Whole House Refurbishment, Ashtead
When our client bought this house, she was taking on a fairly new build that had never really been cared for. It had been finished poorly by whoever came before and lived in without love, and it needed bringing back to life. Her brief was a simple one: make it feel like hers.
She wanted a complete refresh rather than a room here and there. The house looked new on the surface, but very little of it had been done properly, so we took it back and rebuilt it the way it should have been done in the first place. There was no interior designer on this project, so we worked directly with her ourselves, walking through every decision together, from the layout down to the last coat of paint.
We refurbished the house from top to bottom: a new kitchen, a new bathroom, new flooring throughout, and new internal doors, joinery and panelling in every room. Behind the finishes, the house was rewired and replumbed properly, so everything it depends on day to day is new and installed the way it should be, rather than patched up behind new paint. We also made the space work harder for her: upstairs, we opened up a cupboard that had been closed off and left unusable; downstairs, we added a cloakroom from scratch, a second WC where there had never been one before.
The finishes were chosen to give the house real character rather than a show-home sameness. The kitchen pairs soft sage-green cabinetry with a solid oak worktop and a reeded oak feature wall, warm and calm without trying too hard. The hallway and stairs, the part she is proudest of, were lifted with fitted wall panelling, herringbone flooring and a run of pendant lights falling down the stairwell. The downstairs cloakroom is the boldest room in the house, with deep navy panelling set against a patterned wallpaper and black and brass fittings. Several rooms were finished in Farrow & Ball.
Not everything was visible at the start. When we stripped the house back, we found that the original plumbing and drainage had been poorly installed, and that this had allowed a pest problem to take hold beneath the property, something the homeowner had no way of knowing when she bought it. We dealt with it properly: putting the drainage and plumbing right, clearing the problem at its source and making sure it was gone for good before anything was built back over it. It was not part of the original plan, but it is exactly the sort of thing we would rather find and fix than leave for someone to discover later.
The house was handed back to her finished, clean and ready to live in. In her words:
I recently had my 1 bedroom house refurbished, and I couldn't be happier with the results. The flooring was absolutely exceptional, carefully done with great attention to detail. Every part of the work was completed with precision and care. Overall the work was carried out seamlessly. I was mostly impressed with the panelling near the staircase. Fernings were incredibly attentive throughout the entire process. I felt my needs were listened and they offered helpful advice. Their professionalism, communication, and dedication to quality really stood out. I would strongly recommend Fernings to anyone looking for reliable, high quality work. I will definitely be using them again for any future projects.
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