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Mark Lewis’s Neo-Victorian London: The Designer’s Inspired Reinvention of His Family’s Own Quarters

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Mark Lewis’s Neo-Victorian London: The Designer’s Inspired Reinvention of His Family’s Own Quarters

November 24, 2020

Back when we first met Mark Lewis, he had recently left a career as a set and costume designer to open his North London interiors firm. That was several years ago and since then we’ve avidly followed his many adventures, from inventing a historic Hoxton loft out of whole cloth to introducing his own line of cast-bronze shelf brackets, drawer pulls, and broom hooks. But we’ve never been invited to see his own place—until now.

Mark lives with his partner, Abi Leland, who works in the music business, and their children, James, 10, and Olive, 5, in a three-story Victorian row house in Highgate that had been converted into a trio of apartments in the sixties. And though he says he never wanted to be a serial remodeler, the place has undergone three progressions since they bought the garden floor nearly 10 years ago. Initially, they cleared space in their one-bedroom flat by turning the bathroom into James’s room (“we put a bath in our room to make it work.”). Along the way they petitioned to add an extension onto the side yard, and when permission was granted three years later, they added a new living and dining area to the setup. Then, in 2015, they bought the upstairs flat and rented it out while searching for the loft Abi envisioned as their next step.

Short on possibilities near their kids’ schools, Mark hit upon the idea of carving out a lofty living space himself by taking over their second floor. The family moved into a small rental, and over the course of eight months, Mark came up with a remarkable new look and feel for their place. It was a major undertaking done inventively and often frugally: Mark is a master upcycler. And as with all of his work, it’s hard to tell what’s old and what’s new.

Photography by Rory Gardiner, courtesy of Mark Lewis Interior Design.

a clearview wood stove serves as the focal point of the snug living room&# 17
Above: A Clearview wood stove serves as the focal point of the snug living room—”you have to have something to stare at,” says Mark. He used surplus Moroccan tiles from another project on the stove wall: they’re flipped back to front, so the textured, unglazed side is exposed: “I was already spending all the money I have in the world on this flat, so this was a case of using what I had.”

The built-in multipurpose shelving includes a row of painted apple crates, one for each member of the family: “they’re where all that nonsense that comes home from school goes.”

the space has a sloping open ceiling featuring one of the four skylights mark a 18
Above: The space has a sloping open ceiling featuring one of the four skylights Mark added to brighten the main level (scroll down to see an exterior view of the extension). That’s the new glazed pantry next to the armchair, a 1980s Heal’s design passed down by Abi’s father.
mark and olive make use of the bay window seat he built into the dining half of 19
Above: Mark and Olive make use of the bay window seat he built into the dining half of the extension. The Upton Ribbed Glass Pendant is by Fritz Fryer, a favorite lighting source of Mark’s.
the brick is the old garden wall. mark fitted six drawers under the window seat 20
Above: The brick is the old garden wall. Mark fitted six drawers under the window seat for storing arts and crafts supplies. The Victorian Cast-Iron Radiators throughout are reproductions—”they’re such good quality now,” says Mark—from the Period House Store.
mark&#8\2\17;s big move: he sacrificed what would have been a guest bedroom 21
Above: Mark’s big move: he sacrificed what would have been a guest bedroom and bath on the second floor to create a dramatic lofty kitchen with “church-like triptych windows.”

The standing shelf for cookbooks is built from “marled steel flat bars—something like £20 for six meters”—and leftover floorboards. “Of course we had to hire a fabricator but it didn’t cost the earth,” says Mark.

mark always designs kitchens in a single line—&#8\2\2\1;when you tur 22
Above: Mark always designs kitchens in a single line—”when you turn a corner, they look like fitted kitchens, which feels wrong in a period house.” All of the cabinetry was built for the space and the fridge is set in a paneled box tucked under the new back stair (the existing front stair is shared with the occupants of the third floor). Note the new mezzanine on the second floor landing.
the cabinets are raised on little legs to make them furniture like. they&#8 23
Above: The cabinets are raised on little legs to make them furniture-like. They’re painted (Mark mixes his own shades) and then finished with wax for an aged look. The cast-bronze pulls are Jake Handles from the Mark Lewis Home Store.

Mark is a brand loyalist: he sources kitchenware for himself and clients from the Conran Shop, kitchen sinks from Shaws, faucets from Aston Matthews, and simple sconces from Urban Cottage Industries.

the range and hood are by smeg. the floating shelves are concrete—&# 24
Above: The range and hood are by Smeg. The floating shelves are concrete—”you make molds and put reinforced bars into the walls, then pour them in place.”

For a textured finish on the walls, Mark opted for lime plaster: “it can’t be applied to modern plaster, so we went back to the brickwork and then added the lime plaster in layers ending with hand sponging. (See Expert Advice: 7 Ways to Use Lime Plaster.) The distressed oak Wide Plank Flooring is from Havwoods.

the side extension and new double height kitchen viewed from the back terrace. 25
Above: The side extension and new double-height kitchen viewed from the back terrace.
the new back stair is situated at the end of the kitchen opposite the pantry. 26
Above: The new back stair is situated at the end of the kitchen opposite the pantry.
all of the family&#8\2\17;s dry goods are kept here. mark reports that sinc 27
Above: All of the family’s dry goods are kept here. Mark reports that since this was photographed, they’ve gone package-free thanks to Fair-Well, a new North London delivery service that offers bulk staples, from pasta and cereal to laundry soap and shampoo: “I just book a visit and carry my jars out to their little truck.”
mark designed the stair to take up as little space as possible. like the cookbo 28
Above: Mark designed the stair to take up as little space as possible. Like the cookbook shelves, it has blackened steel railings with brass screws: “they’re vintage screws from an amazing screw-monger called Screws Line. You call up Andy, he’s a font of knowledge. We spend a lot getting the right screws.”

Under the stair is a pullout trash bin and painted crates used to hold recycling

set at the victorian front of the house on the main floor, mark and abi&#8\ 29
Above: Set at the Victorian front of the house on the main floor, Mark and Abi’s bedroom was given a new guise thanks to Robert Kime wallpaper in a pattern called Karabak Sand. The slim door pull is the Gareth Handle from Mark’s shop.
the carved bed is from soho home. the bedside shelf sits on mark&#8\2\17;s  30
Above: The Carved Bed is from Soho Home. The bedside shelf sits on Mark’s own Strong Boy Bronze Brackets.
the kids&#8\2\17; former bedroom became the parents&#8\2\17; en suite b 31
Above: The kids’ former bedroom became the parents’ en suite bath—with a working fireplace. The cast-iron tub is the Epoca from Aston Matthews. The frosted window looks into the WC.
a marble topped vanity with aston matthews sink and wall mounted brass faucets. 32
Above: A marble-topped vanity with Aston Matthews sink and wall-mounted brass faucets.
the wc is a patchwork of patterns: &#8\2\20;it&#8\2\17;s got salvaged t 33
Above: The WC is a patchwork of patterns: “it’s got salvaged tiles on the floor, the house’s original brick, what had been external tiling, and the wood cladding is our old kitchen floor.”
upstairs, james has a large new bedroom painted a soothing gray and lit with bu 34
Above: Upstairs, James has a large new bedroom painted a soothing gray and lit with bulkhead lights: “I do a lot of wall lights versus a single pendant,” says Mark. “I find it much more relaxing this way than having a central light.”

The headboard, like the WC cladding, was made from the kitchen’s original floorboards.

olive&#8\2\17;s new cottage style room has built in bunks set far enough ap 35
Above: Olive’s new cottage-style room has built-in bunks set far enough apart so that “when one of the grannies stays, they can sleep on the bottom bed and not bang their head. It’s an adult-safe space.” Her wallpaper is Gilly Flower Blue from Robert Kime.

The pillow on the top bunk is one of many that Mark made from his mother’s old William Morris curtains. Of his transition from creating sets for commercials to home design, he says, “Building something only to tear it down weeks later was depressing, what I do now is soul food.”

More Mark Lewis projects:

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