Bold claim: a chaotic Victorian interior can become a warm, daylight-filled sanctuary in the heart of London. But here’s where it gets controversial: turning disordered spaces into cohesive beauty isn’t just about pretty finishes—it’s a patient rethinking of structure, flow, and how we live every day. Laura Logan, a former lawyer turned interior designer, demonstrates this masterfully in her Leytonstone home, which she shares with her husband and two young children.
The couple moved in 2019 after years of living nearby and renovating a smaller local house they loved. Laura explains that she repeatedly passed the house with the handsome Victorian frontage and gradually fell for it—like a silent crush that grew until the opportunity finally appeared to buy it.
Step inside and you’ll encounter a bright, serene home with open spaces, modern minimalism, and an inviting tactility. The interiors feature limewash walls, oversized vases with structural branches, expansive neutrals, and light oak beams that echo from the exterior to the interior. This wasn’t the original state. Laura recalls the kitchen as cramped and the décor as eccentrically excessive—gold leaf ceilings and Michelangelo-style murals in the bedrooms, among other quirks.
Externally, the house is framed in oak; that same oak language runs throughout the interior, with joinery by Tim Gaudin and a rear extension designed with EJ Studio. Laura describes the goal as reestablishing coherence within the original Victorian envelope while creating the light and space Victorian homes often lack. The south-facing rear and a very large garden were crucial considerations, making a rear extension a logical decision to realize a daylight-filled kitchen and dining area that connects seamlessly with the outdoors. The oak-framed façade became a foundational design decision, one intended to welcome visitors into a warm, sanctuary-like environment even amid London’s bustle. Material choices play a central role in achieving that feel.
The house earns its tactile reputation through thoughtful materials. Bauwerk paint coats the walls, while the kitchen island—a vintage refectory table sourced on eBay—adds patina and invites touch. A microcement floor softly diffuses light from the generous window swathes. Laura notes her attraction to tactile environments that emphasize natural materials and local craftsmanship, designed to invite reflection and interaction.
In the dining area, Bauwerk limewash continues the material story. The furnishings include a Lercolani table and chairs, with artwork by Alexandra Yan Wong, ceramics from And Four Studio, and Sway Ceramics enriching the surface and walls.
Laura’s approach to furnishing follows her architectural sensibility: deliberate, eclectic, and focused on synthesis. The project confronted significant challenges—COVID, new babies, contractor issues, and remote project management via bi-weekly Zoom calls. Yet the result speaks to her method: a circular approach that prioritizes recycling and reusability, with a buy-once-and-buy-well philosophy when new pieces are necessary.
Remarkably, this house is Laura’s first professional interior-design project. She trained at KLC School of Interior Design in 2022 and launched House of Logan in tandem with the build, going public in 2023. Before committing full-time to design, she balanced it with other work through out-of-office hours. Reactions to the home have been broadly positive: adults marvel at how well Victorian and modernist aesthetics coexist, while children simply adore the light and space. In Laura’s view, we’re all essentially kids when it comes to our love of daylight and openness.
If you’d like to explore more about Laura Logan and her work, you can visit House of Logan at houseoflogan.co.uk.
