‘We got a surprise discount on our £500k Cornish home – then restored its Georgian glory’

Colin made the window seats out of one of their old worktops and some MDF while Sophie made the pelmets by buying three pairs of Ikea curtains for £60 a pair and using an extra curtain to cover each of the pelmets.

To decorate their walls, the couple chose Wainscott panelling and Lincrusta wallpaper above the picture rail, a thick textured wall covering used by the Victorians as an alternative to decorative plasterwork. The hearth, already a feature of the home when the couple moved, is believed to date back to the Victorian era. 

Sophie’s luxury buy for the room was her chandelier from Pure White Lines which the couple got at a discount. Full price it would have set them back around £2,500.

Offsetting that expense is a budget sideboard, bought from Facebook Marketplace, which Sophie painted in the shade Copper Beach from Paint and Paper Library – the same colour used for the back of the bar. 

Vintage art in ornate frames can be found on most of the walls in the house. “We’re really into art,” says Sophie, “which is exactly what a house like this needs. 

“I’ve set up my own business, Ellis & Alexander, digitally remastering vintage artwork and my husband frames them.”

Francesca says: “This space is a great example of how you can mix high-end items with DIY hacks. The alcove bar with its decorative edges, gold hinges and gold shelf rails work well. The whole feature looks like it’s always been there.” 

Keen sewers, adds Francesca, can take Sophie’s homemade pelmet project a step further by using a curtain as fabric to create some matching cushion covers.

The bead panelling and the textured wallpaper border above the picture rail make the room feel bigger, she says. 

When adding a dado rail to a space, as a rule of thumb, aim to have the rail a quarter of the way down your wall.

Meanwhile, a picture rail which is positioned closer to the ceiling can make a space look bigger by having the wall above it painted in the same colour as the ceiling. 

The rail can also elongate a space as the line across the room draws your eye.