Innehållsförteckning för January 2023 från 25 Beautiful Homes

PROJECT DETAILS DESIGNER/OWNER Marnie Hopkins (marniehopkins.com) PROPERTY Barn conversion WORK Interior design of a sitting room that is part of an open-plan space After carrying out the ambitious conversion of a sizeable grain barn with her husband Damian, Marnie Hopkins had the pleasure of designing their home’s interior, at the heart of which is a double-height sitting room. ‘A careful balance was required to create a softer-feeling domestic interior while still holding true to the contemporary architecture of the building and the rural location that imposes itself on the room,’ says Marnie. THE BRIEF Knowing this room was always intended to be the main entertaining space in the house, Marnie was adamant it should be a place that needed to really work, whether occupied by one person or 30. ‘My…

no. 15 After five years of living in their three-bedroom home, Victoria and Mark Henderson knew the time was right to look for the project they had always wanted. ‘For two out of the five years we were in our old house, I was searching for something else,’ says Victoria, who works in finance. ‘This house came up after another one fell through, but in hindsight it’s much better than the one I’d initially set my heart on.’ The detached Victorian property has a sizeable garden and is a short walk from open fields. It’s also perfectly situated for Victoria to forage leaves and berries to make her own natural Christmas wreaths and garlands. When buying the property, the couple got caught up in a bidding war. ‘One of the…

When Lisa O’Hagan and her husband, Jonathan Bishop, stumbled across their home in the heart of east London back in 2018, it was the quirky shape and unconventional layout that really caught their eye. The end of terrace property had been a Georgian coach house, which over the years had been converted into a large ground floor garage and studio, with a two-bedroom flat occupying the two floors above. ‘We were instantly drawn to its unusual shape, going from wide at the front, narrowing to almost a point at the end of the garden, and the three different outside spaces – a cobbled courtyard, roof terrace and a back garden,’ says Lisa. ‘The layout had a unique charm and we saw the potential to create something special. The couple bought…

DESIGN ADVICE ‘Consider a bespoke kitchen like this one – the joiner was incredibly talented and it was more affordable than we imagined’ When Mark Camillin and his partner Liam Denny – both architects – saw this Grade II-listed house in Hampshire, it was in exactly the right location but they didn’t immediately feel a connection as the 1770s cottage had been extended and refurbished multiple times resulting in a collection of poorly laid out rooms. ‘The pretty village was much closer to London than our home in Devon, but it was the magical orchard and dramatic hill rising up behind that completely sold the property to us,’ Mark recalls. ‘We decided to find a coherent solution to the jumbled layout with its 1950s staircase in a reception room and…

The festive season at Jo and Henry Barnes’ Grade II-listed home is a magical affair. With glittering views across the frosty Cotswold countryside, and the warmth of their interior design features, Anthology Farms is a picturesque holiday stay. Situated on their family farm, the property is home to Jo, husband Henry, daughters Ophelia and Imogen and Henry’s parents Rosemary and John. Henry and John tend to the farm with the help of their Labrador Nemo, and Jo and Rosemary run the pair of renovated barns. While the Barnes family only moved into the property in 2019, this isn’t their first experience of countryside living. After a decade of uncertainty, the family were forced to sell their previous Staffordshire farm to make way for HS2. This meant letting go of their…

PROJECT DETAILS DESIGNER Andrew Wartnaby, senior designer, Martin MoorePROPERTY Queen Anne house in BerkshireWORK Bespoke kitchen as part of a complete renovation project for the home Moving from London to the Berkshire countryside to raise their four young children, the new owners of this early-18th century house were keen to replace the dated kitchen with something more suited to contemporary family life. Following up on a friend’s recommendation, they contacted senior designer Andrew Wartnaby of Martin Moore to create a fresh design. THE BRIEF ‘As part of a project to restore the house to its former glory, my clients wanted an elegant kitchen that would sit easily with the age of the property,’ says Andrew. ‘It also needed to have a sense of calm – important in a busy family…

Having lived in their home for 16 years, Julie and Tom Carlyle began to realise that the property no longer met their needs as a family. Their search for a new home began and it didn’t take them long to come across a 1950s property, well located on a quiet road, backing onto playing fields. On the downside, the five-bedroom house hadn’t been decorated or modernised in any way for over half a century. It also had an awkward layout, collapsing roof and an overgrown garden. ‘We considered trying to renovate the building but soon realised our efforts would go into fixing old problems,’ says Julie, ‘but the plot itself had great potential.’ The couple made the bold decision to knock down the existing building and start again. ‘It was…

PROJECT DETAILS DESIGNER Karen B Wolf of K+Co Living (kandcoliving.com) PROPERTY New-build, farmhouse-style detached house WORK Complete decoration of the main bedroom Before moving into their recently built detached house in New Jersey, US, the owners were keen to create a main bedroom that not only reflected the same relaxed feel as elsewhere in the home but also had a sense of style. As a result, they called on local interior designer Karen B Wolf, who was also tasked with refurbishing the rest of the house. THE BRIEF ‘The owners wanted to transform their bedroom from a blank empty box into a room that oozed comfort and had a touch of understated drama,’ says Karen. ‘Part of that drama was accomplished by adding overhead beams that emphasised the vaulted ceiling,…

FAVOURITE ITEM ‘The fender in the sitting room – I love the fabric and it provides additional seating’ When Matilda Harden felt her life needed an overhaul it was her immediate surroundings that she turned her attention to. Calling upon the expertise of her friend, interior designer Olivia Emery (oliviaemery.com), Matilda was eager to inject her flat with colour and practical design ideas. ‘I’d been living here for nine years but I had just got to the point where I felt stuck in a rut and a bit fed up. When that happens I’m a great believer in changing things,’ Matilda, a heritage officer, explains. ‘I met Olivia when I was about 10 years old and I’ve always loved her taste and sense of colour. When I asked her for…

FAVOURITE ROOM ‘I love spending time in the kitchen as it feels so light and spacious after living with the narrow galley kitchen for so long’ When Juliette and Michael Bourne moved into their Victorian terraced house 18 years ago, not only were they busy raising two young children, but work unexpectedly took them to Mexico where they lived for six years. ‘We left with young children and came back with teenagers,’ remembers Juliette, ‘and although we still really loved the house, it no longer suited our lifestyle. We’d made minimal changes when we first moved in, mostly cosmetic, but this was our opportunity, many years later, to create a beautiful, practical home to suit all our needs.’ Fortunately for Juliette, her good friend and interior designer Caz Myers, founder…

A one-off bungalow, built in the late 1970s, caught the eye of German design enthusiast Thorsten van Elten, much in the same way he chooses stock for his online shop (thorstenvanelten.com) or furnishings for his home. ‘For me, design – and my house – should be timeless and uncomplicated and be enjoyed for exactly what it is,’ he says. ‘The Bauhaus movement has made a big impression on me, but I also like 1970s and 1980s classics. This bungalow in a Sussex village had an unexpected continental look and I knew my furniture would look good in here.’ Thorsten and his partner, Karl Vodrey, were living in London when they decided it was time for a change. They wanted to move to be within easy reach of Channel crossings for…

PROJECT DETAILS OWNERS A couple with three young childrenTHE PROPERTY Georgian farmhouse in YorkshireWORK An open-plan kitchen reconfiguration The lure of the beautiful valleys, wild heather moorland and stone-built villages of the Yorkshire Dales is strong – especially so for one London-based couple. ‘They wanted to come back to the Dales to be close to their extended family and raise their children in a peaceful country setting,’ explains Richard Mason, owner of The Secret Drawer kitchen furniture company, who was asked to help create the heart of the family’s new home. THE BRIEF After purchasing a four-bedroom Georgian farmhouse in a pretty hamlet not far from the market town of Skipton, the couple asked Richard and his colleague, designer Emily Chew, to reconfigure the kitchen. ‘The space was separated from…

DESIGN TIP ‘Think outside the box – we opened up the sitting room to the hall to get more space in the main living area’ The 17th-century home of Tatiana and Ed Howard is as picturesque as the Cotswolds village in which it is situated, and the couple feel incredibly fortunate to have found their dream spot. It came about when they were visiting friends in Oxfordshire and happened to drive through a particularly pretty part of the Cotswolds. Tatiana just knew they had to come and live in the area and so the pair began a search for a home and eventually found their ideal property. Although they were attracted by the prettiness of the honeyed stone house, its illustrious history didn’t exactly go unnoticed. It was once the…

IDEAS TO SHARE Everyone knows about the original Perthshire Gleneagles hotel, but now you can enjoy the same old-world glamour and new-world frivolity in the heart of the Scottish capital. Gleneagles Townhouse occupies two adjacent buildings on St Andrew Square. The bedrooms all strike a Victorian pose, juxtaposed with some decadent deco-style flourishes; pastel tones, lush velvets and scalloped shapes abound, and all the rooms have comfy king-size beds. There are four categories: Nook, which are the smallest attic spaces, Town, House, and Masters, the biggest with great views over St Andrew Square. Become a member for access to the rather glorious Note Burning Room, and the wonderful rooftop bar, as well as various cultural events. Down in the bank’s former vault, guests and members can take advantage of dedicated…