On a quiet street in east London, a row of Victorian townhouses keeps its secrets behind uniform stone facades. But behind one particular front door, the restrained exterior gives way to something entirely different: an explosion of zigzag patterns, circus stripes, electric blue, and shocking pink that interior designer Rachel Chudley describes as “madness.”
“There is nothing on the outside that warns you of the madness you’re about to encounter!” Chudley said.
The house belongs to a couple with two young children.
After selling her business in 2020, homeowner Kate said they were looking for a property they could truly make their own. “I’m very aesthetically motivated – I wanted a layout that worked for us, but also styling that made my eyes happy,” Kate explained.
She found Chudley by browsing property listings online and noting the designers credited on projects she admired. “I got really excited by Rachel’s style – her use of colour and pattern and her creativity,” the homeowner recalled.
A renovation that kept evolving
The previous owners had already renovated the house. “It was very tastefully done,” the designer recalled, adding that she then spent three years “dramatically changing it.”
The couple had one child when they bought the house, and their second arrived a week after they moved in.
Flexibility became essential.
Related: WOW!house 2026 exclusive preview four rooms before opening
“I was thinking about how we’d use the space in five or 10 years, not just now,” Kate said.
She wanted bedrooms that could shift between guest rooms and children’s rooms as the kids grew. The living area needed to work as a play space for young children, then older kids, then transform into an adult space in the evening.
“The sitting room had to do a lot: board games with the family on Friday, a cosy evening with a friend and a glass of wine, or be opened up for a drinks party,” she said.
The brief: ‘delight us, do your worst’
Chudley said the existing layout made their job easier. “Really, it was us asking ourselves how we could bring these people’s dreams to life so they could live in what they would consider a work of art.”
Kate’s feedback pushed things further.
“‘More disco’ was my feedback more than once,” she said. “I was after spaces that make your eyes sing.”
The homeowner had a strong preference for clean, saturated colours — a deliberate rejection of the “muddy” tones Chudley tends to favor. “Whenever they crept in, I’d immediately call them out. It became a bit of a running joke,” Kate recalled.
For the homeowner, the challenge now is having too many rooms she enjoys. “On the rare evening I have to myself, I often can’t decide between lighting the fire in the sitting room and curling up with a book and some music on, watching a film in the cinema room, or taking a book up to our bedroom, which is such a beautiful, calm space.”
Related: Dreamy Provençal Home Showcases Wicker Craftsmanship
Because she was so involved in the process, there wasn’t a single “ta-da!” moment at the end.
But the house has continued to change.
A second phase of work with Chudley altered the sitting room, hallway, and kitchen-living area, and turned a spare room into a bedroom for their oldest daughter.
“The surprise was realising the best version of the house wasn’t a single ‘done’ moment, but something that could keep evolving as we live in it,” the homeowner said.
Gut instinct and Victorian precedent
Creating an interior that combines so many strong elements and still feels cohesive requires something Chudley describes as “full blown gut instinct.” She studied history of art and credits her teachers for instilling the importance of studying great paintings. “It all goes into the compost heap of my imagination, then comes out as something else,” she said of her process.
That approach mirrors what she discovered while renovating her own Victorian home. “Victorian houses looked the same from the outside, then you’d walk in and people would have all sorts of colours and wallpapers,” the designer explained. “They were not holding back!”
“Even though this house is surprising when you walk through the door, I guess you expect the unexpected with these spaces,” Chudley said.
Leave a Reply