Selby Road, Leytonstone, London, E11

In a great location tucked between High Road Leytonstone and the green expanse of Wanstead Flats, this meticulously designed Victorian house has been lovingly renovated from top to bottom, creating a beautiful, stylish, light-filled and comfortable home. 

Over the last few years, the current owners have undertaken sensitive restorations and practical improvements. These include fitting flat black sockets and switches throughout, the installation of a new heating system with an eco-boiler, Nest thermostat, column-style radiators, and underfloor heating, along with new double-glazed timber sash windows.  

Enhanced by an expertly curated calming palette of Little Greene and Farrow & Ball shades, period features such as Victorian hallway tiles and floorboards were brought back to life, and ceiling coving and fireplaces (sympathetic to the originals) were reinstated.  Four-panel fire-rated doors with satin brass beehive doorknobs have also been fitted.

STEP INSIDE

The house greets you with a traditional London Stock brick frontage, with pretty white-painted stone sills, lintels and columns to the bay window. It’s shielded from the street by a low rendered wall with a planter filled with Stipa grass and a green timber gate. This opens to a patio with sawn-edge grey Kandula sandstone, Cotswold stone chippings, a smoke bush and Hydrangea Paniculata Limelight, which changes from white to green to pink over the late summer months. 

Follow the path to a recessed, decoratively arched porch and a sage part-glazed timber front door with a charming brass bee-shaped knocker and a numbered transom above. On entering, stunning Victorian patterned hallway tiles, original to the house, complement the stone-coloured paintwork on the walls below the dado rail and the white tones above.

A door to your left leads to a dual-aspect lounge lit by a front-facing bay with tier-on-tier louvred shutters and a tall garden-facing sash to the rear. The walls here are painted in Farrow & Ball ‘Shaded White’, selected to complement the north/south dual aspect, while handmade plaster coving and roses with pendant fittings grace the high ceilings. A pair of column-style radiators keep things toasty, while the characterful reclaimed herringbone parquet flooring has been finished with a natural varnish. 

Meanwhile, a decorative marble fireplace with a slate hearth makes a wonderful focal point, with a bespoke cupboard and bookshelf fitted in the alcove to the left. You’ll find more custom-made storage under the stairs – a media and TV unit concealed behind sliding pocket doors, as well as handy coat and meter cupboards.

Step down and through an Eclisse pocket door into the dining kitchen, featuring contemporary IKEA units with bespoke ply-fronted cabinetry and stain brass handles, topped by a fantastic monochrome Diespeker & Co terrazzo worktop and upstand. 

With crisp white walls, the room is bathed in light from side-facing anthracite aluminium casement windows, a large skylight over the dining area and tri-fold doors opening onto the garden. In winter, underfloor heating – with its own Nest thermostat – warms the grey poured-resin floor, which is easier to clean and more forgiving than concrete. 

Contemporary black adjustable spotlights run overhead, while integrated black appliances include a NEFF double oven, a John Lewis dishwasher, a four-ring induction hob with an overhead Hotpoint extractor, and a Miele washing machine. There’s also a ceramic sink with a pull-down tap and room for a freestanding fridge-freezer. The cupboard at the end features a power socket and worktop slab to function as a concealed tea and coffee station. 

Head upstairs via a staircase with timber treads, bannister and spindles painted in ‘Lamp Black’ by Little Greene to the first floor, where the original floorboards have been painstakingly sanded and restored, flowing along the landing and into both bedrooms.

The primary double to the front is a calm and peaceful space that runs the full width of the house. A pair of horizontal column-style radiators sit beneath a pair of sash windows fitted with solid timber shutters for maximum room darkening at bedtime. 

There’s another statement cast-iron fireplace, contrasting with the pink walls, painted in ‘’Fresh Plaster’ by Craig & Rose, and a white ceiling with reinstated coving. Integrated full-height wardrobes provide ample storage, and there’s also a central pendant light fitting.

Beyond, you’ll find the second bedroom. Another good-sized double, it’s painted in ‘Livid’ by Little Greene and looks out on the garden through a tall sash window – again fitted with solid timber shutters and a column-style radiator beneath. 

The spacious family bathroom lies at the rear, where matt-white wall tiles and a charcoal-tiled floor create the backdrop for a luxurious walk-in wet-room-style waterfall shower with custom frameless glass screen, toiletry niches and black fittings. A separate handheld attachment serves the shower and a showstopping freestanding bath with matt black taps beneath a wide frosted sash window. 

The suite is completed by a marble-topped Crosswater vanity with a wide sink, wall-mounted tapware, and a concealed cistern RAK loo. Further details include a dedicated heated towel rail, a black column-style radiator, and contemporary black wall lights framing the vanity mirror. The Vaillant Green IQ EcoTech boiler, fitted in 2019, is also housed here, hidden away inside a useful storage cupboard.

Take a second matching staircase to the cleverly configured loft suite, where a skylight on the landing draws light down to the heart of the home. Soft white walls combine with wide plank oak engineered flooring for a stylish Scandi feel, echoed by a wall of bespoke ply panelling in the loft bedroom, which acts as a headboard and is fitted with globe bedside wall lights.

With rooftop views to the rear through an anthracite grey uPVC French door with a Juliet balcony and further light flooding in from a large front-facing Velux, the bedroom is both peaceful and practical, with soft blue-grey walls, a tall black column-style radiator, and discreet access to useful eaves storage.

A roomy walk-through wardrobe and dressing area with bespoke cabinetry and knurled brass handles leads through a pocket door to the second bathroom, lit by a pair of frosted casement windows. 

Featuring a wet-room-style walk-in waterfall shower with partial glass screen, a RAK concealed cistern loo, and a countertop basin with an overhead mirrored unit, the bathroom's walls and floor are tiled in fabulous pale green Winckelmans tiles, a nod to the Victorian hallway downstairs. 

OUTDOORS

The south-facing garden extends to 25ft, and enjoys the sun for most of the day, from mid-morning onwards. Enclosed in slatted timber fencing, a sawn-edge grey Kandula sandstone patio steps up to a grassy lawn, edged with twin rendered planters and a bench with an inbuilt herb garden. Other plants include climbing jasmine, euphorbia, purple salvia and rosemary.

To the rear is a further area of sandstone – ideal for bikes, storage or a barbecue –and an airy workshop with painted walls, a casement window, engineered wood flooring and power. Currently used as storage, it could be a brilliant home office, playroom, exercise or studio space.

A NOTE FROM THE OWNERS

‘This has been the perfect family home, and the road itself has a real sense of community, from friendly neighbour WhatsApp groups to festive window displays at Christmas. We’ve enjoyed preserving, restoring and reinstating as many original features as possible, and almost every corner of the house gets lovely light throughout the day – not always easy to come by in Victorian terraces.’

GETTING AROUND

Leyton Underground for the Central line is just a short walk away (17 minutes), with the Elizabeth line available in the other direction at Maryland rail station – also reachable by foot. From here, it’s just a short journey to Liverpool Street and one stop from Stratford’s major interchange with the DLR, Central and Jubilee lines, along with shopping, cinema and food at Westfield and East Village. Various local bus stops run regular services to Stratford, too. Leytonstone High Road (Overground) is also nearby.

IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

Selby Road is part of a quiet pocket of Victorian streets between the lower end of High Road Leytonstone and the wonderful Wanstead Flats – a walking, jogging and mountain-biking paradise that acts as a gateway to Epping Forest. Nearby Chalet Wood also provides a beautiful carpet of bluebells every spring.

Alternatively, run through Hollow Pond and beyond, exploring the forest trails, or head to Langthorne Park for pools, wildlife, basketball courts, a play park and an outdoor gym. You are also just 1.5 miles from the Olympic Park with all it has to offer.

Within a 10-minute walk is the lovely Leytonstone Tavern (check out the fantastic burgers and roasts), the new coffee shop Tamping Grounds, Kotch for pizza, and The Rookwood Village pub with its stylish interior, deck and electronic darts. Stroll a few minutes further to explore Winchelsea Road’s artisanal food and drink scene, including The Wanstead Tap, Rambles Café, and Wild Goose Bakery for custard tarts.

The High Road is only a few minutes’ walk away and has many cafés and convenience stores at its southern end. If you like traditional Neapolitan pizza, check out Bocca Bocca. Other local favourites include Sunday roasts at the Holly Tree pub, Singburi for famously good Thai food, after-work drinks at Mammoth taproom, the Leytonstone arts trail, and the weekly local farmers’ market beside Cann Hall Park, with its coffee shop, play areas and skatepark.

The current owners particularly recommend Back to Ours for a great flat white and Dina Wines for interesting bottles and pop-up chef residencies. 

SCHOOLS

The popular Jenny Hammond Primary School is just a minute away and rated Good by Ofsted. Davies Lane Primary School is a short walk away and is rated Outstanding. You’ll also find Buxton School within a five-minute stroll and a few nurseries nearby.