At home with a restored Paphos townhouse

From the lane it gives nothing away: a stone facade, a worn door, a number. Inside, five years of patient work have opened a courtyard to the sky and set new steel beside old limestone without either apologising for the other.

The owners resisted every temptation to flatten and start again. What they kept, the crooked stair, the deep window seats, the smell of the stone after rain, is exactly what no new build can buy.