{"id":306976,"date":"2025-07-31T16:08:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T16:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/306976\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T16:08:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T16:08:23","slug":"lucy-williams-renovation-unicorn-house-in-west-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/306976\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucy Williams’ ‘renovation unicorn’ house in west London"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Homes<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been on social media for years,\u201d says lifestyle influencer Lucy Williams<\/a>, \u201cbut I really didn\u2019t want an \u2018Instagram\u2019 house \u2014 it needed to feel homely.\u201d <\/p>\n

And yet, with her follower count edging 800,000 across two accounts \u2014 a general one and a dedicated interiors<\/a> account (@lucywilliamshome<\/a>) started when she bought and began renovating her house in 2020 \u2014 what may be homely for Williams is pretty much guaranteed to become a grid-worthy trend before long. <\/p>\n

Williams, who started her career in fashion<\/a> magazines before turning to blogging and brand consultancy full time, including a best-selling jewellery collection with Missoma, grew up in a farmhouse in the Shropshire countryside. <\/p>\n

It was, she says \u201cthe sort of place where the doors were open, everyone was welcome, old furniture, dog hair everywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

Though the aesthetic of the Victorian terraced house near Shepherd\u2019s Bush she shares with husband Ruaraidh and rescue dog Finn is very different to a traditional English farmhouse, it shares the same layered, welcoming, feet-up vibes, from the squashy, gingerbread-coloured Maker & Son sofa in the living room (chosen to disguise Finn\u2019s matching brown dog hair) to the deep kitchen window seat, made for curling up with a book and coffee \u2014 if you can persuade the dog to budge over. <\/p>\n

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The living room\u2019s walls, ceiling and woodwork are painted in Farrow & Ball\u2019s archive colour Yonder, with long curtains to match<\/p>\n

Sarah Brick<\/p>\n

This comfortable theme continues in the south-facing back garden, landscaped with the help of Butter Wakefield, where tumbling honeysuckle and jasmine give the patio seating area an inviting scent.<\/p>\n

Awash with Greco-Welsh tones<\/p>\n

The three-bedroom house felt like a bit of a renovation \u201cunicorn\u201d when they found it, says Williams. It had good bones, had been well looked after under its previous 40-year ownership, but was in need of updating throughout: \u201cI knew I wanted a project and a lot of [houses] we saw were white, shiny and redone.\u201d <\/p>\n

The biggest task was the kitchen extension, where she worked with architects Flower Michelin to push into the garden, with a build-out above to create a \u201ctiny pod\u201d of a fourth bedroom. <\/p>\n

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In the extended kitchen, a cushioned window seat has been framed with white Mediterranean-inspired nooks containing books and ceramics bought on travels to Greek islands<\/p>\n

Sarah Brick<\/p>\n

While in London one side return can look much like another, Williams swerved bifolds for elegant sky blue French doors and a cushioned window seat framed inside with white, roughly plastered, Mediterranean-inspired nooks, where she displays books, vases and pieces picked up on her travels \u2014 including a ceramic horse found on the Greek island of Patmos (\u201cI can\u2019t come back from Greece without something ceramic,\u201d she says). <\/p>\n

Williams\u2019s love of Greece \u2014 she married Ruaraidh on Andros in 2022 and has just returned from a three week island-hopping trip there \u2014 influenced the design of her kitchen, with white open shelving, touches of blue and white in the ceramics, and cushions and cabinetry painted in a summery Paper and Paints sky blue. <\/p>\n

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Under the kitchen table is the Dunes flatweave rug Williams designed in a recent collaboration with Pelican House<\/p>\n

Sarah Brick<\/p>\n

Under the kitchen table is the Dunes flatweave rug she designed in a recent collaboration with Pelican House, the blues and browns inspired this time by summers spent in Abersoch on the Welsh coast (she is now working on a new collection of sister rugs in different colourways.)<\/p>\n

The art of \u2018doing vintage\u2019<\/p>\n

There are antique and vintage finds all over the house, from the quirky Henning Kjaernulf kitchen chairs (found on Vinterior) to a living room hearth stool with upholstered legs. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many great, small antique and vintage dealers on Instagram now,\u201d says Williams, though she loves hunting for pieces at Chiswick Antique and Vintage Market (the second Sunday of every month), The Old Cinema in Chiswick, where she found the beloved Gio Ponti desk which sits in the small middle sitting room off the kitchen, or at Quindry and Nimmo & Spooner, both on Lillie Road. <\/p>\n

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Williams found her beloved Gio Ponti desk at vintage store The Old Cinema in Chiswick<\/p>\n

Sarah Brick<\/p>\n

She once spent two hours at Kempton Market looking for the perfect antique handles to fit a pair of reclaimed doors into the living room: \u201cHonestly,\u201d she rolls her eyes. \u201cThough I\u2019m quite pleased with them.\u201d <\/p>\n

The walls are also covered with original art, much of it vintage or found on websites like Wondering People, which showcases pieces by new, emerging artists. <\/p>\n

A new favourite on her kitchen wall is a giant delphinium painting by Haidee Becker \u2014 \u201cI didn\u2019t know I needed a giant purple painting in my life until I saw it,\u201d she says \u2014 while above the dining table is a photograph of a lamb by Johno Mellish. <\/p>\n

Williams thinks original art, where budget allows, is more impactful than a print. \u201cI\u2019m a big believer in sometimes spending more money on the frame than the picture,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n

\u201cI bought an old piece of quilting from a car boot sale once and framed it \u2014 I think the actual quilting cost \u00a310.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Blue accessories sit on the reclaimed carrera marble fireplace surround in the living room<\/p>\n

Sarah Brick<\/p>\n

In the front living room her love of blue continues with walls, ceiling and woodwork drenched in Farrow & Ball\u2019s archive colour Yonder, with long curtains to match: \u201cMy childhood bedroom was blue \u2014 I think the right shade can be cosy.\u201d <\/p>\n

Williams admires designers like Beata Heuman, whose unexpected colour combinations \u201cblend Scandinavian style with English eccentricity\u201d, and was also inspired by a visit to the Copenhagen house of Ganni founders Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup: \u201cThey do colour in a really fun but also grown-up way,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

This approach is evident in her choice of hallway colours \u2014 walls in Mylands Soho Pink (which feels closer to a light mauve) and Papers and Paints Porphyry Red gloss on the stairs. <\/p>\n

There is more red in the downstairs loo off the hall, which is wallpapered with Howe\u2019s Knurl Paper in Brick, and upstairs in her newly designed study, which features a pull-out desk painted in Hickory by Rose Uniacke. <\/p>\n

Nineties nostalgia, so now<\/p>\n

Williams has a real weakness for books on 1990s decoration. \u201cIt\u2019s the era that interiors forgot for lots of people, but maybe [I love it] because it feels very nostalgic to me,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor the past 20 years, everyone was like, let\u2019s rip it all out, but now things like stainless steel kitchens are being put back in.\u201d <\/p>\n

There are nods to her love of the 1990s in her use of pine cladding in the upstairs bathroom, her cream bedroom carpet and the curling black cast iron Stride & Co stool in her living room. <\/p>\n

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A south-facing back garden was landscaped with the help of Butter Wakefield<\/p>\n

Sarah Brick<\/p>\n

Williams thinks that, much like her approach to fashion, her interiors preferences are down to what feels right rather than a set look or trend. <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I\u2019ll see a look I love on someone, but when I put it on me it just doesn\u2019t feel right. I think that\u2019s the same with a home \u2014 I can walk into people\u2019s houses that are these perfect, minimal modern spaces I think are heaven. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut I know I couldn\u2019t live like that,\u201d she adds with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019m too messy, I would ruin the whole thing straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n