by You won’t see a single white wall or ceiling in Ana Estrougo’s house. In fact, the only place she chose white is on the door hinges and the bathroom sinks and vanities. “I wanted it to feel like a fun, lively house,” says Estrougo, founder of The Octopus Club, a second-hand market for children’s clothes and children’s toys.
Motherhood transformed the entrepreneur, whose previous home – a flat in the Jam Factory a stone’s throw from Tower Bridge – was a sea of grey, black and white. Then, five years ago, her son Max arrived. When she moved out to the leafy outskirts of Richmond with her husband Andy, she says: “I’ve really gone out of my way. I wanted our home to inspire creativity and happiness for him.”
The fun feeling starts from the outside, and the yellow painted exterior rendering welcomes everyone. Inside, a warm shade of plaster-pink covers almost every surface, dotted with bright yellow for the new stairs and doors.
It’s a nod to the previous owner, who dressed in yellow and even drove a yellow car. “It’s a way to celebrate her, and it feels like a continuation of her journey,” Estrougo says.
There is much more thoughtful touch throughout the Art Deco half. In 2023, the project-managed property at Estrougo underwent a 10-month gut renovation. In line with their mission to live more sustainably, this involved reusing where possible, supporting small makers and researching manufacturing chains.
Estrougo, who is from Brazil, has only bought herself pre-loved clothes for the past four years, and her Instagram community of 24,000 people agrees with The Octopus Club. “How we choose to use our money is so powerful, it’s so important to understand that everything we buy is a vote,” she says.
While she emphasizes that her house is not a perfect case study, she is eager to share progressive steps and things she learns with other renovators.
A house for the future
Two years, Estrougo looked at about 40 properties in the area. Having identified this street of Thirties houses as offering good value for money, and not lacking in sales, she wrote to the sellers. “I was honest that we were going to renovate it, but I explained how much we liked the vibe,” she says. It was a shrewd thing that emerged in the competition.
The lead pipes and electrical could not be updated, and Estrougo enlisted architectural studio NimTim to design the loft renovation and kitchen extension. In order to make the house solid and warm, insulation was added.
Triple-glazed windows with narrow frames from the Danish supplier VELFAC were a bit lucky. To preserve the integrity of the house, Estrougo went to Crittall and reproduced the curved front windows with double glazing. Hoping that the fit-out will help reduce energy bills down the line, another benefit is how the interior is flooded with natural light. The house is also ready with a heat pump.
These additions are not sexy and glamorous, but as Estrougo reasons: “We want to live here for a long time, and by doing this, it is a house for the future.”
Reuse, recycle and… shred
Formerly a graphic designer, Estrougo has an impeccable attention to detail. This explains why it took her four months to find the perfect kitchen worktop. Granted, the gorgeous green Brazilian granite she chose certainly comes with a few miles of air, but once the template was cut, she used every last bit.
The builder cut remnants in the tops for the bathroom counters and the recessed shelves in the hallway, which helps with visual continuity throughout the house. Any small chips were put into the garden along with the amount of rubble that could be used to level the sloping lawn. “I asked him to crumble,” she cried.
For the downstairs loo, Estrougo used tiles left over from the upstairs bathrooms and an open can of paint from her mother-in-law. Elsewhere, the removal of the original fireplaces yielded a large supply of London bricks, which Estrougo relaid in a staggered formation around the sliding kitchen doors.
It’s a curious detail that shows the way the front door is framed. Her advice is to share your vision with your builder: “We had a great construction team and of course there were loads of stuff coming out, but I said at the start I just wanted the bare minimum throw away.”
Do your homework
First, a disclaimer: The Estrougo kitchen carcass is from Ikea. As costs were increasing (see windows mentioned above) she needed units on a budget. “They are meant to last a long time, and the METOD system comes with a 25-year guarantee,” she says.
But she made up for it by choosing colorful facades from HØLTE, which manufactures in the UK using only FSC or PEFC accredited wood. “They are the only kitchen design studio that calculates the impact of CO2-e, which enables them to find opportunities for innovation and reduce emissions,” Estrougo explains.
They also provided personal service, guiding her through her last-minute pink and green color pairing. “I definitely doubted myself at times, because I’m not an interior designer. But I had my mood boards and I took a leap of faith,” she says of the whole decor.
The cupboard handles are from Swarf, a contemporary hardware brand produced in small batches in the UK. And Little Greene is all water-based paint, chosen because its VOC content (the gases that emit bad paints) is almost zero.
Smart shop
All of Estrougo’s loose furniture is second-hand — with the exception of the dining table, which was a post-show find (her old Ercol wood dining table had its legs sawn off and is now a large-scale coffee table). She donated mid-century pieces to Crystal Palace Antiques, and bought a giant Camerich sofa from a neighbor at the Jam Factory for a song.
The aforementioned bathroom vanities are Ikea again, but elevated with towel holders and green granite. “Things don’t have to be expensive to be nice, you just have to find ways to make them look your own,” she advises.
To save money she asked for trade discounts, sometimes getting 20 percent off. With the power of hindsight, she wishes she had shopped more from outlets: “There are outlets for everything, including tiles, and it’s all a fraction of the price.” The biggest find was the iron bath: “It lasts longer than plastic and keeps the water warmer longer.”
She also splashed out on a few unique lighting fixtures, such as the pendant in the staircase, from design studio Hand and Eye. “If we buy from businesses we believe in, we’re empowering them to continue,” she says. It is almost a year since the work was completed, and the town has a personality.
“This house took me on a journey, because I knew I wanted color but I didn’t want it to be dated,” she says. Estrougo even started wearing a bit of yellow herself: “It helped me to change the way I dress – I’m much more adventurous in using color in my life after I got married and I did the house like this.”
