At first glance – or indeed upon closer inspection – you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was an original historic property, so sympathetically rendered are the modern additions. In fact, the only original part of the house is the dark wood-clad 19th century farmer's cottage (shown on the right in the image below). The wonderfully in-keeping wood-framed extension – a replica Wealden house – was only added in 1990.
‘It's a house of two halves,’ explains Beth Dadswell, founder of Imperfect Interiors, who was brought in to help the current owners with the internal decor. ‘It's in the most magical setting,’ Beth adds. ‘You drive down a very long lane, through the woods, and come around the corner to see the house on a hill, surrounded by rolling hills and greenery. It's quite spectacular.’
Purchased in 2020 by a couple who were living in London at the time, the property was further updated by William Deakin architects, who replaced the floors and added new oak frames to the windows, as well as opening up the kitchen, dining and sitting rooms. But, Beth explains, ‘the bones of the house were pretty much kept the same,’ and this became the starting canvas upon which to work her own magic on this unique house.
‘The extension had been done very well, unlike a lot of 1990s additions, and you'd think it was original,’ explains Beth – and that historic aesthetic very much dictated the look and feel of the interiors, she adds. Beth had worked for the client previously on their London home, so had already established a relationship and a strong sense of their style. The owners had been drawn to the ‘relaxed, understated and lived-in style’ of Beth's interiors first time round, and for this, their second home, they really wanted to take their time and relish the process.
‘They had a very clear sense of what they liked, so I was very much guided by that,’ explains Beth. ‘I knew they liked graphic prints and quite a clean, unfussy aesthetic,’ she adds, but this house was far more historical and characterful than their London home, so the challenge was to translate a similar look and feel to a very architecturally different property. For the couple, this house was their retreat away from frenetic city life in London – something that the secluded location naturally offered already – but when it came to the interiors, they were keen to lend a nod to the rural setting without it becoming twee. ‘They liked pattern and wanted a country feel, but in a contemporary, layered way,’ explains Beth.
For that reason, the colour choices were central to this look. ‘The house had a very neutral colour base when we started,’ says Beth, ‘so the idea was to introduce colour without over-saturating the rooms, which can sometimes feel a bit gloomy.’ The resulting palette was ‘clean and crisp’, with some of the boldest examples being the fresh green kitchen cabinetry, and the butter yellow bench and coat rack in the boot room.
The rest of the colour comes through in the fabrics, something in which the owners put a lot of stock. ‘They wanted to feel, and really ponder the colours, textures and patterns. A lot of the atmosphere that comes through is a result of the fabric choices we made,’ Beth recalls. ‘Pairing traditional fabrics and prints, from the likes of Robert Kime, with those more contemporary paint colours, makes everything feel a bit fresher,’ she adds.
That sense of balance follows with the furnishings, too, thanks to a delicate juxtaposition of antiques, which were brought in as a nod to the character of the building, alongside more contemporary pieces. Beth explains how she made this work so successfully: ‘In some of the rooms, we sort of shifted the balance. For example, where there were lots of wooden beams and framework in the sitting room, we wanted to keep the decor feeling quite light and fresh, so we used more contemporary pieces in there.’
The sofas were new, from Lawford's Contemporary, but chosen for their traditional style, and the Howe armchairs were upholstered in a Perennials outdoor striped fabric, to accommodate the dog. ‘Gertie, the pointer was quite key in a lot of the decisions,’ Beth says. ‘She's a big dog and she loves bounding around. We used quite a few outdoor fabrics as they're more durable.’ Conversely, the snug, with its low ceiling, has a more traditional and cosy feel. ‘It's very much a a room to retreat to, and read a book in,’ Beth says.
The upstairs layout called for a more creative use of design within the space. ‘The primary bedroom is one really long room, with the bed at one end and a freestanding bath and fireplace at the other,’ shares Beth, ‘so we wanted to put something quite dramatic in there.’ They commissioned a bespoke wrought iron four-poster bed, which was countered with curtains running the full length of the room (across three windows) to help soften the look and give it the feel of a gorgeously cosy and enveloping suite.
Beth even threw in a few curveballs, which, happily, the owners were open to. They opted for some ebonised antique pieces, like the antique chest in the bedroom: ‘The high-shine black surfaces gave them a more contemporary feel,’ she explains. ‘The wibbly-wobbly Porta Romana chandelier with rattan shades in the entrance hall was also a bit fun, and the stripey jute rug in the dining room was a little unexpected, but it works really well.’ The dining table is a bespoke refectory-style table by Alfred Newell while the dining chairs are vintage and finished in a chocolate brown gloss for a retro feel.
Beth's personal favourite spot in the house is the dining nook, which features a round table, and four antique ladder-back, rush-seat chairs, just nestled in the corner of the kitchen under the rustic beams. ‘It's just the cosiest little space, with the bookshelf and the tiny window through to the boot room. I think that's where I would spend a lot of my time if I lived in this house,’ Beth says.
This combination of new and old, classic and unexpected, dramatic and soft, all work together seamlessly – much like the styles of Beth and her clients, which Beth describes as ‘a meeting of minds’. She adds: ‘It's been a really nice transportation of [the owners'] style into a completely different type of architecture, in a completely different location. It doesn't feel like we just replicated their London house at all. It's got a different vibe, But it's still very much about them and their style.’
While this country abode was initially, well, just that – a place to escape to at the weekends – it is increasingly becoming the couple's primary home, not least because one half of the pair, a former teacher, now lives here permanently (whilst his partner still travels between the two for work). The fruits of his labour are evident in the stunningly maintained landscaped gardens that surround the house. They called in the help of landscape gardeners, Joe Perkins Design, to re-work the grounds, incorporating the original 19th century farm outbuildings. The former tennis courts were knocked down to make way for a cutting garden and terraced layers were added to draw the eye up to the house.
Beth explains: ‘From the inside of the house you look out onto greenery from every window, so the garden design did influence some of the colours and patterns used inside the house.’ Far from a rambling cottage garden full of chintzy pink roses, the overarching look of the outdoor space is understated – simple if you will – and it's this clean, contemporary aesthetic that prevails throughout the property, too.
This feels like a house that's been designed for the long term, not a passion project to complete and move on from. ‘They've spent so much time and effort bringing it back to life and it's got a really great energy to it which is increasingly drawing them back there, to the land – it's a very special place,’ shares Beth. But it's not yet a finished project. ‘They're still hunting for – and enjoying the process of finding – pieces to add to the house, so it will just become more layered over time.’ This is also a house that was bought with hosting in mind. ‘I love that it will be a house that's always full of guests and good energy and fun, because that's what they love,’ Beth concludes.
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