25 Beautiful Homes November 2019

There is something enchanting about autumn. Turning leaves, chilly evenings, the first roaring fires... Our November issue is full of inspiration for this transitional season. Many of our gorgeous homes feature ideas for fireplaces, from contemporary woodburners to decorative mantelpieces. I particularly love the hallway of Georgina Salter’s Grade II-listed longhouse in Suffolk, where a traditional open fire feature combines with a contemporary pendant to great effect (page 136). Warm colours, natural materials and rich textures also strike an autumnal note. Gayle Wailes’ Lincolnshire townhouse uses these details in abundance (page 8), while the deep palette of Sarah Ord’s Victorian bungalow has a cosseting charm (page 75). As well as hunkering down this month, you may also be considering a project, as there’s still time to add the finishing touches…

Before Gayle and Richard Wailes bought their elegant townhouse, family life was far from ideal. Gayle and the couple’s two children, Eddie, now 20, and Claudia, 17, were based in Cambridgeshire while Richard was working in London for most of the week. Searching for a home to put down roots together, Gayle spotted a house for sale in the centre of an impressive Georgian terrace in Lincolnshire and went to view it immediately. Smitten by the graceful proportions of the rooms, which were arranged over four floors, she recognised the flexibility the house could offer. ‘With two teenagers and lots of visitors, several floors seemed like a great opportunity,’ recalls Gayle, who also adored the views over the surrounding countryside. But having been rented out for almost a decade, the house…

Rut Káradóttir was won over by the charm of this period house in northern Iceland. Not only was it in a small, friendly community with a thriving arts scene, but it was also set in the midst of beautiful countryside. The twist, however, was that Rut did not own the property – as an interior designer, she had been asked to renovate it. ‘The owners were keen to have a modern interior with a hint of sophistication, and I immediately felt I could create the kind of home I’d live in myself,’ says Rut. ‘It made the whole process so much easier.’ One major change was opening up the downstairs. The existing layout was a collection of small rooms with a lack of natural light. Removing walls and introducing glazed interior doors…

Stina and Ruben Pariente Gromark are unquestionably a global couple. Stina is originally from Sweden and Ruben grew up in Egypt, Poland and France. After graduating from London’s Central St Martins, they spent much of their time living in Sweden and Spain. Having then settled in Paris with their son Elliot, now three, they found they needed a home big enough to cope with visiting family and friends. So, in 2017, they moved to a larger apartment near the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, which met their needs for more space, better air quality and a convenient location for work. Seeking to increase the sense of space in the apartment, the couple approached Ruben’s father, Jacques, an interior designer, who came up with the idea of an atrium. They knew it…

Clutter doesn’t feature in artist Julie Ashworth’s vocabulary – or in her minimalist home. Apart from books, there is very little in the way of day-to-day paraphernalia. It’s there, of course, but hidden behind walls and design-led storage solutions. ‘I like clean lines, open spaces and attention to detail,’ says Julie. Hence her converted Yorkshire barn in which huge oak beams, steel girders and exposed stone are given more emphasis than decor. And the little furniture she has was either chosen for its functional design or was made by Julie, who did a college course in cabinet-making as a mature student. After living in a barn conversion in France for several years with her former husband, Julie came back to the UK to find a property to renovate. ‘I loved the barn…

Miranda Davies and her husband were living in a Victorian townhouse in southwest London when the house next door came up for sale. The couple debated whether or not to buy the property. ‘We knew that if we didn’t, someone else would develop it so we decided to go for it,’ says Miranda. ‘We rented it out for 10 years while we raised the money to combine the two properties to create a single home for our growing family of four children and numerous pets.’ The couple envisaged a dramatic makeover for both houses and enlisted husband-and-wife architecture and design team Robinson van Noort to help realise their vision. ‘With such a radical overhaul in mind, it was imperative to work with people we really trusted,’ says Miranda. ‘I’d seen Ali…