My home: Rachel Newbury

Studio manager Rachel Newbury lives in a beautifully bold home in Bedminster with her husband and their two children. Photographs by Lukasz Cypis Kaminski

Each maisonette had its own entrance so it was hard to work out the overall footprint and how it could all link together as one family home. With three kitchens, three sets of stairs, and heating and electricity systems to integrate we knew it was going to be a big job. Despite everything, we were taken with the huge potential of the place, with its fantastic views of Ashton Court and the Suspension Bridge, a larger than average garden for the area, plus masses of light and space.

We listened to our instincts, designing the new layout ourselves and working to a modest budget, undertaking the renovation in chunks over six (not very easy) years. People generally shy away from strong, dark colours for fear they will make the space look smaller but this is not necessarily so in our experience. And, if you’re wrong, it’s only paint and can be fixed. In the lounge we started off by painting the chimney breast dark blue. After a few months we decided to do the whole room, inspired by the Abigail Aherne photos that I kept seeing in magazines. Since then we’ve spread the bold look into other rooms and I love the richness it brings.

Usually, we start out with pretty grand (and expensive!) ideas and schemes, which are then tailored to budget/supplier/logistical constraints. I use Pinterest as my main way to put ideas together. Pinning individual images builds up into a bigger picture that helps consolidate colour preferences, styles, layouts and so forth, and gives you a basis from which to work. We end up with a solution we’re happy with that fully reflects the feel and detail of that initial grand design.

It’s a shame all the original features were ripped out, but we like a more contemporary look anyway. It freed us up to do exactly what we wanted without feeling we had to preserve the past. Our builders advised us not to bother putting in sliding doors but we’re glad we stuck to our guns; the view over Long Ashton is fantastic. Home has always been somewhere to relax, but as we work from home this isn’t always easy! But the layout of the house makes it a great place for parties and socialising, especially when it’s hot enough to throw open those doors.

Bristol has some good reclamation yards, where we unearthed a great plan chest for the living room, plus a few other items. I think our proudest find was the 1950’s ice cream parlour bench seat, which we spotted in a reclamation yard and had re-covered. All our guests fight over sitting on it! We generally like more contemporary stuff but the odd character piece never goes amiss. Recently, we commissioned a desk of contoured birch-faced ply from local legend and friend, Richard Stump of Richard Stump Designs, and we’re trying to finish the place off with some decent art. Bristol has no shortage of good artists so it shouldn’t be too hard.