Interiors: The Chapples tackled this Victorian refurbishment project head-on to create a dream house for the next lucky owners

“This is the second Victorian house we’ve had,” says Muriel, “and while neither were wrecks, both needed new kitchens, bathrooms, flooring and redecoration.”

Although this Victorian end-terraced villa at number 38 Granby Road, in Edinburgh’s Newington area, was larger than the couple’s previous property, at least Muriel and Ian, an IT director, knew what they were letting themselves in for. “When you do your first refurbishment you don’t have a clue what things cost, so it’s like a complete money pit,” Muriel reflects.

Here, the couple were savvy. “You know when you walk into a house how much you’re going to need to spend,” she says. The couple realised this property would require some fundamental upgrading, including a new central heating system and improvements to the wiring.

The next task was overhauling the two bathrooms, a shower room on the ground floor and a family bathroom that serves the four bedrooms on the first floor – there is also a fifth bedroom to the rear of the house. Muriel and Ian headed to Fired Earth for the tiling and Jacuzzi for the fittings, choosing a stone-coloured palette for the family bathroom and a dark-grey colour scheme in the shower room. “We wanted something timeless,” Muriel says. The ceilings were also lowered slightly in both spaces so that halogen downlighters could be installed.

The couple then redecorated the bedrooms for their three children – Tabitha, seven, Hamish, 11, and Ruby, 13 – before turning their attentions to the master bedroom. This was transformed with shimmering cream wallpaper, stone-coloured carpeting and Laura Ashley fabric, which was used for the curtains that frame both the bay window and the window on the east elevation. The fireplace in the room is original, as is the cornicework and ceiling rose.

With the upper level completed, the couple turned their attentions downstairs. Although large, the hallway had presented a dark entrance to the house, so this space was also transformed with a lighter palette, both on the walls and the woodwork – although the timber staircase has been retained in its original form. “There was just too much wood; I thought the panelled doors looked better in white,” says Muriel.

She sourced another shimmering wallpaper (from Osborne & Little) to clad the rear wall and the stairwell, which is illuminated by the cupola high above. “I chose quite a soft colour here, but this wallpaper could be far darker and far bolder,” Muriel reflects. “You can get away with anything in these old houses.”

Having this scope to be bold can be credited to the generous proportions of the handsome period home, from the sitting room at the front of the ground level, with its lofty ceiling height and wide bay window, to the super-scaled dining-family-kitchen area at the rear. Arguably, this space is the highlight of the house, and it was also the last area to be transformed, three years ago.

The dining-kitchen was originally two rooms: a dining room and a kitchen. “This space is south-west facing, and I remember when we first came to see the house, even though it was tired with peach 1980s décor, it was so sunny coming into this dining room, and the space had a nice flow,” Muriel recalls.

By contrast, the kitchen was painted in a dark reddish-orange hue, with one window to the rear. “I used to open the door into the utility room to let more light in,” she says.

While Ian suggested changing the kitchen to create a lighter, more contemporary feel, Muriel really wanted to lose the dividing wall. “Changing the kitchen would have been cheaper, but we’ve gained this huge space,” she says. Muriel eventually persuaded her husband to go ahead, and the work was completed in just five weeks, in time for her 40th birthday party.

Muriel co-ordinated the work herself, and while she had a really good team on board, the back of the house was basically a building site. “We used the downstairs shower room to wash dishes, then we used paper plates, and some neighbours were really kind and brought us food,” she recalls.

It wasn’t easy with a young family, but then, as she says, “Everybody goes through that.”

The couple chose high-gloss units in white to maximize the effect of the light, with a bank of glossy black units along one wall and quartz worktops. Large-profile, dark grey floor tiles extend underfoot, combined with underfloor heating, while the island forms a hub that the whole space revolves around. The opening that would once have held a range cooker was extended upwards, to accommodate the extractor fan, and width-ways, creating a cooking zone for the hob, with white brick tiling as a backsplash.

The dining/family space is just as striking. The original fireplace has an open fire, and was refurbished with a black slate and tiled insert and a slate hearth. The blue patterned tiles reflect the first colour scheme chosen for the space, but Muriel changed the look by adding another Osborne & Little printed wallpaper that picks up the green hues of the garden. “I wanted to make the garden look like an extension of this space,” she says.

The effect was heightened with coordinating green curtains, and the end result is a fantastic family and entertaining space.

The sitting room was also given a fresh lease of life with another large-scale printed wallpaper – a Dutch design in shimmering grey – which complements the elegance of the fireplace, with its overmantle mirror, and the cornicing above. The timber floors both here and in the hallway were sanded to further enhance the flow through the ground level.

One of the nicest details in the house, in terms of impact, is in the hallway, where a recess under the stairs has been designed as a study nook – complete with Ex Libris wallpaper by Cole & Son that creates the look of an old library. It’s an individual feature that fits perfectly into this vibrantly designed family home.

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