Restoring Period Homes for Modern Living: Three Victorian and Georgian Interiors
Victorian and Georgian homes offer architectural details that are difficult to replicate, from original fireplaces and decorative cornicing to traditional floorboards and sash windows. Renovating these properties means preserving their character while accommodating modern needs, including practical kitchens, better natural light, flexible layouts and storage.
Three homes featured on The Interior Design Show, designers and homeowners take different approaches to this challenge. From restoring original features to introducing bold colours, vintage furniture and salvaged materials, each project shows how period architecture can remain central to a contemporary interior.
Lauren Campbell’s West London Home: Mixing Antique and Contemporary Design
For interior designer Lauren Campbell, the renovation of her West London Victorian home focused on improving light and introducing warmer finishes. Having lived in the house for five years before renovating, she knew where the interiors needed to change.
Lime wash adds variation to the walls, while antique, vintage and contemporary pieces create an eclectic mix. The living room pairs a yellow velvet vintage armchair with a second-hand linen sofa, and a tapestry blind informs the room’s colour palette.
In the dining area, a travertine table sourced through Facebook Marketplace sits alongside traditional chairs. The kitchen combines painted Shaker-style cabinets, a marble-topped island and vintage pendant lights.
Pocket doors allow the kitchen and living room to function together or separately, while laundry appliances are concealed beneath the stairs.
Campbell shows how second-hand furniture and antiques can work with modern finishes to create a cohesive interior.
Emilie Fournet’s Georgian Townhouse: Bringing Different Eras Together
The Georgian townhouse in Islington designed by Emilie Fournet combines original banisters, floorboards, shutters and working fireplaces with furniture and artwork from different periods.
In the double reception room, a colourful sofa sits alongside antique side tables and a chinoiserie cabinet that conceals the television. Mid-century furniture and pieces from the owners’ previous home add further layers to the interiors.
Colour and pattern continue into the kitchen and bedrooms. The basement kitchen combines warm neutrals with mustard and plum, while patterned tiles and botanical wallpaper introduce decorative detail elsewhere in the house.
Fournet demonstrates how historic architecture can accommodate different styles, with original features providing continuity while furniture, fabrics and artwork give each room its own character.
Emily Pun’s Victorian Terrace: Preserving Character Through Restoration
In her restored Victorian London terrace, interior designer Emily Pun retains original
features such as sash windows and fireplaces while updating the layout for modern living.
At the rear, an extension creates an open-plan kitchen and dining area. Bespoke oak cabinetry keeps the kitchen restrained, while reclaimed quarry tiles add character to the floor. South-facing glazing and skylights bring in natural light, and operable roof windows improve ventilation.
Practical updates continue throughout the house. Pocket doors allow the office to connect with the ground floor or function as a separate workspace, while customised IKEA wardrobes and a fabric canopy add individuality to the principal bedroom.
Pun’s renovation shows how a period home can retain its architectural identity while adapting to contemporary routines.
Designing Victorian and Georgian Interiors for Modern Living
These three renovations demonstrate that preserving a period home does not mean leaving it unchanged. Original fireplaces, cornicing, shutters and floorboards retain their connection to the building’s history, while updated layouts, practical storage and contemporary kitchens make the interiors work for everyday life.
Each project takes a different decorative approach. Fournet combines Georgian details with antique and mid-century furniture and Campbell mixes vintage finds with contemporary materials. Pun’s Victorian terrace shows how architectural restoration can work alongside accessible updates and a reconfigured living space.
Together, these homes offer inspiration for renovating Victorian and Georgian interiors, showing how original character and modern functionality can work side by side.
Explore the full features linked above to see how each homeowner and designer has adapted a period property for contemporary living.
