When Florence Robeyns and her family moved from a “perfectly nice house” into an expansive houseboat moored at St Katherine Dock in Wapping, something got under their skin. Having found an exceptional home that offered them an unconventional mode of living, they vowed that their next move would be to somewhere equally as special. They found that move in the form of their 5000 sq ft converted factory home, which is now currently for sale via The Modern House.

Here, ahead of the house’s sale, we sit down with Florence to hear how this remarkable project came about, what she’s enjoyed about living in a house with a dedicated cinema room and what the next chapter in her family’s adventure to live in interesting spaces will be.

Florence: “To tell a story, it’s good to start with the why. In this case, why did we spend two years rebuilding and converting this building? Well, because we wanted to create one of the best houses in London. It sounds a bit ambitious, but we thought the bare bones of the building were out of the ordinary enough that it had the potential to be that.

“The place we lived in before was a houseboat, moored in St Katherine Dock. That was such an experience for us; as a family, it changed everything. The houseboat opened up a completely different lifestyle, and we decided that this is what we wanted to do, and carry on doing.

“When we sold it we had no idea where we were going to go, but we wanted to experience the same way of living, just on terra firma. We were open to lots of different ideas and cast our net wide because it was always going to be the space that would drive our decision.

“When we first saw this place online, the pictures were so over the top that we didn’t really know what to expect. The location was good, though, and the cinema intrigued us. When we set foot through the door, I felt like we were stepping into a badly designed Miami Vice-esque set. It was originally converted 10 years ago by someone who got it really wrong – who wants white marble and Roman columns in this part of town?

“But, as we progressed through the viewing, we projected a vision for what else it could become. We thought we could do it justice and find the lifestyle we fell in love with on the houseboat.

“Essentially, the problems were that the space felt constricted, hidden and that its volume wasn’t celebrated. We wanted to get back to the original, industrial DNA of the building with things like removing unnecessary walls, getting rid of the white marble, exposing the beams, which had been hidden, and putting in concrete floors.

“But then we also needed space, which, given the house is over 5000 sq ft, we found plenty of here! We created bedrooms and also areas, which played with the specificities of the building – we couldn’t alter the structure too much so we created zones designed to accommodate living, working and entertaining. We live as a large family, host people often, I work as a freelancer from home, and my husband is a big advocate for working remotely, so we wanted the space to be able to do all that.

“And, we wanted to be able to use different parts of the house flexibly. So, when we want to entertain people or host an event, for example, we can keep the private areas of the house completely sectioned-off. The master bedroom and other smaller bedroom upstairs can be completely invisible and you can walk in and see the house only as an entertaining space. Even the kitchen door can be closed off.

“But, then, if we want to live in a more relaxed way, it’s very easy to – we just open up the house up and it immediately feels like a family home. So, those were the guiding principles, to facilitate our lifestyle and restore the industrial heritage of the building.

“We did a lot of bespoke work, such as the staircase, which was a huge amount of engineering and design. And light was a big thing, too. We have tried to let in as much light in as possible, and that redefined the space as you can see the lines, the shapes and materials. I think you have to emphasise those details in a house.

“The only thing the first conversion got right was the cinema room, so we kept it. It’s been such a joy to have that room and I can never go back to watching movies on a TV screen now, so we’ve been spoiled in some ways. The sound quality is unbelievable and makes for a special experience.

“The last thing we did was to treat furniture like art. We spent a lot of the budget furnishing it to high standards because, to us, that was what would make it special. We chose each piece carefully, mixing it with the odd high street bits, which I like as well, and then some antiques and bespoke furniture. It was a combination of having good craftsmanship, good brands, and touches of more everyday pieces – a bit like fashion.

“Most people would never guess this house was here, which we like. For such a large home, it’s very inconspicuous from the street and, to me, it feels something like a Moroccan riad in that way – you don’t see anything on the outside because it’s all happening inside.

“That feeling is helped by the fact that we don’t hear almost any road noise here – it’s quite remarkable. The house is almost totally silent, despite being right next to the Overground.

“And the area is great. It’s regenerating and the transport links mean you can be almost anywhere in London in 15-20 minutes. The reason we moved in the first place was to be somewhere our children could all get to their different schools easily, and being so close to an Overground line, tube station and bus connections has ticked that box.

“And we are close to the river, which I love. It takes less than a couple of minutes to get to the Thames.

“This house has worked so well for us and has done everything we wanted it to do. We’ve lived as a family of six, plus friends and family and that’s what we like. It’s a luxury to have a house like this and, actually, it’s the luxury we prioritise: we don’t go on expensive trips or anything, so we invest in places that we want to live and can have people over.

“It’s worked really well for us, but the last of our four children has just left to go to university, and now is the time for us to have another adventure somewhere else. We have found a Spanish, hacienda-like house in Biarritz that was built at the beginning of the 20th century, when the town was at its peak as a glitzy seaside destination.

“We will definitely keep a place in London, though. We moved here from France 17 years ago and we have fallen in love with London, it’s home now.”