Take A Look At This London Family’s Elevated Take On Country Style

We wanted the hallway to feel warm, welcoming and bright, while also working hard for the number of guests the clients planned to host. To make it feel more generous and functional, we removed several walls and absorbed space from a number of smaller rooms, which completely transformed the entrance. We also introduced a subtle shaker-style panelling detail, keeping it colour-matched to the walls so it added character and texture without feeling too decorative.

Wall Colour, ‘Slipper Satin’ Farrow & Ball
Stair Carpet, Crucial Trading 
Furniture, All Antique & Vintage 

As an extension of the entrance hallway, we redesigned this area to include a full wall of coat hanging, boot storage and seating. The clients plan to have lots of friends and family staying, so it was important that it felt practical and generous enough to cope with the reality of a busy country house – including space for up to 20 pairs of boots and wellies. We also made sure to find a home for ‘Pigeon’, the clients’ much-loved vintage dresser, which has moved with them from house to house over the past couple of decades.

Paint Colour, ‘French Gray’ Farrow & Ball

The scale of the kitchen largely informed the layout, particularly given how much the clients love to entertain. A large, deep island became central to the design, creating plenty of space for cooking, gathering and hosting. The cabinetry takes its cue from a more traditional country style, finished in hand-painted muted yellows and browns to keep the room feeling warm and grounded. The zellige wall tiles were chosen for their handmade imperfections, which bring texture and softness to the space. We framed them in oak to give the detail a sense of structure and tie it back to the rest of the room.

Aga Shelf, Konk Furniture 
Wall Tiles, Claybrook 
Bench Stools, Sourced From Antique Shop In Amsterdam
Ceramics & Breadboards, Antiques
Lights Above Island, Vintage/Antique
Wall Lights Above Aga, Mullan 
Kitchen Cabinets, ‘Mouse's Back’ & ‘Cord’ Farrow & Ball
Walls, ‘White Tie’ Farrow & Ball

We opened up both ends of the dining room to the kitchen and living room with near full-width arched doorways. Although the house has a lot of separate rooms, it was important to the clients that it still felt open, connected and sociable. Once the room was opened up, it became as much a thoroughfare between the kitchen and living spaces as it was a dining room, so we wanted it to feel special both in passing and when used for long winter dinners. We continued the panelling introduced in the hallway and added a bespoke art rail, giving the room a stronger sense of character. It is now filled with a curated mix of pieces and also happens to have one of the best views of the garden.

Dining Chairs, Ercol 
Pendant Lights, Custom 
Wall Lights, Corston 
Wall Colour, ‘Mushroom’ Little Greene 
Rug, Bespoke From Crucial Trading

Although the extension was already there, it had been divided into three small rooms and used as a gym, shower room and storage. The clients’ vision was to turn it into one large but cosy space designed purely for relaxing and socialising. We opened it up structurally and vaulted the ceiling, which gave the room its impressive height and sense of volume. That also gave us the opportunity to introduce more character and texture through oak support beams and painted tongue-and-groove panelling. Subtle details – but important in a room of this scale.

Overlooking the garden, we arranged the seating in a conversational U-shape, including a bespoke bench with log storage beneath for the new wood burner. While the interior was fairly uninspiring to begin with, the exterior felt even more unresolved, so we clad the entire existing A-frame extension in solid Scottish larch, which will weather beautifully over time to a soft silver tone and added a split circular window at high level.

Log Burner, Westfire 
Bar Tiles, Claybrook 
Sofa, Love Your Home 
Chairs & Pendant Light, Soho Home
Rug, Ornate Rugs 
Bar Wall Lights, Corston 
Large Plant Pots, World Of Pots 
Wall Colour, ‘Joanna’ Little Greene
Large Artwork, Neil Nelson 

We obtained planning permission to replace the existing double garage with a new ground-floor extension, built from locally sourced oak and reclaimed tiles. Accessed from the main entrance hallway, this new part of the house includes a hallway leading to the cinema snug, two guest bedrooms and a guest shower room.

In the new extension, the two guest bedrooms sit beneath the apex of the roof, giving them mirrored vaulted ceilings and adding an extra sense of volume to what were already generous rooms. We wanted them to feel cosy and considered rather than them feeling like ‘spare rooms’ so we carefully sourced only antique furniture and introduced more traditional styled wall panelling to lend a sense of permanence.

Furniture, Antique
Lampshade, Alice Palmer
Wall Colour, ‘Joanna’ Little Greene

We wanted the shower room to feel luxurious but understated, using a softer, more muted palette and a balance of texture throughout. The floor is laid in a chequerboard of tumbled peach-toned and white marble tiles, paired with a traditional pedestal basin and WC. The shower is hidden away behind an almost full-height wall, with no glass enclosure, which gives the room a more relaxed, hotel-like feel.

Sanitaryware, Lefroy Brookes 
Brassware, Cast Iron Bath Co 
Floor Tiles, Mandarin Stone 
Wall Tiles, Claybrook 
Wall Colour, ‘Fawn 40’ Edward Bulmer
Café Curtain Fabric, Pierre Frey ‘Sheer Cotton’ 

We wanted this room to lean a little more rustic and traditional than the rest of the house. Early on, the clients spoke about imagining a utility room that felt almost old-fashioned in the best possible way, something softer and more farmhouse in spirit, with curtains in place of cupboard doors, even florals, and rosemary hanging from oak peg rails. We loved the idea, especially because it sat slightly outside our usual comfort zone, so we decided to lean into it and give them exactly that.

Art, Lana Okiro 
Cabinetry Colour, ‘Mouse's Back’ Farrow & Ball
Wall Colour, ‘Cord’ Farrow & Ball
Café Curtain Fabric, Pierre Frey ‘Sheer Cotton’

As the principal suite occupies its own section of the first floor, we wanted the clients’ private quarters to feel more self-contained and a little more dramatic, somewhere that felt slightly set apart from the rest of the house and just for them. The bedroom has dual aspects across the grounds and out towards the South Downs, so we looked closely at the greens in the surrounding landscape and drew some of those tones into the spaces.

We wanted the bathroom to feel like ‘the best suite in the hotel'. The palette shifts subtly from the other bathrooms, but the materials and textures remain connected to the wider scheme. The shape of the room naturally lent itself to a generous double shower and a large bath positioned beneath the window. Opposite sits a bespoke vanity, topped with a Verde Alpi stone slab that felt like the perfect way to bring in the richer green tones carried through the rest of the suite.

BEDROOM
Solid Oak Side Tables, Bespoke By All & Nxthing 
Lamp, James Bowyer Furniture
Bedframe, Loaf 
Bedding, Toast 
Wall Colour, ‘Treron’ Farrow & Ball
Wardrobe Colour, ‘French Gray’ Farrow & Ball 

BATHROOM
Sanitaryware, Lefroy Brookes
Bath Tub, Cast Iron Bath Co 
Vanity, Balineum & Surrey Marble 
Wall Lights, Jim Lawrence  & Old School Electric 
Floor Tiles, Mandarin Stone
Wall Tiles, Fired Earth 
Wall Colour, ‘Treron’ Farrow & Ball
Roman Blind Fabric, Warwick 

Much like the ground floor guest shower room, we wanted this bathroom to feel luxurious but understated. The floor is laid in a chequerboard of dark and light marble tiles, while the panelling shifts slightly to give the room its own identity. The vanity is a smaller-scale version of the one used in the principal bathroom, which helps maintain the same sense of luxury while still reinforcing the hierarchy between the spaces.

Vanity, Healey & Lord
Sanitaryware, Brassware & Tub, Cast Iron Bath Co
Floor Tiles, Mandarin Stone
Wall Tiles, Fired Earth
Wall Lights, Corston 
Wall Colour, Earthborn 
Roman Blind Fabric, Warwick

This bedroom sits at the far end of the first floor and enjoys what we think is the best view in the house, with its own balcony looking out across uninterrupted, far-reaching views of the South Downs. We added a compact en-suite shower room and curved the wall back towards the doorway, softening what would otherwise have been a more abrupt entrance into the space. As with the rest of the house, we introduced wall panelling but kept it painted in the same colour as the walls so the texture is felt more than immediately seen.

Bedframe, Loaf
Lampshade, Alice Palmer
Bedside Tables, Sourced From The Old Cinema, Chiswick  
Cushions, Bespoke From Yarn Collective Fabric 
Wall Colour, ‘Stoney Ground’ Farrow & Ball

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Photographer credit: Helen Leech for All & Nxthing