25 Beautiful Homes May 2022

One of the highlights of last year was being able to look through the huge number of entries we had in response to our first reader home awards. You may have seen the winning houses in recent issues. We are running the awards again, so if you think your home has winning style, then we’d love to hear from you – all the details are on page 45. There is plenty of style to be found in this month’s issue. Take a look at the light-filled extensions that have transformed Christabel and Eddie Hart’s townhouse (p8) and Laura and Ben’s semi (p136). Vibrant colour is also a theme. Jo Lavender’s home in Suffolk (p46) has been given a bold new look using wonderful ice-cream hues and vintage furniture. In south…

With a home decorated in joyful bright shades and bold patterns, it never takes Christabel Hart very long to get in a party mood. She and her husband Eddie bought this three-storey Victorian townhouse in east London six years ago as their future family home. It needed a lot of renovation work to bring it up to date, but once that was achieved Christabel dipped into her favourite palette of warm yellows, beach-shack blues and palm-leaf greens. ‘I’ve spent time in the Caribbean and have a deep love of tropical colour combinations – and I can never resist a pineapple motif,’ she says, smiling. Christabel, who runs a pop-up cocktail bar business, Christabel’s (christabels.co.uk), and Eddie now live here with Rex, aged two, and their baby Ruby, six months. The…

The expert advice often given to potential buyers when moving to a new area is to rent a property first. When Lizzy Cavill, her former husband and their children Georgie, 10, and Ollie, eight, relocated from London to Bath little did they know that the street on which they rented would be the very same one where they would eventually buy. ‘We instantly fell in love with the street,’ explains Lizzy. After a three-year wait the right house became available and a sale was agreed. Unusually for Bath, the house was Victorian and much to Lizzy’s delight had a lot of its original period charm intact. ‘It had only been owned by one family before us and had been passed down through three generations so it felt a huge privilege…

THE PROPERTY Victorian house built in 1893 LOCATION Bath ROOM Sitting room, dining room, kitchen, four bedrooms, bathroom, study, studio PURCHASED 2019 PREVIOUS PROPERTY ‘We moved to a rental property when we relocated to Bath from Southwest London,’ says Lizzy.…

At the heart of Nicola Casperson’s 1800s cottage are the original thick stone walls, exposed beams and slate floor. But to make the most of the property, she’s given these authentic features an update with soothing grey decoration and smart tactile fabrics that evoke the laid-back luxury of a boutique hotel. ‘While renovating the cottage, I had an old French farmhouse in mind, inspired by Soho Farmhouse and the Artist Residence hotels,’ explains Nicola, who runs Nicola Casperson Interiors (nicolacaspersoninteriors.co.uk). ‘I love a rustic-luxury look that blends comfortable living with a sense of pampering.’ After 17 years of living in London, Nicola decided to look for a place in Cornwall to retreat to at weekends. Her parents had owned a holiday house in north Cornwall and she had happy memories…

Undertaking the renovation of a property for someone else isn’t always easy, but interior designer Irene Gunter is the first to pay tribute to her ‘open-minded client’, who allowed his 1950s London townhouse to undergo a remarkable transformation under her watchful eye. This faith in Irene’s talent has given the property an entirely new identity, which exudes a bold sense of style. ‘The house was built after the Second World War and had a garage, so we immediately saw the opportunity to make it less car and more people friendly,’ says Irene, whose plan included converting the garage into extra living space, while introducing curved forms to bring a softer character to the interior. Although the owner loved his new-found house and its delightful walled garden, Irene concedes it was…