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.
If you’re reading this issue relaxing in the summer sun – maybe even lying on a beach – we hope you’ll love the wonderful selection of houses this month, all of which are great inspiration for any projects on the horizon. Far from the beach up in the Scottish Highlands, a neglected 1950s house has undergone a stunning transformation to become a smart retreat surrounded by gloriously rugged scenery (p138). The use of reclaimed and salvaged materials is increasingly important in renovations and Anthi Grapsa has designed a characterful home with these principles in mind (p42). Reusing and updating were also key to the new look of Louise and Harry Brown’s magnificent house – take a tour and be inspired (p8).…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY A four-storey, red brick and white stucco Victorian terrace ROOMS Open-plan sitting room/study, open-plan kitchen/dining/family room, cloakroom, playroom, utility room, three bedrooms, two bathrooms LOCATION London the nearby bustling streets and strong sense of community provide the ideal backdrop for the elegant family home of Louise and Harry Brown – who both work in finance – their two young children and pet wire-haired dachshund. Having lived just a few streets away in a smaller, yet similar style of house, the couple had been searching for a larger property that was in good repair with the scope for some interior renovation. ‘We’d been looking in the area for a good nine months and once we’d viewed this house, we knew straightaway that it could be transformed into…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY New-build beach house ROOMS Open-plan kitchen-diner, utility room, living area, study area, five bedrooms, five bathrooms, three cloakrooms, pool house with guest suite, annexe with two bedrooms LOCATION North Cornwall It was the rugged beauty of the coastline and energy of the Atlantic ocean that first brought Marzouk Al-Bader and his family to north Cornwall. ‘I have been lucky enough to travel the world but coming here, I felt like I had arrived,’ he recounts. ‘This is a very grounding place where everyone comes to enjoy the outdoors: the cold water swimming, the surf and the beach. I realised that there were also some wonderful food producers in the area, so it ticked every box.’ In 2013, Marzouk acquired a 1970s bungalow on the dunes overlooking…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY A semi-detached house built in the early 1900s ROOMS Sitting room, kitchen-diner/living area, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, shower room, cloakroom LOCATION West London HOW DID YOU COME TO BE INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT? I was introduced to Philippa Markou, the client, through a project manager and whilst she did not go for the full design and build package, she chose to work with me alongside her own contractor, having liked my suggestions on the early walk around the property. HOW INVOLVED WERE THE HOMEOWNERS? Very. The whole process was extremely collaborative as Philippa, previously a teacher, now involved with English Heritage, wanted to participate every step of the way. She had a strong idea of what she wanted and had collated many design references on a…
‘THE COMPACT COVERED VERANDA JUST OUTSIDE MEANS THE COUPLE CAN SIT IN THE GARDEN WHATEVER THE WEATHER’ HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Victorian farmhouse extended over the years ROOMS Sitting room, snug, kitchen diner, three bedrooms, two bathrooms LOCATION Cambridgeshire Floral stylist Karen Attwood is definitely no stranger to the countryside: she’s lived in rural properties all over Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. But her attachment to the land goes even deeper. ‘My family has been farming for generations,’ she explains, ‘so my weekends and holidays as a child were always spent working with the cows.’ So when Karen and her husband Jules were looking to swap their 16th-century cottage for something a little more remote, she was certainly not put off by this extended Victorian farmstead just outside a market town,…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY An Edwardian terrace ROOMS Sitting room, library/music room, kitchen/dining area, cloakroom, utility room, study, four bedrooms, two bathrooms LOCATION North London HOW DID YOU COME TO BE INVOLVED IN THIS PROJECT? Word of mouth; I was recommended by another client. HOW INVOLVED WERE THE HOMEOWNERS? My clients had input on what artwork was important to them and where some of their furniture was placed, and they also had specific taste in textiles. This was a great starting point for me. DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE. I always strive to reuse materials that need to be rehomed and applied in different ways, giving them a new purpose. For example, flooring can become a wall cladding or applied to a kitchen joinery, or even stay as flooring but be refinished…
