25 Beautiful Homes April 2019

Who doesn’t hanker after extra space? Those of us in bijou houses may long for an extra bedroom or a sliver of greenery, while homeowners of larger properties might covet more storage, a garden office, a cinema... With this in mind, I cast an eye over all of the projects in this issue and was delighted, but not surprised, to discover clever ideas around ‘creating space’ in every one. Naturally, our replanned properties focus on how to rejig a layout, but the inspiration doesn’t end there. The chic colour palette of our cover story (page 94) is fine proof of the impact decor has on how spacious a home feels. On a different note, Elisabeth and Aldo’s factory conversion in London (page 14) shows how to turn a large footprint…

Who doesn’t hanker after extra space? Those of us in bijou houses may long for an extra bedroom or a sliver of greenery, while homeowners of larger properties might covet more storage, a garden office, a cinema... With this in mind, I cast an eye over all of the projects in this issue and was delighted, but not surprised, to discover clever ideas around ‘creating space’ in every one. Naturally, our replanned properties focus on how to rejig a layout, but the inspiration doesn’t end there. The chic colour palette of our cover story (page 94) is fine proof of the impact decor has on how spacious a home feels. On a different note, Elisabeth and Aldo’s factory conversion in London (page 14) shows how to turn a large footprint…

When Emma Hatfield Watkins’ husband, Iain, was a teenager and mowing his neighbour’s lawn to earn pocket money, he never imagined that, one day, he would buy the house he’d often admired from across the garden. Over the years, the property, which is surrounded by barns, has witnessed a number of reincarnations. ‘During the Seventies, an occupant sold the house and moved into one of the barns which they’d converted,’ explains Emma. ‘The surrounding garden was then divided up between the two owners.’ In the late Eighties, Iain’s family bought that barn and he converted the adjoining stables into his first home. When Emma and Iain got together in 2004, she moved into the stables with Iain. Captivated by the tranquillity and charm of this idyllic, rural location, a year later, when…

Elisabeth and Aldo Ciarrocchi’s daughter Isabella, now 11, was a toddler when they began house hunting, and Elisabeth was pregnant with their younger daughter Piera, now eight. ‘We were living in small flat not far away, and all we knew was that we needed something larger for our family,’ says Elisabeth. ‘We both liked the idea of warehouse-style living and as soon as we walked in here, we fell in love with it.’ When the Ciarrocchis got the keys to the property, it was desperately in need of some TLC. ‘The ground floor was covered in laminate and there was a basketball hoop hanging from one of the posts,’ Elisabeth reveals. ‘The kitchen was cluttered with wall cabinets and it had a low bulkhead ceiling to accommodate the sunken bath in…

When Emma Hatfield Watkins’ husband, Iain, was a teenager and mowing his neighbour’s lawn to earn pocket money, he never imagined that, one day, he would buy the house he’d often admired from across the garden. Over the years, the property, which is surrounded by barns, has witnessed a number of reincarnations. ‘During the Seventies, an occupant sold the house and moved into one of the barns which they’d converted,’ explains Emma. ‘The surrounding garden was then divided up between the two owners.’ In the late Eighties, Iain’s family bought that barn and he converted the adjoining stables into his first home. When Emma and Iain got together in 2004, she moved into the stables with Iain. Captivated by the tranquillity and charm of this idyllic, rural location, a year…

Elisabeth and Aldo Ciarrocchi’s daughter Isabella, now 11, was a toddler when they began house hunting, and Elisabeth was pregnant with their younger daughter Piera, now eight. ‘We were living in small flat not far away, and all we knew was that we needed something larger for our family,’ says Elisabeth. ‘We both liked the idea of warehouse-style living and as soon as we walked in here, we fell in love with it.’ When the Ciarrocchis got the keys to the property, it was desperately in need of some TLC. ‘The ground floor was covered in laminate and there was a basketball hoop hanging from one of the posts,’ Elisabeth reveals. ‘The kitchen was cluttered with wall cabinets and it had a low bulkhead ceiling to accommodate the sunken bath…