London designer Cassandra Ellis specializes in transforming houses that are seemingly beyond repair into homes of quiet repose before moving on to the next project. Renovation is a way of life for her.
When she took on a late Victorian Terrace house in Peckham Rye a while back, her intention was to create ?a family home for my extended brood, which includes my partner, his children who join us on weekends and holidays, and our dogs, of course,? she says. ?I think a lot about the container and the people. The decoration comes last.?
In furnishing the space, she was inspired to launch Cassandra Ellis, her own eponymous line of furniture and homewares, due to “the inferior quality of the High Street offerings,” as she says. (Of one upholstered chair, a High Street purchase, she says “I could move it with one hand, which is bad”). She now works with independent craftsmen across Britain who use “excellent materials and craftsmanship with an aim toward creating “quiet and thoughtful design, responsible production and quality that lasts.” Join us for a tour.
Photography by Catherine Gratwicke.

Above: Bringing the light in and creating generous flow of space are hallmarks of Ellis’s designs. “London terrace houses can be dark and obstructive,” she says. The walls of the front room are painted French Grey Pale by Little Greene. She maximizes the light without compromising privacy by using an opaque window film on...