Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i 25 Beautiful Homes

The age-old issue of education prompted Sam and Nick Fallon to leave the bright lights of London in 2010, when their eldest daughter, Isobel, was seven. ‘We wanted to be near better secondary schools,’ says Sam. ‘We also wanted more space and to live in the centre of a town rather than in the suburbs.’ The decision landed them in the pretty spa town of Tunbridge Wells, in a five-storey Victorian terrace. However, the tiny garden, four flights of stairs and no off-street parking prompted another move four years later. And while the first property had been completely renovated, the next purchase proved more of a challenge. While looking at houses online, Sam happened across a converted but dated oast in a village on the outskirts of town. ‘Nick said…

When it came to making her mark on her pretty Edwardian home in Yorkshire, Laura Mellor didn’t mess about. ‘I went at it like a whirlwind,’ she says. ‘On day two I was digging up the garden in front of the house, making friends with the neighbours. By the end of the first week, I think I had bought and planted all the topiary for sale in the area and painted the front door. For me, the way the outside and inside blend is important, so it seemed a good idea to start with the kerb appeal.’ From the moment Laura and her husband, Will, first saw the house, they were smitten. They loved its position, tucked into a neat terraced row at the edge of a popular village and…

Sophie Allsopp couldn’t believe her luck when the perfect renovation property came up for sale in her favourite Norfolk village. With a large garden and stunning views of parkland on all sides, the house had originally been an estate worker’s home. ‘The cottage was extended over 30 years ago, but after that it had been consistently rented out as a holiday let, which had taken its toll on the building,’ says Sophie. ‘A full renovation was needed to make it suitable for comfortable family living.’ As Sophie runs her own property and design consultancy, Sophie & Boo, she was able to call upon her trusted team of builders and tradesmen to apply their skills to her new home. The first job was to remove a badly sited wall on the…

Katherine and Matt Whitchurch moved to Dubai with their daughter Anna, now 12, and son James, 11, in 2008 when an exciting job opportunity arose for Matt, a management consultant. ‘It was a fantastic experience for all of us,’ says Katherine, who was a teacher. ‘I got a job in the children’s school, we met people from all over the world and made some really good friends. It was never the plan to stay forever though; we always viewed it as short-term.’ The couple began preparing to return about two years ago. Their youngest child, Joe, now eight, was born in Dubai and the family had outgrown their UK house, which they had been renting out. They sold it and began house hunting from the Middle East. ‘We searched online…

Having lived with family or in rental properties since moving to England from Sweden, first-time buyer Nathalie Udvary was looking for a one-off renovation project as an investment and to get a foot on the property ladder. ‘I wanted something run-down and affordable that, with some ingenuity, could be transformed on a tight budget,’ explains the interior stylist. ‘I had been looking around this part of north London for a while and was thrilled when I finally found a pretty, red-brick Edwardian house on a quiet road. It was outdated, but structurally sound – ideal for what I wanted to do. I quickly realised the potential of creating two spacious apartments to sell on, rather than renovating and trying to sell the house as a whole.’ Nathalie started by adding…

Debbie Goodwin and Neil Clague’s renovation story begins in the Sixties, with Debbie’s parents. ‘Dad worked for a builder and helped build a row of bungalows,’ says Debbie. ‘Then he and Mum found a plot of land nearby, where they built the home they still live in.’ Years later, having moved away, Debbie and Neil were keen to return to Debbie’s hometown to be closer to her family. ‘There wasn’t anything we could afford, apart from a property in probate, near my parents,’ she says. ‘It was one of the bungalows my dad had built years ago, and we got such a good feeling when we went to view it. The decor, plumbing and electrics were old and there were garish carpets throughout, but it had a large, private garden…

Most people fall in love with a house for its physical attributes, but for interior designer Paula Barnes it was the story behind the crumbling wreck of a country home up for sale that proved an instant attraction. Needing a bigger house for her family, Paula spotted the period property online but it was terribly neglected and a far cry from the exquisite place it had once been. Just the proportions of the rooms, a smattering of original features and the remains of what was once an intricate orangery were all that remained. Once owned by a wealthy shipping magnate who married a Russian ballerina late in life, the home became a sanctuary for his orchid-growing indulgences and her passion for botanical paintings. The childless couple were eventually moved into…

Lily and Col Pickard took just five minutes to view their home before deciding to put an offer in, but there was a good reason for their decisiveness. ‘We’d lost out on so many properties,’ says Lily. Although the sale went to closed bids, the couple managed to secure it. ‘Col is always on eBay and his strategy is to bid an obscure number, so we ended our offer with £272 and I think it was down to those few hundred pounds that we got it.’ On the couple’s second visit, the property seemed a lot lighter and larger than they had remembered, but it needed to be brought into line with their tastes. ‘The house was lovely, but very beige,’ recalls Lily, an interior designer at Fox92. ‘It wasn’t…

Angela and Duncan Robertson were keen to start a family in a home surrounded by green spaces, but there was a catch – it had to be near London, where Duncan works. Consequently, they chose Berkshire, because it has a fast rail link to the capital. ‘We looked at six or seven houses in this area,’ says Angela, ‘but we could see that this one had massive potential. Plus, it had a fantastic garden, which was a huge bonus as we spend a lot of time outdoors.’ Although the couple moved straight in, the building’s internal layout and decor weren’t to their liking. ‘It was very dated and was divided up into so many small spaces,’ says Angela. ‘It was like a rabbit warren with a maze of corridors and…

Clean lines, graphic notes and natural textures are the hallmarks of French-born Sophie Lahmar’s decorating style. But when she moved to this roomy London terrace with her husband, Sofiane, and children, Nayla, now 14, Alex, 10, and Miya, five, she was keen to switch up the look and complement her simple aesthetic with pops of colour and pattern. ‘We were looking for a larger property that we could grow into,’ says Sophie, who, along with Sofiane, lived in New York and Washington before settling in the UK. ‘We’ve moved a lot, so our style has evolved over time. For us, the key was to find a place we could potentially extend into a serene, warm home that went beyond my tried-and-tested white colour palette.’ To help refine her ideas, Sophie…

Gilly Henson lived in the countryside until she decided it was time for a complete change of lifestyle. Giving up a large rural house and the peace and tranquillity of open fields, she made the bold decision to buy a Victorian house in Lincoln’s historic tourist centre. Surprisingly, in spite of its position, Gilly’s home is in a secluded spot and is so peaceful that she hears as much birdsong as she did in the country. ‘The place was desperately in need of renovation but I loved its location,’ she says. ‘No one knows I’m here, yet I have amazing views across the city and all the amenities on my doorstep.’ But the property certainly wasn’t without its challenges, the main one being that it had been turned into two…

Reflecting the pace and style of the buzzy west London street life outside, interior designer Emma Deterding has chosen to furnish her home with a cacophony of dazzling hues. ‘I’ve always been one for colour,’ she says, ‘irrespective of the style and age of my furniture.’ Emma’s other inspiration for her interior decor was Sixties pop art and contemporary graffiti, both of which she has a passion for, and some of the walls are hand-painted works of art in their own right. ‘I was keen that this place should be totally different from our country home, which is muted and traditional,’ she says. Tucked at the top of an apartment block, the formerly drab London maisonette appealed to Emma because of its generous space and unusual floor plan. Spanning four…

After working in New York and Tokyo for several years, Jane and Hugh Peters returned to the UK with their son and daughter and set about house-hunting in London. ‘We made a quick decision,’ says Jane. ‘This house was quite ordinary architecturally, but the transport links were good, there were two large parks nearby and my son’s school was just around the corner, so it ticked quite a few boxes.’ Jane and Hugh both agreed that the layout needed to be reconfigured to fit their lifestyle. ‘Our plan was to make the ground floor more open-plan, but the idea of turning it into one big noisy space was unappealing,’ says Jane. ‘The house had originally been designed as a series of rooms and we felt we should respect that.’ Realising…

The quest for the perfect property may sometimes lead prospective buyers on a long, arduous journey. But when film producer Lynne Millar came across her Victorian terrace home in the spring of 2015, events moved at a pace. ‘I’d searched across London, but when I went to view this property I fell for the quirky small-town, low-rise feel of the street even before I saw the house,’ Lynne recalls. ‘Once I stepped inside, almost everything appealed, including the fact that there was ample space to work from home and a 70-feet back garden for Pip, my beloved English cocker spaniel.’ The house offered Lynne the peaceful, creative space she craved and what’s more, required very little work. Serendipitously, Lynne’s own property, a South Kensington flat with grand proportions, high ceilings…

Sophie Hurcum had one requirement for her new home: a short walk to work in the City of London. ‘I drew a circle that marked a seven-minute walk and told estate agents that I only wanted to live within that area,’ she says. ‘Walking to work makes a huge difference to your happiness.’ Sophie didn’t find anything she liked until the estate agent showed her a flat with a rather unusual layout. ‘It was on the fourth floor of an Eighties block and every room was double height, with a mezzanine level,’ she says. ‘I knew immediately it was the one.’ No structural work was needed and the walls were all white, but Sophie waited a year to start decorating. ‘I wanted to use a lot of colour,’ she says,…

Despite the fact that downsizing meant leaving behind an exquisite family house, with all its memories, Sara and Edmund Sarrouf embraced the idea of a fresh start. ’After the children left home, we decided to go smaller but we also wanted to live in an easier, less formal way,’ says Sara. To help her with her deliberations, Sara turned to Romanos Brihi and Venetia Rudebeck, co-owners of interior designer practice Studio Vero, who had designed her previous, much larger home. ‘Romanos understood just what we needed from a home,’ she says. ‘He found and recommended a double-fronted property in Kensington. It was by far the nicest house that we viewed, with a pleasing symmetry and generous space for entertaining.’ Inside, to achieve the seamless, free-flowing feel Sara wanted, some architectural…

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