Victorian Modern

The ultimate design bible for the Victorian home, placing period features and 19th-century design in context and exploring how today’s designers are adapting these houses in innovative ways for contemporary lifestyles.

With a fifth of the UK’s population living in a Victorian home, how to style and adapt these 19th-century properties to contemporary living is always on trend. While Pinterest, Instagram and magazines can offer flashes of inspiration to those looking to design their Victorian home, Victorian Modern provides in-depth information and context, not only on why Victorian houses were built and designed as they are, but also how modern designers are adapting and styling these houses in fresh and innovative ways that are sympathetic to the period, while bringing them up-to-date for the way we live today.

Victorian Modern comprises seven chapters, organized according to how we use our homes: dining, cooking, entertaining, sleeping, bathing, working, along with transitional spaces (hallways, boot rooms and garden rooms). Each chapter explains how the Victorians designed and decorated these spaces, before moving on to their modern interpretations. Sprinkled throughout are practical decorating tips and information on the origins of the architectural features of the period.

Combining cultural context with advice and inspiration from the homes of interior designers, architects and stylists, Victorian Modern reveals how the history and design of nineteenth-century homes can influence and inform our modern lifestyles and home decor in fresh and interesting ways.

About the Authors

Jo Leevers is a writer, editor and stylist. She works regularly for Living etc, Elle Decoration, World of Interiors, Stella, Homes & Gardens, the Telegraph, Guardian and Observer, and is the author of Global Style.

Rachael Smith is a photographer who studied under Mark Power, winning the Nagoya Award for artistic achievement for her degree show. She works regularly for World of Interiors, House & Garden, Elle Decoration, Homes & Gardens, and leading magazines in Europe and Asia. Her work has been published in several interior design books, most recently The House of Glam.