The St Albans Full House Project

Full Home Renovation

The family had lived in their St Albans home for ten years, but it had never quite felt like their own. A leak forced the question that had been sitting quietly in the background for a while, one that many of our clients ask themselves. Stay, or move on? They chose to stay, and once the architect was in, the project grew into a full house renovation built around a kitchen the family had been imagining for years.

"The home was all finished before, so it never had our stamp or personality on it; it was very modern, and I was very keen to make it our home and feel like us. We came to Herringbone after visiting two other kitchen showrooms, and it was a completely different energy the moment we walked into the studio. David is a key person who just listens. He understood what we wanted, and nailed it from the very first conversation. The quality of the craftsmanship is beautiful, and you can really tell no corners were cut, everything is so well made."

The kitchen has become the true heart of their new home. A unique decision that really paid off was choosing a small table instead of a breakfast bar at the end of their island. Our Cake Stand Table was chosen over bar stools and works perfectly for the family, giving them somewhere to do homework and leave bits out without cluttering the island. This choice, along with the new pantry, has reshaped how the room is used every single day.

"One of my favourite parts of the kitchen is the table at the end of the island. Bar stools were never going to work for us. We live in the kitchen. The space works so well and you can see that no corners were cut. Every time I open my cutlery drawer, I feel happy because it's just so beautifully made."

We were lucky to get to work on other rooms in the home too, including the dressing room, utility room, children's bedrooms, and ensuites. It's difficult to show every corner of this beautiful space, but here is a selection.

Herringbone's own Cathedral Stone became a paint match used throughout the entire home, tying the kitchen to House of Hackney wallpaper and a Liberty print used elsewhere in the house for a considered, layered look. A lighting consultant helped push the wider palette towards warmer tones, giving the finished home a slightly hotel-like feel. Their Interior Stylist, Daniella Harris from Mission Abode was instrumental in making sure everything fit together across the home, especially the elements of the home that were not in Herringbone’s remit.

The renovation also solved problems the family had lived with for years. In the dressing room, moving the towel rail meant moving the door too, finally allowing for a proper run of wardrobes, a small change that reshaped the whole room, alongside a new island at its centre. In the bathroom, a slanted window meant the sink needed to sit at one end to make room for a mirror, which pushed the door into the middle of the room; solved with a cleverly hidden secret door. Upstairs, a new laundry room has made an outsized difference to everyday life.

"It's funny how one small decision unravels everything else, moving a towel rail, and suddenly a door needs to move, and suddenly there's room for the wardrobes we'd wanted all along. The bathroom was its own puzzle too, but we found our way to it, by tucking a door away where no one would think to look. We spent thirteen months living out of boxes waiting for it all to come together, and somehow it never felt like a burden, more like an adventure we were in on together. If there's one thing I'd tell anyone doing this: stick by your guns. And that laundry room upstairs — I didn't know how much I needed it until I had it!"

The upstairs utility rooms is a real game changer. Not having to lug washing up and down stairs is a huge win, and the space works so well.

"It's just a lovely place to be, it functions well and looks beautiful."

Another very unique decision was to put in a fake door along the children’s bedroom wardrobes, a secret entrance into their en-suite was also a practical design decision.

It is not often you get to work on a project with this much detail, and bespoke elements, and we feel extremely humbled that the clients chose us to work with. It was such a memorable project, bursting with personality, colour and clever design decisions. We wish the family a lifetime of happiness in their beautiful home!