With more spending money around and a wealth of experienced craftsmen now working in Londinium, home-owners are looking at more modern trends of fashionable decoration.
When Londinium was first created, houses were built quickly and were often quite flimsy - new settlers had to manage in houses that were often not of a type they desired.
A century on, Londinium’s wealthier houses are now being built to the owners’ specifications. Follow our guide to buying the best.
Keeping up appearances
Although many of the houses may look the same as before, they are now built to last longer. Damp can cause numerous structural problems and better foundations should prevent the need for regular re-plastering and painting.
Surveying tip: To combat rising damp, check your house has some form of foundation.
Doubling up
Some houses are now built with an upper storey and they have, by necessity, wider load-bearing walls. This may be why there is now a move for richer houses to be built of stone - only afforded by the very rich. The cost of building stone is exorbitant and up until now, has been only used for public buildings.
Roofing tip: When planning a new stone house, specify a clay tiled roof, so that your house will mirror the best of the public buildings.
Fashionable interiors
Internally, walls are still plastered - so versatile and easy to clean. Coloured pigments, applied to damp freshly-plastered walls, are fixed by the water evaporating to form a translucent wipeable layer.
Plain bright coloured panels above a dado-height horizontal line of colour, so fashionable a few years ago, are now being replaced with figural scenes in all upper class fashionable houses.
Make-over tip: When tired of a colour scheme, just apply a thin layer of plaster and apply your new mural. And what better choice for the dining room than Bacchus, god of wine, partying with his entourage?
Designed to impress
Most new floors are laid to be hard-wearing but the ultimate status symbol is the mosaic floor. Not the plain single-colour type but elaborately patterned with multi-coloured twisted plaits, stylised flowers or geometric designs.
Design tip: Check out the local mosaicists’ pattern books for the latest designs – another way to impress your guests!
