Some projects you remember for one beautiful room. This one I remember for the whole house. We took on a substantial family home in Prestbury from top to bottom, every single room, and turned it into somewhere that feels grown-up and genuinely elegant but is still completely built for real, busy family life.
It's the kind of brief I love most: beautiful, but never precious.
The brief
The family wanted a home that felt considered from the front door up, warm, tactile and quietly luxurious, with one rule running through all of it: nothing too precious to actually live in. Two young children, a busy household, and a house that needed to look after all of it while still stopping you in your tracks when you walk in.
So we made a brave decision early on. Rather than decorate around what was there, we took the whole house back to brick.
The brief had one rule running through all of it: nothing too precious to actually live in.
Back to brick
Before any of the pretty decisions, there was the work nobody sees. We stripped rooms back, reworked the structure and the flow, laid new floors and ran all the services, so that everything which came afterwards sat on solid foundations. It's the least glamorous part of any project, and the part that makes everything else possible.
An entrance that stops you in your tracks
The staircase was the moment I was most excited about from day one. Each piece of glass in those pendants was hand-blown, then hung individually to cascade down through the double-height stairwell. It's the first thing you see when the front door opens, and it's the thing everyone remembers. Going from that bare, stripped-back hall to this is still one of my favourite before-and-afters we've ever done.
A confident, consistent palette
Across the whole house we layered a warm, tonal palette, natural materials, bespoke joinery and carefully considered lighting. The real secret to a home that feels designed rather than decorated is continuity: a confident, consistent palette that runs from room to room, so the hall, the living spaces and the bedrooms all clearly belong to the same home, even though each has its own character.
The details we're proudest of
So much of this home was made to measure, the kitchen, the cabinetry, the panelling, and a showstopping book-matched marble feature in the family room. Bespoke joinery is what makes a house feel truly finished rather than simply furnished, and it's where a lot of our time and care goes. The dining room and bar were designed for the occasions that call for it; the kitchen for everyday family life.
Rooms for the children
The children's rooms were pure joy to design. The boy's room got a hand-painted sky of vintage planes and hot-air balloons and a soft blue bespoke headboard. His sister's is soft, pretty and a little bit magical, a scalloped blush headboard, delicate butterflies and a sweet dressing area to grow into. These are the rooms where you get to have real fun, and where being made-to-measure really shows.
The result
Refined and timeless, but never precious. Every space is built to be used, lived in and enjoyed for years to come, which is exactly what the family asked for. That, for me, is the whole point: a home that looks beautiful in photographs but feels even better to actually live in.
Refined and timeless, but never precious. Every space is built to be lived in.
If you'd like to see the whole thing room by room, from bare staircase to finished home, we documented the entire renovation in our Prestbury work journal. And if you're planning a project of your own in Prestbury or anywhere across Cheshire, I'd love to hear about it. Get in touch to arrange a consultation.
