Seeing this home’s style might give you déjà vu. Josie and Jules first showed off their small space maximizing skills when we toured an Edwardian flat in South East London they remodeled in 2015. It was a top-to-bottom renovation — the layout was reconfigured, and light and function were added to a dated space. One year later and this enterprising couple is looking back at another successful renovation project…but this time in another house in the same row of terraced houses! Their new house is just few doors down the street…you can see the old house from the front window.

Though the couple loved the last remodel, they were able to flip the first property for a good profit, decreasing their mortgage significantly with the second property.

The one big advantage of renovating another house with a nearly identical floor plan is that you can improve on previous mistakes choices. Again, the couple moved and redesigned the kitchen. They once more carved out a second bedroom (which they use as a study and guest room). But this round, they listened to feedback they heard when they sold the last house: They increased the size of the second bedroom. Unfortunately, that meant a smaller bathroom, with space only for a shower and a loo.

Impressively, the couple managed to complete this home’s renovation during their busy professional lives. Josie’s book Rebellion (the first in a new series of YA dystopian sci-fi novels) was published last year and the sequel, Resistance, is due this summer. And Jules is in the middle of a revival of Ray Cooney’s Olivier Award-winning comedy Out of Order, which has been on tour this year around the country.

My Style: We’re definitely a bit more Scandinavian than we were before.

Inspiration: We needed a more neutral palette to balance out all the colourful things Josie loves to collect, so it was more necessity than inspiration to have a grey and white theme.

Favorite Element: Probably our shed! It gets Jules’ gym stuff out of the house and we can store so much stuff. So necessary in small London flats.

Biggest Challenge: The builder had about 15 attempts at getting the kitchen right. It was a total nightmare.

What Friends Say: “It’s nicer than your old place, no offense.”

Biggest Embarrassment: The fact the shower screen is 15cm too short so we flood the bathroom daily. Josie also shared a few others on her blog.

Proudest DIY: We kept the carpet that was already here. When the builders had to rip it up to lay pipes, etc, it was newly laid (although not very nice, but it was free). So we re-laid it ourselves. We’re pretty proud of that and how much we saved doing it.

Biggest Indulgence: The West Elm rug in our bedroom because Josie hates the brown carpet so much she decided to buy an expensive rug to hide some of it. She has a thing for expensive rugs (so maybe the carpet saving was pointless after all).

Best Advice: Measure everything at least three times, and make sure your shower screen extends at least 60cm.

Dream Sources: Josie’s obsessed with Neptune, as her sister and brother-in- law just opened a store in Gibraltar and now wants everything they sell.

PAINT & COLORS
Kitchen – Dulux endurance – white
Living Room – Dulx vinyl matte white
Bedroom – Dulux Adobe Pink 6
Bedroom 2 – Dulux Quiet Dissent

Hall pendant light – Habitat
Hall bench – Habitat
Dancing Egrets – Michelle Morin, Etsy
Animals print and snow scene – Lottie Stoddart, Etsy

LIVING ROOM
Sofa – DFS
Rug – OKA
Paidge Arm Chair – West Elm
Lamp – Ikea
Chandelier – Pani Jurek, etsy
Stripe cushion– Anthropologie
Pink cushion – Eastern Home Décor, etsy
Basket – Zara Home
Peacock, blue rose, and 2 abstract paintings by Josie
Fiddle Leaf Fig tree – House of Plants
Antique map – storeysltd.co.uk
Framed Book – Original Wall

KITCHEN
Kitchen units – Ikea
Corian top – Arlington who were amazing and cheapest we found
Clock – Rigby and Mac
Antique maps – storeysltd.co.uk

Bed – Made.com Finlay, grey
1920s Chest of Drawers – vintage furniture shop in Crystal Palace
Rug – West Elm Watercolour rug, ivory
Pink linen cushions – Marks and Spencer
Bowl – Marks and Spencer

Tiles – Walls and Floors Kingdom, Province
Toilet, Shower, Sink – Victoria Plum

NASA prints – Print Shop Studio (they don’t seem to do them anymore)

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