Your life made easier - every day. 25 Beautiful Homes is a magazine for readers with a sense of personal style. Aspire to your dream house and enjoy looking at other people's homes, designs and styles for inspiration.
Who doesn’t love a room with a view, especially if the scene is the stunning Connemara countryside that Maria and Aidan Walsh (p8) are lucky enough to enjoy? Natural colours and textures fill their new build and nothing takes away from the surrounding landscape. For Jeany and Stephen Cronk, the location of their renovated French bastide is also the star of the show (p151). The vineyard it sits in has inspired the interior style, and every room is full of charm and warmth. We’re beyond delighted to feature the vibrant house of designer Cath Kidston. Her Edwardian terrace in London is a showcase for her love of bold colours, bright patterns and vintage chic. Take a look on page 49.…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY New-build detached house ROOMS Sitting room with kitchen-diner, mezzanine living area, snug, three bedrooms, three bathrooms, two cloakrooms LOCATION Connemara, Ireland after a number of years living in New York, Maria and Aidan Walsh decided it was time to have a base in their native Ireland which they could enjoy when they returned for holidays with their two daughters, now aged 13 and 11. ‘Every time we come back to Ireland, we want to see all our friends and family so it was a bit of a dream to have our own home where people could come and stay with us,’ says Maria. ‘Also, our lives in New York are very busy so we wanted to have a place where we could truly relax and recharge.’…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Victorian terrace ROOMS Sitting room, basement kitchen-diner/living area, lounge, four bedrooms, four bathrooms LOCATION Southwest London Having bought a large house near Wimbledon in 2015, Helen and Marcus Hill decided they wanted to downsize and move closer to the city, and found a four-bedroom Victorian terraced house in Fulham. With homes in both Johannesburg and Cape Town, the couple wanted a property that was closer to their friends and somewhere with a smaller, low-maintenance garden. ‘We realised that we didn’t need a massive house with an acre of gardens,’ explains Helen. ‘Our older daughter is just finishing university, our middle daughter is in Cape Town and our son is at boarding school in Johannesburg, so this is a really fun, convenient location for them to get…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY A semi-detached Victorian house ROOMS Sitting room, dining room, kitchen, media room, study, gym, wine store, six bedrooms, three bathrooms LOCATION South London This is the first personal project I’ve had the pleasure of doing,’ says designer Emma Maitland, about her home in south London. Having bought the property in 2015, it had been rented while she and her family were living in Hong Kong. A return to London saw her embark on a complete redesign. ‘It hadn’t been touched for decades,’ she says. ‘I took it apart, literally stripping everything out until you could see the sky!’ The unusual, wedge-shaped property was much larger at the back than the front. Appearing modest from the street, the end of the garden extended to the width of…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Tudor-style detached house, built in the 1920s ROOMS Sitting room, family room, dining room, kitchen, breakfast area, boot room, utility room, cloakroom, two offices, three bedrooms, three bathrooms LOCATION Louisville, Kentucky ‘THE ACCENT COLOURS WERE TAKEN FROM THE BEAUTIFUL LEADED GLASS AND PROVE THAT BOLD HUES CAN WORK REALLY WELL IN A PERIOD PROPERTY’ When Annabelle and Tom Jackson decided it was time to return to Annabelle’s native Louisville after a decade living in New York, they focused their search on an area close to the city’s leafy Cherokee Park. ‘The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park; it was a major draw for us, particularly as we have a young daughter,’ recounts Annabelle. She continues: ‘This 1920s Tudor-style home had…
no. 5 HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Grade II-listed four-storey Georgian terrace ROOMS Kitchen-diner, utility room, sitting room, TV room, cloakroom, study, playroom, three bedrooms, three bathrooms LOCATION Northwest London Brazilian-born Renata Secron still pinches herself that she and her family – husband, Andre, and boys Lucas, 11, and Victor, eight – are living in a centuries-old British townhouse. ‘We come from a relatively new city by contrast,’ she says of her home town of São Paulo. ‘The majority of the buildings there are modern high-rises.’ Renata and Andre relocated here eight years ago after a stint working in New York and they haven’t looked back. ‘We love how green and tranquil London can be compared to the frenetic pace of the Big Apple,’ she says. ‘We wanted a home here…