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.
Sparkling wintry whites, a cosy rustic aesthetic, monochrome minimalism or traditional red and green? We all have a favourite Christmas look and, in this issue, there are so many inspirational ideas for whatever your seasonal style is. If you are looking for some traditional Christmas indulgence, check out the Victorian properties of Carla Isolano (p76) and Sara Austin (p91). The home Sophie Pringle designed (p8) feels welcoming all year long and uses an abundance of foliage for festive cheer. There’s also a Carolean manor house (p129) that’s the epitome of Yuletide elegance. Here’s to a happy Christmas.…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Victorian property ROOMS Kitchen, sitting room, cocktail room, snug/library, utility room, boot room, four bedrooms, four bathrooms LOCATION West London Step across the threshold of Charles and Alice Holt’s west London home over the festive period and you know you’re in for a good time. Keen entertainers, the couple love nothing more than hosting an evening of champagne, cocktails and carols, complete with resident piano player, in a tradition passed down from Alice’s mother. ‘It brings together every generation and lots of friends,’ says the literary agent. The couple moved here in 2020 with their three children – Freddie, now 15, Isabella, 13 and Olivia, nine – and realised that in order to strike the right balance between form and function, a reconfiguration was required. So…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY A four-bedroom, semi-detached house built in 1939 ROOMS Entrance hall, cloakroom, kitchen-diner, playroom, sitting room, four bedrooms, bathroom LOCATION Northamptonshire While casually browsing properties online, interior designer Charlotte Mackay spotted a house for sale nearby. The property ticked all the boxes on her search list, including more space, a driveway, a downstairs cloakroom and a larger garden. After viewing, Charlotte was smitten with the house’s potential while her husband Tom fell equally hard for the garden and their offer was quickly accepted. Commissioning a local building firm, Charlotte collaborated with the team to plan a major expansion to the tiny three-metre square kitchen including a new open-plan living and dining area. Initially, a complete rewiring required all Charlotte’s design skills to devise a lighting scheme without…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Victorian Corbett end-of-terrace house ROOMS Sitting room, kitchen, dining and living area, four bedrooms, dressing room/guest room, two bathrooms, plus a loft suite LOCATION Southeast london When the pandemic and stamp duty holiday aligned, interior designer Bianca Serrao Jones and her husband Devin felt it was the right time to upsize from their one-bedroom flat in Hither Green. ‘We loved our first home, but I was longing for a project,’ says Bianca. ‘One weekend we took a different route on a walk and found an estate built in the late 1800s by Archibald Corbett. The handsome houses and sense of community immediately clicked. Coming from South Africa originally, I’m still enamoured by the classic Victorian terrace – I’ve always been a little obsessed! We knew straight…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Five-storey Victorian townhouse ROOMS Kitchendiner, utility, nanny suite, cloakroom, family snug, study, double sitting room, five bedrooms, four bathrooms LOCATION Northwest London ZULUFISH IS AN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND BUILD PRACTICE WITH INTERIOR DESIGN SERVICES – DID YOU MANAGE THE RENOVATION FROM START TO FINISH? Yes. The clients are a family with two young girls and they’re from the Middle East, which is also where they live. As a second home, they wanted one point of contact in London. As well as the design and building work, we handled all the interior decoration and the bespoke joinery, too. WHY DID THE CLIENTS CHOOSE THIS HOUSE? They’re self-confessed anglophiles and loved the vibrant cafes, restaurants and shops in this part of northwest London. They were looking for a…
THE PROPERTY A semi-detached late-Georgian house ROOMS Sitting room, kitchen/dining room, games room, library, three bedrooms, two bathrooms LOCATION Bristol For interior designer Emilie Heinonen, the idea of home is never static. Born in Helsinki, she spent her early years moving often, but her deepest sense of belonging still lies in a wooden cottage her grandparents built in Finland. ‘That cottage blends effortlessly with the forest,’ she says. ‘It’s all about harmony with nature. My current home couldn’t be more different.’ Today, Emilie lives in a semi-detached late-Georgian house in Bristol with her partner and their two children. The family moved back after a stint in Finland, craving city life with easy escapes to the countryside. ‘London wasn’t an option – it takes too long to get out,’ says Emilie.…
