The final piece of the puzzle was the entrance. ‘The door they had been using was tucked in a corner, so it just didn’t feel right,’ says Simon. The new porch is front and centre (well actually just off centre due to a dividing wall), and opens onto a smart blue boot room, fitted out with bespoke joinery. It feels at once classic and contemporary – a theme that runs through this house.
‘It was a slightly more modern brief, but with relaxed touches, almost bohemian,’ says Holly. The kitchen, for instance, has everything you’d expect in a typical country-house scheme – finely crafted joinery, oak-topped island, limestone floor – while the dining area has a rustic charm, with chicken-wire doors on the cupboards, woven willow pendant lights and French 1950s ox-back chairs. These chairs are among a number of antique, vintage and reclaimed pieces that Holly sourced specifically for this project, from markets, fairs and online sellers.
In lieu of full curtains or blinds, Holly designed little fabric pelmets for the kitchen windows, made in cornflower blue ‘Narrow Stripe’ from Volga Linen.
Chris Snook
‘The mirrors in the bathroom have to be one of my favourite ever finds,’ she says. ‘They’re super heavy so we had to have extra support put in that wall.’ The tiled wall of the shower, meanwhile, has been inset with an old ship’s window that brings in extra light and character. ‘I also love the wooden armchair in the bedroom that I found at Kempton,’ adds Holly. ‘I’m still a bit gutted I didn’t keep it for myself.’ Covered in Rosa Bernal’s ‘Sevilla’ linen, dotted with tiny oranges, it looks very pretty indeed.
Looking from the new colonnade into kitchen, where an antique armchair from Kempton market re-covered in ‘Shashka’ in ochre/natural by Volga Linen – and paired with a cushion in ‘Lost and Found’ in denim by Kit Kemp for Christopher Farr Cloth – is positioned in front of the french windows. The stool is from Vantage Living.
Chris Snook