Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2025 i Homes & Antiques

Which room in your home calls to you the most? For me, it’s the kitchen: the hub of the house, where I can switch off from the noise of the day and get lost in the comforting routine of cooking. (It doesn’t hurt that it’s where the cheese is kept, too). This issue, we’re considering ways that we can enjoy our kitchens even more, with eight ideas for easy, elegant – and affordable – updates (p25), and an exploration into more flexible alternatives to the iconic kitchen island (p29). Find Kiera Buckley-Jones’s wishlist of the most stylish new tiles on page 20 – floors, walls… whatever surface, you’re sure to be inspired. As well as boasting beautifully inspirational kitchens, all corners of this issue’s houses are as welcoming as ever…

Go wild For walls that make you smile, look no further than the Safari Soiree wallpaper from Divine Savages. The design, at £159 a roll, combines a delightful mix of dapper creatures, from cocktail-sipping birds to dancing zebras – and crocodiles in top hats, no less. With a classic toileinspired aesthetic, and eight colourways to choose from, it’s easy to give any room a playful twist. divinesavages.com Layered living Swedish interiors brand Layered is celebrating its 10th anniversary with the launch of five showstopping rugs. Find favourite designs from the archive in bold new palettes, including Illusion from the very first collection. Modern, graphic and dimensional, they’re sure to make an impact. Prices from £1,163. layeredinterior.com TAKE A CAT NAP Give your furry friends the VIP treatment while adding some…

1 Start small If you’re content with the look and feel of your kitchen, but merely require a subtle shake-up, consider the more decorative accessories that add a touch of warmth. Al Bruce, founder of bespoke kitchen brand Olive & Barr, recommends beginning with textured details: ‘Start small by stacking wooden chopping boards on your work surface, arranging flowers in a vase and replacing tired tea towels with fresh linens.’ Perhaps you have a penchant for vintage kitchenalia, or maybe your cupboards are crowded with antique ceramics – experiment with displaying these on shelves to celebrate your collections and bring some personality to your scheme. ‘If space is available, consider a reclaimed wooden shelf. This adds a real sense of character and contrasts beautifully against any modern kitchen cabinets,’ suggests Al.…

Few of us live in locations beyond the sound of traffic or the seep of urban glow that disguises the speckles of the Milky Way across indigo skies. But at this secluded and remarkable Welsh tyddyn (a smallholder’s cottage) it is possible to sense what life was like for our ancestors, far before the advent of electricity or cars. Situated on the brow of a hill, Bryn Eglur (which translates as ‘Clear Hill’) has an almost 360-degree vista of Carmarthenshire and captures a sense of time that has stood still. Yet its rural charms were very nearly lost to ruin. When owner Dorian Bowen discovered the 18th-century worker’s cottage in 2004, it had been deserted for more than 40 years. Despite its dilapidated state, it reminded him of the Welsh…

I’ve been a paper conservator for more than 30 years. We used to focus on 18th- and 19th-century watercolours, and other historic drawings or prints: everything from 600-year-old parchments, to works by Old Masters, to library terrestrial globes. But, today, significantly more of our time is spent on prints produced in the 20th century, or by contemporary artists. With the new work comes new pressures. As the market for prints is flourishing, they’re sometimes worth a lot of money. Often the buyers of these high-value modern prints want an immaculate surface, especially if they are buying for investment. A print might be 30 or 40 years old, but they don’t want to see any signs of ageing, even a little bit of foxing on the back. They want it to…

Shepton Snowdrop Festival This event was born in celebration of 19th-century breeder of snowdrops James Allen, and takes over the Somerset market town of Shepton Mallet and its local area each February. Dubbed the ‘Snowdrop King’, Shepton resident Allen was passionate about these flowers and is thought to be the first person to breed new varieties from wild snowdrops. The 2025 Festival weekend takes place from 20th to 22nd February, but there will be additional events throughout the month, including walks, talks and garden visits to take in the area’s finest displays. Visitors can also enjoy bulb and plant sales, plus creative workshops. sheptonsnowdrops.org.uk Cambo Gardens Time a visit to Cambo in Fife to coincide with the Scottish Snowdrop Festival (27th January to 12th March). Here, you can admire its…

1 David Levi Antiques Well-known dealer David has been selling antiques at London’s Portobello Road Market, as well as major fairs including Battersea Decorative, for over 25 years. His love of treen stems from his parents, who were avid collectors, and he inherited their expertise on these small, special turned or carved wooden objects. David’s collection currently includes Welsh love spoons, wine funnels, spice pots, bird calls, and more. davidleviantiques.com; @davidleviantiques 2 Holt Antiques at Walsingham Mill This north-Norfolk business selling antique oak and country furniture, as well as fine art and decorative pieces, has some lovely examples of treen in its inventory. We were drawn to the 19th-century glove powderer (for when gloves were too tight) and a late 19th-century folk-art fairground ‘knockdown’ figure. holtantiquefurniture.com; @holtantiquesltd 3 J Collins & Son Jonathan…

Fabric Wallpaper Add a pillar-box punch to your interior by incorporating bold cushions, a vibrant area rug, or eyecatching wall art. Even small accents can have dramatic impact, infusing your home with warmth and dynamism…

With a popularity that’s long been as solid as its structure, the built-in island has had a good run as a kitchen staple, having provided a fashionable focal point in our homes for decades. But it seems the island’s hefty, immovable charm is beginning to wane, as a growing number of homeowners seek out units that are more informal and easier on the space. Lisa Coppin, chief creative officer at The Cotswold Company, agrees that there is change afoot: ‘The fitted island has become a key consideration for many when designing a new kitchen but, more often than not, it can quickly become a design flaw, being too large and cumbersome for the space and restricting flow.’ So, what are the alternatives? Prep tables, butcher’s blocks and even dining tables…

Clive Stewart-Lockhart’s soon-to-be-published book about his great-aunt, Betty Joel (1894-1985), hopes to place the designer back at the top of the list of British women designers and furnituremakers from the inter-war years. The book draws on previously untapped resources and archives and is extensively illustrated with 426 plates, many never published before, to show the breadth of Betty Joel’s long-neglected work. Her relationships with contemporaries and her work with architects is explored through her unpublished diaries, while great schemes for The Savoy, Lord Mountbatten, the Daily Express and Hay’s Wharf, as well as countless private schemes, are illustrated. View pieces of Betty Joel’s work at the Museum of the Home, Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery and the V&A’s reserve collection. Betty Joel: Furniture Maker, Designer and Businesswoman in 1920s and…

Standing on the deck of a ferry, Leticia Blakiston-Houston’s grandfather watched in horror as flames and dense smoke engulfed his house. ‘He saw it blazing as he was heading across the Irish Sea to England,’ says Leticia. ‘It was just after the Second World War, and he had tried to rebuild the parts that were lost but, thanks to rationing, there were very few materials around. The house became a mash-up of different parts.’ Remnants of her grandfather’s home can still be found to this day, perched on a peninsula at the very edge of the country’s coastline, looking across the swirling Irish Sea towards Britain. Although, today, the building looks very different. After almost a century of erratic additions made to this unloved building – which was, over the…

THE AUCTION The Fine Sale 26th & 27th March, Cheffins Up to 1,000 lots will be auctioned at Cheffins’ two-day Fine Sale. The flagship auction takes place every season and specialists save the best items that come in for valuation to be pictured in the glossy catalogue. A particular strength is traditional pictures – everything from European Old Masters to 19th-century British art, via Asian art, in the form of paintings and more affordable prints and drawings. Three studies by the esteemed artist William Etty, one of the first significant 19th-century artists to paint nudes and still lifes, have been consigned from a private collection and are expected to do well. Look out, too, for a rare watercolour by the highly regarded artist and writer Edward Lear, executed while travelling from…

1. Auspicious jars Estimate £600,000-£1m Sold £9.63m At a Sotheby’s Chinese Art sale, more than 10 bidders – on the phone, in the saleroom and online – competed over a pair of rare Ming dynasty Chinese ‘fish’ jars, making them the highest-priced Chinese work of art sold at auction in 2024. The large porcelain pots, which carry the marks of the Jiajing Emperor, date to the 16th century and had belonged to a German family for over 100 years. During the Second World War they were moved to safety, along with an art collection, before the family’s Wiesbaden home was destroyed. A photograph in a German art and interiors magazine published in 1926 shows the jars on display in the ladies’ room of Haus Rosselhöh, and they can be seen…

What first sparked your interest in antiques? I grew up around lots of antique pieces. My dad is a building conservationist, and is very knowledgeable about antique furniture. The monthly cleaning and testing of the grandfather clock at home always felt very ceremonial! My first job was as a film-set decorator in London, and a favourite part of the job was getting up at the crack of dawn to go to Sunbury Antiques Market, working to a brief – always a very specific time period, and to a budget. It allowed me to get my eye in, and helped me realise which objects I wanted to live with. Tell us about the first antique you bought As a child, I bought an antique flower press with my own pocket money.…

Every spring, 260 of the world’s top art and antiques dealers gather in Maastricht for one of the highlights of their year, TEFAF, the annual fair of The European Fine Art Foundation. Over eight days, more than 50,000 visitors clatter across the cobbled streets of the old city en route to the fair, among them international museum curators and their most important patrons, high-flying collectors with cash to splash, and an army of local and international antiques and art lovers. Exhibitors bring exceptional things to the fair – rarities, treasures and trophies – and in 2022, Galerie Kugel’s opulent early 18th-century chess set made in Augsburg, Germany, became a show favourite. The ebony and ivory chess pieces – foot soldiers, horsemen, bishops, war elephants and a king and a queen…

When artist-maker Shannon Clegg is working at her east-London studio, she has a favourite spot for a coffee break, just down the road in Broadway Market. From here she can look out over the canal, with its row of barges moored down one side, and historic warehouse buildings lining the other. In the distance, the giant cylindrical skeletons of the Bethnal Green gasometers dominate the skyline. It’s hard to imagine a more urban environment, or one that could be more different from the wild, rural landscape on the edge of Cape Town where Shannon grew up. But it is here, in this industrial cityscape, where she creates her beguiling botanical ‘Flora’ sculptures, based on the traditional craft process of flower pressing, which freeze in time that magical moment when nature…

Betty Joel An almost-forgotten successful businesswoman and pioneering British designer renowned for her elegant, modern furniture and interiors, blending craftsmanship with functional design. Charlotte Perriand The French designer collaborated with Le Corbusier, creating iconic Modernist furniture such as the LC4 Chaise Longue, while championing functional, accessible design for all. Eileen Gray Eileen was a revolutionary Irish Modernist designer and architect, celebrated for her sleek, functional furniture and iconic projects like the Villa E-1027. Lilly Reich German designer and architect Lilly was known for her collaboration with Mies van der Rohe, and her pioneering work in Modernist furniture and exhibition design. Marianne Brandt A Bauhaus designer, Marianne was celebrated for her innovative, functional metalwork and lighting designs, which embodied the clean lines and practicality of Modernism.…

'It’s largely been forgotten now, but penwork was wildly popular for a few decades at the beginning of the 19th century,’ explains furniture designer Tim Gosling. ‘In this one technique, we see a whole world of influences coming together. Penwork encapsulates a lot of what’s exciting about design in the Regency period.’ You’d be forgiven for thinking that penwork has something to do with fancy calligraphy. It actually involves painting, usually in black watercolour, with a fine pen or brush, onto a light-toned wood such as sycamore or beech. It’s the background that tends to be coloured black, creating a pattern or image in the pale wood. Multiple layers of varnish are then applied to protect the design and enhance the monochromatic effect, producing the illusion of inlaid ivory. The…

As the most heavily used item of furniture, your chair’s condition is arguably more critical than that of any other furniture form. Should it break while in use, you could suffer a loss of dignity, destroy a precious antique, or, worse still, cause damage to yourself or whoever sits on it. BUYING WITH CARE Our changing physiques and habits are partly to blame. ‘Nowadays, people are bigger and often more careless, and that means chairs get broken and need to be repaired more often,’ warns restorer Clive Bristow. For this reason, his advice is to think carefully before buying antique chairs, if you intend to use them regularly. ‘You can perch on them, or put them in the corner but, when they’ve been restored several times, they may not withstand…