1890s Victorian townhouse in London filled with vintage finds

‘I once came back from Paris with the head of an African cow from the 1920s and a ceramic parrot from the 1950s,’ says Laura Padovani. ‘I picked them up in the famous Saint-Ouen flea market, knowing they’d look great in my living room, but they were quite a talking point on the Eurostar home too!’

Although raised in Argentina by Italian parents, Laura’s home for the past seven years has been a double-fronted 1890s townhouse in south-east London, which she has filled with vintage finds. Some, like the cow’s head, were gathered on travels abroad, other pieces were found much closer to home.

A 1950s-style fringed chair left in the street outside turned out to be perfect for Laura’s living room, and a friend’s gift of a Staffordshire figure he’d found on eBay marked the start of something big – Laura’s now-extensive blue-and-white pottery collection.

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Her Victorian townhouse has its own story to tell, as well as some battle scars, too. It was only when Laura was planning a veranda-style extension that she noticed a large section of mismatched bricks across half of the first floor. ‘The builder told me that because the house is so close to Woolwich and London’s Docks it must have been hit by a stray bomb. The line of bricks is where the back of the house was rebuilt,’ says Laura. ‘Later, when I was having the floor levelled, we found 1950s newspapers under the old floorboards, which is when the bomb repairs must have taken place.’

Taking her time to get to know the property, Laura decorated gradually and waited for the right pieces to turn up. ‘I painted it all white and waited a few months to see where the light fell and how each room felt,’ she says. ‘Then I chose three complementary greys and started to pull it together with things I’ve actively gone looking for – such as my various chapel chairs – and other pieces I’ve found by accident, like the copper pans.’ The gleaming pots were bought for £150 in an end-of-line sale at Scotts of Stow, and restore a touch of Victoriana to the fitted kitchen.

Car booting is a weekly treat for Laura. ‘I don’t have expensive tastes,’ she says. ‘Don’t give me diamonds, clothes or Prada bags. Give me flowers from Columbia Road, and let me browse a good car boot sale. Nothing makes me happier than finding things with a story behind them.’

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Sometimes it takes Laura a long time to make a find, but she says she’s not in a hurry. ‘I’d rather have things around me that are special and mean something,’ she says. For that reason, some 15 years ago, Laura’s mother boarded a flight from Buenos Aires to Heathrow with an unusual piece of luggage. It was Laura’s favourite toy as a toddler: a very well-loved and worn out push-along horse, which is now on display in the main bedroom and holds memories of a childhood lived almost 7,000 miles away.

It was through her mother, an artist, that Laura developed an appreciation of paintings, fine craftsmanship and interesting found objects. ‘I remember her taking me to a flea market near our home in Buenos Aires, when I was just 10 years old. I bought a green fish jug from an Argentinian lady who’d lived in the UK,’ recalls Laura. The piece eventually found its way back to England with Laura, who now knows it to be a 1950s Dartmouth gurgle fish jug.

‘I’ve built up quite a collection now, but that first one was very special: a real vintage piece with an enamelled finish,’ she adds. ‘Anywhere I see them I buy them, even if the colour is not my favourite.’ Gathered from Brighton, Paris, Rome and Buenos Aires, the fish have found their forever home with Laura, alongside her ever-growing collections of blue-and-white china, ceramic parrots and other international rescues.

1890s Victorian townhouse in London filled with vintage finds

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