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The first-floor drawing room looking towards the fireplace

Sheet W-01 · Townhouse refurbishment · Sample project

Marylebone Townhouse

Marylebone, London · Design: [Design studio]

Location
Marylebone, London
Type
Townhouse refurbishment
Year
2025
Area
[Area] m²
Design
[Design studio]
Client
[Private client]

01The brief

The designer's brief was a house that felt as if it had always been this way. Atlas's brief was to build it without anyone noticing how much had changed.

The designer drew every room around its joinery: panelled walls, concealed doors, and cabinetry that meets the cornice exactly. A Georgian house has almost nowhere to hide modern services, so the building work had to make room for the design rather than the other way round.

Atlas took the drawings as the fixed point. Anything on site that disagreed with them was brought back to the designer as a question, never solved quietly as a compromise.

Atlas provided

  • Main contractor, single contract with the designer
  • Programme and site management
  • Building control liaison
  • Joinery and specialist coordination
  • Mechanical and electrical coordination
  • Snagging, handover and aftercare

Details

Storeys
Five, lower ground to third
Programme
[Weeks] on site
Occupancy
Vacant during works

02How it was built

From the drawings to handover, stage by stage.

  1. Stage 01[Weeks 1–3]

    Survey and set-out

    Every wall was measured against the designer's drawings before anything was removed. Where the house was out of true, the drawings were adjusted with the designer, not on site.

  2. Electrical cabling and connectors inside an open party wall before boarding

    Stage 02[Weeks 4–12]

    Opening up and first fix

    Services were rerouted floor by floor inside the party walls, so nothing new would show once the rooms were panelled.

  3. Stage 03[Weeks 10–24]

    Joinery

    Panelling was templated in the rooms and made off site. Each room's joinery was signed off by the designer before the next room was closed up.

  4. Stage 04[Weeks 24–30]

    Finishing and handover

    Decoration, ironmongery and final fix followed a room-by-room snagging list shared with the designer, closed before handover.

03Materials & finishes

Materials and finishes schedule
MaterialFinishWhereSupplied by
OakOakFumed and oiledPanelling and joinery[Joinery workshop]
LimestoneLimestoneHonedHall and stair[Stone supplier]
Lime plasterLime plasterPolishedPrincipal rooms[Specialist plasterer]
BrassBrassUnlacqueredIronmongery and switches[Ironmongery supplier]
MarbleMarbleHonedPrincipal bathroom[Stone supplier]
Exposed timber stud wall with electrical cabling threaded through before boarding
Fig. 01 — Before boarding — Exposed timber stud wall with electrical cabling threaded through before boarding
A carpenter hand-planing a length of timber on the workshop bench
Fig. 02 — Craft — A carpenter hand-planing a length of timber on the workshop bench
A stone staircase leading up from the entrance hall
Fig. 03 — Finished — A stone staircase leading up from the entrance hall
A brass door handle and lock plate on a painted timber door
Fig. 04 — Craft — A brass door handle and lock plate on a painted timber door

05The result

The house reads as one continuous piece of work, from lower ground to the top floor, and no trace of what had to be moved to make it so.

The first-floor drawing room looking towards the fireplace
Left — The designer's elevation of the drawing room fireplace wallRight — The first-floor drawing room looking towards the fireplace
“[The designer's words on the finished project — to be supplied with permission.]”
— [Name], [Design studio]
A candlelit period parlour with a fireplace, wingback chair and a tea table
Fig. R1 — The drawing room, as drawn · Design: [Design studio]
The principal bedroom with a square-panelled feature wall behind the bed
Fig. R2 — The principal bedroom with a square-panelled feature wall behind the bed
Fig. R3 — The stair from the top landing

06Credits

Interior design
[Design studio]
Construction
Atlas
Client
[Private client]
Photography
[Photographer]
Trades coordinated
Building control, Construction, Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC, Carpentry, Specialist trades, Decorating, Site management

Next in the set

Planning a townhouse refurbishment? Start with the drawings.

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