A Blogger’s ‘Happy Modern’ Renovated UK Home (2024)

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Name: Fritha and Tom Quinn
Location: Bristol, UK
Size: 1000 square feet
Years lived in: 7 years, owned

Lifestyle blogger Fritha Quinn — also known as Tigerlilly Quinn — lives in a two-bedroom Victorian terrace with her husband Tom and their two adorable children Wilf and Mabli. The couple bought this home seven years ago when it was in a bit of a state, and since then have slowly taken time to renovate and make it their own.

When they first bought it, the downstairs area wasn’t level, so they re-concreted the floor to make it all the same level and installed floorboards on top. Then they got rid of the fake fireplace and painted the walls, “but that’s where we ran out of budget,” Fritha says. After five years they finally finished off the renovation, creating an open, bright space for the family to hang out in, with French doors that lead out to the garden.

Fritha is a big fan of color, and this home certainly reflects that. She stripped the carpet off the stairs and had them painted bright yellow. There’s a turquoise wall in the dining room and the doors upstairs are in pink. For the bathroom, they’ve stuck to a more monochrome scheme with white subway tiles and black cabinet units, with pops of color from the beautiful blue floor tiles.

“The whole house has been a ‘fixer upper,’ and one we are still fixing up if I’m honest,” Fritha admits. But what a lovely, colorful fixer upper it is!

Apartment Therapy Survey:

My Style: Scandinavian / Mid-Century Modern

Inspiration: Colour and lots of it! I get inspiration from our city breaks; we love visiting places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Also from the illustrations from children’s books I read with the kids.

Favorite Element: I love our living/dining space the most. It’s the space we spend most of our time in and the one that’s had the most work. When we first moved in it didn’t even have a level floor, so we self leveled. Then we saved up for wood floors, then plastering, then replacing the windows and creating French doors. It’s been a real labour of love.

Biggest Challenge: The whole house has been a ‘fixer upper’ and one we are still fixing up if I’m honest. We ripped out the kitchen and with help from a friend put in a workable one around five years ago (I was nine months pregnant). But, it’s the one room that really isn’t how we’d like it. It’s the next project!

What Friends Say: Friends always comment on how colorful it is and then the next thing they say it how many “things” there are to look at! I think that’s the polite way of saying how many things I am hoarding 😉 but I take it as a compliment.

Biggest Embarrassment: I’d say our kitchen is the one place I try not to show people; we’ve pretty much left it as-is, as we know that a whole refit is on the cards for this year. So I pretty much skirt past that room whenever friends come to visit!

Proudest DIY: Tom designed and built me my own “walk-in wardrobe” as part of our bedroom. The house is only a two bedroom so our kids will share for the time being, and we don’t really have much storage anywhere. My job as a lifestyle blogger means I have a lot of clothes and this has been the perfect solution to it taking over our life.

Biggest Indulgence: I don’t think we’ve spent a huge amount on any of the pieces in our home but I suppose the super king bed was a big one. That and getting the whole bedroom decorated in Farrow and Ball wallpaper. I just love the colour of them both together and feel like it was a worthy purchase.

Best Advice: I always used to think that it made the most sense to cut costs and do it all yourself. Two children later (and both of us working full time), I’m now appreciating that asking for help is sometimes a must. I wallpapered a feature wall downstairs whilst pregnant with my youngest child and the seams were all wrong. You probably couldn’t tell too much unless you knew they were there, but it just isn’t a skill I have. I later paid for a professional to do our bedroom!

Resources:

PAINT & COLORS
Pink paint in living room – Farrow and Ball Middleton Pink
Turquoise paint in dining room – laurence llewelyn-bowen
Paint on stairs – Dulux – Goose Down Grey and Lemon Punch

ENTRY
Origami Light — Etsy

DINING ROOM
Table and bench – IKEA
Yellow chairs – Habitat
String Shelf – Made in Design
Pink drawers – Maison du Monde
Rainbow print – Anthony Burrill
Others – Ingela P Arrhenius and Habitat
Craft trays – IKEA

KITCHEN
Dresser – Vintage
Cabinets – IKEA spray painted mint
Sink – IKEA

BEDROOM
Farrow and Ball wallpaper – Wisteria
Mattress – Mattress man
Walk-in wardrobe – IKEA
Hanging light – Made
Wall light – Made
Table – West Elm

KIDS BEDROOM
Bunk Beds – George at Asda
Drawers – Maison du Monde

Thanks, Fritha!

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