floors, especially in the kitchen, where it was stripped entirely.

Picture: Rettie

Here, Lisa specified Shaker-style cabinetry with beautiful Neolith worktops and splashback – a finish that looks like Carrara marble but is remarkably hard-wearing and stain and scratch resistant – and a Stoves range cooker.

The previous kitchen had felt much more enclosed and here Lisa wanted to open up and lighten the space.

“I’ve always loved open shelving, especially when you have beautiful dishes to display, and I didn’t want upper cabinets here as that can close off the space,” she says.

“Maybe that’s a bit of the California influence in me to have everything bright and open, but also there’s so much light here, I wanted to do this darker cabinet colour.

The cabinetmaker did a beautiful job and I’m really happy how this space turned out.”

Picture: the dining room, Rettie

Lisa acknowledges that she and Olly had to make decisions quickly on this project as Lisa was travelling back and forth to the States and the couple were living in the flat throughout the work.

“I’d done this with my previous home, but had forgotten how difficult that can be,” she says, “but luckily here the contractors were amazing and we all made decisions very quickly together.”

Picture: Rettie

Lisa also enjoyed working within a very different architectural style to the properties she had been used to. “I hadn’t seen a lot of Georgian homes before we started working on this,” she says.

“I went in blind, not really knowing the style but taking advice – Georgian Antiques were really helpful when looking at furniture, as well as Lindsay Burns in Perth. I love the auction houses here.”

And while the couple stayed true to the character of the building, Lisa was able to introduce her own aesthetic when mixing in pieces she’d had shipped from the States with her Scottish antique finds.

Picture: one of the bedrooms, Rettie

When designing the bedrooms, again it was about adding a warm and cosy feel, and she achieved this with the combination of upholstered headboards and layered textiles with carpeting, rugs and throws.

When redesigning the en-suite for the master bedroom on the ground floor, Lisa took her cue from the bathroom Olly had already created upstairs to create a sense of cohesion.

Picture: Rettie

The ceiling was also lifted in the en-suite. “Just seeing the old stonework below was incredible; I was tempted to leave it,” she says.

Now, it’s almost a year on from that first meeting and time for Lisa and Olly to start again with a new home – although they have also been working on two other projects: one, a long-term let in the New Town and the second, an Airbnb in the city’s Grassmarket.

As Lisa says: “I want it to look different to any other Airbnb out there. It’s a small project but really exciting.”

Picture: Rettie

Asked what she will miss in leaving this flat, Lisa cites the view from the back, which looks on to Broughton St Mary’s Parish Church.

“Every morning waking up, it looks like a painting,” she says. “And the space here is great. It’s so cosy, it just feels like home. The feeling more than anything is what I’ll miss about this place.”

18 London Street is on the market at offers over £895,000 with Rettie & Co

For more information on Lisa Guest’s work, visit her website here.

Words: Fiona Reid