Hidden behind the conventional facade of a Victorian end-of-terrace home in South London is a surprising slice of Mediterranean magic. The family home of creative director Leila D’Angelo, her partner, and their young son is inspired by the couple’s travels to far-flung destinations—from Morocco to Italy and Greece.

When the couple first viewed the house, they were immediately drawn to it. “I love the sense of entrance you get in a Victorian property—the big front door, the hallway, the staircase,” says Leila. “When we first walked in, it immediately felt like a family home, a place where you can come together. We could already begin to see it coming to life.”

To achieve their vision, they turned to London-based architect Benjamin and interior designer Joanna Wilkes. “We enjoy creating colorful projects—and this one was great because there were a lot of rich elements to the brief,” recalls Benjamin. “In a way, it feels like going on holiday without having to go through the airport, because it holds those memories of places they love.”

In the beginning, the plan was to focus on the ground floor only. However, as soon as the project began to take shape, Leila and her partner realized there would be a complete disconnect with the upstairs level if it were left in the existing condition. Quickly, the decision was made to also transform the upper floor, including the primary bedroom suite, en suite bathroom, landing, and a sewing room that doubles as a guest room when needed.

Before: Entrance

Before: “Some of the things we really loved we lost,” says Leila. “We realized, for example, the tiling wasn’t original and didn’t go all the way to the edges.”" layout="" credit="Photo courtesy of Benjamin Wilkes" photoUserId=""/>

The original entrance had the classic Victorian drama that the couple fell in love with, complete with a tiled floor and stained-glass front door. But, there was little built-in storage and the tiles turned out to not be original—they stopped short of the walls once the existing joinery was removed.

After: Entrance

Interior designer Joanna Wilkes and architect Benjamin Wilkes carefully reinstated the original banister in the new fit-out. “It’s a nice detail, as it’s something that has been touched by the hands of previous residents over hundreds of years,” says Benjamin. “And, it doesn’t feel out of place as the curvature works with the other curved, organic elements we introduced.”" layout="" credit="Photo by Chris Wharton" photoUserId=""/>

Today, the entrance is defined by warm timber floorboards rather than imitation Victorian tiles. The original stained glass on the front door has been refurbished rather than replaced, and the new timber stair is artfully finished with the original banister. Underfoot and on the walls, natural finishes—timber and clay render—set the tone for the rest of the house.

Before: Living Room

Before: The original floor plan featured two reception rooms that the previous owners had tried to divide up with a sliding partition. “It wasn’t done successfully, though,” says Benjamin. As a result, the living rooms felt like a pass-through zone between hall and kitchen, with dated finishes and very little built-in storage.

After: Living Room

Now, the hallway and front rooms read as one fluid space, designed around how the family lives. A fireplace anchors the living area, while a soft rug and low seating offer comfortable areas to relax.

“Everything has this rippling, gentle feel,” says Leila. “It’s a perfect evening room for movies and family cuddles...it’s exactly what you want on a cold autumn or winter evening.”

editerranean architecture,” says Benjamin. “Those things aren’t alien to a Victorian house either, so we could bring them in without it feeling wrong.” The arched door connecting the living space to the kitchen and dining area is glass, so even when it’s closed there is a visual connection." layout="" credit="Photo by Chris Wharton" photoUserId=""/>

After: Joinery

With a broken-plan layout and different finishes in different rooms, the fit-out is unified by the oak joinery. “It’s a consistent thread,” explains Benjamin. “We created a ‘joinery world’ that we could adapt for each space, and having that consistent material palette with the timber really helped to link the spaces together.”

Before the renovation, the house had hardly any built-in joinery, and what it did have wasn’t very useful—so one of the homeowners’ main asks was a lot of built-in furniture. “They’ve got cats and a young child—there were lots of things to hide away,” says Joanna.

“Oak felt like the appropriate material for the joinery,” says architect Benjamin Wilkes. “It has a lovely, straight grain so it looks right in a period property, and the warmth and slight pinkness in the oak works well with the rest of the material palette.”" layout="bleed" credit="Photo by Chris Wharton" photoUserId=""/>

Before: Dining Room

Before the renovation, there was no formal dining area, just a cramped table arrangement to one side of the kitchen. For a couple who love to entertain—Leila describes “all-day feasts” with friends as a favorite activity—the house simply didn’t support the way they wanted to live. “Getting a proper dining space was a real priority,” says Benjamin.

After: Dining Room

The dining area is now the heart of the ground floor, and the space is defined by curved lines—from the bright red banquette seating to the nearby kitchen countertop. “We wanted it to feel totally informal, somewhere you could sit all day and it wouldn’t feel odd,” says Leila. “The banquette is the hero of the kitchen area,” says Leila. “We use it all the time, and everyone’s always like, oh my God, I’m getting in that.”

The curves of the banquette seating are carved out to create comfortable nooks. “It was difficult to get a banquette that’s comfortable enough to feel like a sofa people want to lounge on, but also rigid enough to be comfortable for dining—that was a real balance,” says Benjamin. " layout="" credit="Photo by Chris Wharton" photoUserId=""/>

Before: Kitchen

The original kitchen had an awkward layout that positioned the cook facing a wall, with their back to the dining area—something the couple were keen to avoid, as they love entertaining.

The space did, however, benefit from abundant natural light, and it quickly became clear that it would be the focus of the renovation. “It’s where we put most of our cost, effort, and time,” says Leila. “We wanted a space that would be used throughout the day—not just for ‘cook and go.’”

After: Kitchen

Incorporating the outdoor space that ran alongside the kitchen—the only extension added—created just enough width for a chef’s-table layout. A long, oak-fronted run for prep is situated along one wall, with a cooking island facing the room, and a dedicated pantry and coffee station tucked to the sides.

Drawers are carefully arranged for specific ingredients, utensils, and even herb pots, and small appliances disappear behind hide-and-slide doors. The custom micro-cement floor (in a dusty terra-cotta tone) and clay-rendered walls reference Moroccan courtyards and Italian piazzas, while an absence of wall units keeps the room calm and retreat-like.

After: Coffee Station

In the early stages of the design, the area where the coffee station now stands was conceived as an internal courtyard inspired by a hotel the couple had stayed at in Morocco. When it was decided that the kitchen needed this space back, they didn’t want to lose the feeling of openness. The solution? A retractable section of the skylight runs above the coffee station and dining area, and it can be opened to the elements in nice weather.

Before: Garden

Outside, the sun-drenched yet compact garden was not living up to its potential. “It looked quite sad in the way it had been done,” recalls Benjamin. “Because it is at the end of a row of terraces, there was a unique opportunity to make it feel like an extension of the house—an external room that links to the kitchen.”

After: Garden

Today the pink micro-cement kitchen floor flows straight out to a fully paved terrace, and when the glass doors are open it feels like one continuous living space. “We will be keeping the doors open in summer and will try to eat as much outside as we possibly can when it’s warm,” says Leila.

The new layout simplifies the plan by removing the split level to maximize usable space and make the modest footprint feel generous. Plantings at the rear create a wall of green so that from the banquette and island, the view is all leaves, light, and sky.

Before: Upstairs Hall

Leila and her partner were originally planning to leave the upstairs as it was. Once they saw the downstairs coming together, however, they realized that leaving the upper floor untouched would have made the house feel split in two. “The shock of going upstairs—where everything was old—would have made it feel like two different houses,” says Leila.

After: Upstairs Hall

The intervention in the upstairs landing is modest but effective. The design team took out the bookshelf and storage and replaced with a neat boiler cupboard; timber flooring takes the place of dated carpet; and the modern stair and plaster walls echo the finishes downstairs.

Before: Primary Bedroom Suite

The original main bedroom and its adjoining spaces lacked cohesion, with a standard ceiling height, a small, dark bathroom, and a compromised dressing area at the rear. The room had good bones, however, with two sash windows and a vaulted roof structure lurking above a flat ceiling.

After: Primary Bedroom Suite

Leila made the light in the primary bedroom herself from a simple kit using silk fabric she bought in Madrid. “I’m quite a crafty person, and grew up with a very DIY dad—he did everything himself,” she says. “So now, I’m asking, What can I sew? What can I make? What can I do myself?”" layout="bleed" credit="Photo by Chris Wharton" photoUserId=""/>

The architects persuaded the couple to take advantage of the hidden volume, and they vaulted the ceiling and installed bold timber beams that echo the joinery throughout the home. A large roof light brings morning sun straight onto the bed.

“When we were thinking about renovating upstairs, I asked the previous owners what was the one thing they would do if they were renovating,” says Leila. “They told us that the ceiling is actually vaulted—we had no idea! It gives the bedroom a real sense of grandeur and occasion.”

Before: En Suite Bathroom

Before: The home had two bathrooms, neither of which had any light. “That really pushed us to reconfigure the bathroom in the master bedroom,” explains Leila. “We wanted at least one bathroom with daylight. That was an example of something we knew we wanted to change.”" layout="" credit="Photo courtesy of Benjamin Wilkes" photoUserId=""/>

After: En suite Bathroom

It was useful to have a client who pushed the design, though. We can design anything and make it beautiful, but having someone who says no and pushes things further can be really productive—and you end up with a better result.”" layout="wide" credit="Photo by Chris Wharton" photoUserId=""/>

The former bathroom and dressing room have been reimagined as a generous en suite behind glazed doors, with a freestanding bath under the sash window. The solid, curved shower wall is a nod to the visual language of Moroccan hammams and makes the room feel cocooning rather than boxy. Fluted glass in the window and the doors to the bedroom offers privacy while allowing light to reach the interior of the home.

“We really wanted that spa-like feeling,” says Leila. “I’ve had a couple of daytime baths and they’re just the most luxurious thing imaginable, sitting there with the sun on your face, wrapped in that earthy color.”

Before: Bedroom/Sewing Room

After: Bedroom/Sewing Room

The front room is now a fully fledged sewing studio for Leila that can also be used as a guest bedroom when needed. Along one wall, a bespoke desk spans the width of the window with an extendable surface for cutting patterns.

“This renovation was really about bringing the things that inspire us into our home,” says Leila. “At the start, we thought it would be honest to Victorian colors and textures. But when we looked at what we truly love, none of it came from Victorian England. All our inspiration was France, Italy, Morocco, Greece—just not England. So we deviated quickly from the idea of a ‘renovated Victorian house’ and leaned into something much more Mediterranean, because that’s what felt authentic to us.”

More Before & After stories:

A Razor-Sharp Roofline Actually Expands a Family of Four’s London Home

A Brick Hayloft in England Gets a Breakthrough Renovation

A London Home Doubles as a Cheery Work Space

Project Credits:

Architect: Benjamin Wilkes / @benjaminwilkesarc

Interior Design: Joanna Wilkes

Contractor: Home & Around

Engineer: 99:40

Clay Plaster: Clayworks

Photographer: Chris Wharton