HOMES

victorian townhouse | 25bh25bh october 2017 | 77``````1 Play areaJungle-style wallpaperprovides plenty ofvisual stimulation.Merian Palm wallpaper,£126m, timorousbeasties. try thetropical Green rug, £875,the rugs Warehouse``````2 Dining areaLight floods the space,even on a gloomy day.riva 1920 dining table,from £1,600; bench,£1,100, Martinel Store.Hand-blown pendants,from £424, Niche``````kitchen &cOUrtyarDLime green notesecho the lush plantingin the courtyard.bespoke kitchen,£55,000, ZacharyPulman Design Studio``````3 SittingrOOMThe seating area iszoned by a striped rug.try oriental WeaversVesta rug, from £89.99,Wayfair. riva 1920 FaloStool side table, £600,Martinel Store###### Bringing the tropics to london wasValerie leipheimer’s mission whenshe and her husband, Peter allen,bought their Victorian terraceseven years ago. ‘Pete and i spent a lot of timetravelling before we had our sons, logan, 8,and Jensen, 6,’ says Valerie, ‘so i wanted toreflect our exotic adventures in our new home.‘i was born in california, and have livedand worked in new york and italy, too,’ shecontinues. ‘So i have a love of contemporaryarchitecture and design that i thought wouldfuse well with an older property.’ the coupledecided to employ architecture and designcompany Zachary Pulman Design Studioto take on the renovation work. ‘Pete andi have been inspired by the hotels andrestaurants that we’ve visited over the years,’explains Valerie, ‘so i liked the fact thatZach works on a lot of commercial projectsas well as homes.’the couple, both lawyers, wanted to ridthe old property of its gloomy interior. ‘thehouse was a series of dark rooms, particularlythe ground floor,’ she recalls. ‘there was aformal dining room, an isolated kitchen andthe family room had no windows. We wantedto eliminate all the internal walls to create afully open-plan space. it works really well –we can keep an eye on the boys, even if we’reat opposite ends of the space. it’s fantasticwhen we have friends and family over, too.’another major part of the ground flooroverhaul was linking the interior to thegarden, as Valerie explains: ‘the courtyardmight not be huge, but having even a little bitof outdoor space is a real bonus in london.When we bought the house, it wasn’t beingutilised to full effect, so we designed a glassextension that brings the outdoors in. We’ve23