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How George Clarke transformed his Victorian home into a timeless, modern heritage retreat

Best known for presenting TV shows such as ‘Remarkable Homes’, ‘Amazing Spaces’ and ‘Old House, New Home’, architect and designer George Clarke has recently undertaken a project of his own – renovating his London home. The Victorian property is the perfect blend of traditional period features and modern design details, creating an interior palette that’s distinctly George.

Photography by Chris Terry

“Of course, you work with the beautiful features an old house has, and in our redesign, I chose to select products that certainly had a contemporary feel to them, but were still classic and timeless.”

George Clarke

Here in an exclusive interview, Dowsing & Reynolds Co-founder and Designer, James Dowsing-Reynolds, caught up with George to chat about his home, the unique design and whether he’s a dimmer or toggle person!

How did you draw the balance between designing a modern house that still feels like your home?

Our house is a Victorian property and luckily all of the primary rooms on the ground floor and upper floors still had all of its original period features.

That actually made the redesign a lot easier than people might think. Of course, you work with the beautiful features an old house has, and in our redesign, I chose to select products that certainly had a contemporary feel to them, but were still classic and timeless.

It was interesting – in some of the areas that never had period features in them we chose to put them in for the first time.

Take the ground floor hallway for example – it never had wall panelling, but to make it feel smart and classic we decided to install low-level panelling.

Photography by Chris Terry

It was all painted in a very smart, understated, neutral paint colour and then any metalwork that we introduced into that space (the internal metal-framed Crittall glass screen and doors, the ironmongery, the light switches and socket plates etc.) were all very minimal, black and distinctive.

What was the biggest compromise you had to make?

Honestly? We didn’t really make one. If I had to push myself on it, I was very tempted to upgrade all of the sash windows in the house, front and back, to brand new, super-high quality windows with the highest thermal performance.

But, all of the windows had already been changed around 15 years ago and although the previous install could have been a lot better and brand new sliding sash windows are thermally so much better than even 10 years ago, I just couldn’t bring myself to take them all out and replace them when they had only had a short life span.

With a bit of TLC the 15 year old windows, although far from perfect, will now probably outlast me!

Photography by Chris Terry

What was your thought process when choosing switches and sockets, handles, hardware etc? 

The switches I chose are beautiful and elegant. Even the most contemporary looking switches can still have a timeless and classic feel to them and I adore that. Simplicity gives them a unique beauty.

The switches and sockets I chose in my house are quite causally understated in their look, but when people actually operate the switches you should see their reaction! It’s normally an “oooh that’s really nice”… You don’t hear that often about light switches!

Photography by Chris Terry

Did you find having a combination of dimmers and toggles on one plate made planning the placement of your switches easier?

I’m not a fan of large bank of light switch plates stacked together or having multiple switch plates scattered around a room. I personally feel that if you have too many switches in one room, then you’ve probably made the lighting design for that room too complicated.

I love having a few options, but not too many, so having dimmers and toggles on one plate satisfies my obsessive passion about simplicity. Why make something overly complicated? And with simplicity comes my other passion… elegance. Less complication, allows simplicity and creates elegance.

Which do you prefer more – the turn of the dimmer knob or the flick of the switch?

I love the toggles and the click on the toggles is unbelievably satisfying. There is no doubt about that.

I think you know my answer to which one I personally prefer… It has to be the flick of the switch for me.

Photography by Chris Terry
Photography by Chris Terry

How did you choose the internal door handles for your home?

There are very few curves in the reading of my house. It is all very simple, straight lines everywhere.

I don’t really do funky shapes, certainly not with products, furniture and ironmongery details. The handle design I chose is nice and straight, beautiful to touch, and has a simple lozenge-style shape to it with a rounded curve at the end of the handle.

A squared end to the handle wouldn’t have been as elegant for me.

“I don’t really do funky shapes, certainly not with products, furniture and ironmongery details.”

George Clarke

What’s your ideal lighting setup? Are you a ‘ceiling lights on a dimmer’ kind of person, or does the ceiling light get replaced by lamps/wall lights?

My kids always complain that I have the house too dark. I hate bright lights any time of day or night and I’m really not a fan of bright, recessed downlighting! I really love low-level lighting. I’m sitting under a feature hanging ceiling light now while writing this and it’s on a dimmer on the lowest setting. I love Angle Poise lights too when I’m working, but I’m an architect so I’m bound to say that! I’m a lamp and wall lights person every time!

Finally, what’s your favourite space in your home and why?

My bedroom. It is the only room where I completely switch off from the world…

Don’t forget to follow @dowsingandreynolds and @mrgeorgeclarke on Instagram for more tips, tricks and interior design inspiration.

Avatar for James

Written by: James

Meet James, Co-Founder and Head Designer here at Dowsing & Reynolds. James' creativity and constant innovation have helped take the company from strength to strength over the years, but when he’s not working on our next design, you’ll find him cooking, gardening, and expanding his designer shoe collection!

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