25 Beautiful Homes June 2020

It has suddenly become more apparent how much of an effect your home can have on your mood, hasn’t it? When the sun is shining, and your space is light and bright, it’s easier to feel a sense of joy than when the sky is cloudy and gloom sets in. Now that our houses have become our worlds, the tricks you can use to make that springiness last longer are more useful and desirable than ever. With that in mind, all the homes in this issue have a sense of fun that comes from clever decorating and planning. From the quirky flamingos that bring a tropical burst to Cheryl and Andy Taylor’s urban garden on page 92 to the vast panel of patterned wallpaper in Ashley Maddox’s beach house on page…

Finding a property with atmosphere was the starting point for Mirella Appelman and her partner Paul Huft when they began their search for a more spacious home. ‘We loved living in Amsterdam but couldn’t find a bigger period property we could afford,’ explains Mirella, an interior designer and owner of Huiswerk vastgoedstyling (Homework styling). ‘When we extended our search to the medieval city of Haarlem on the outskirts of Amsterdam, we couldn’t believe we’d found such a beautiful old property so full of character,’ she continues. ‘The location was initially a compromise but now we’re here we love it as it’s so close to the city and the beach is a 20-minute bike ride away.’ Along with her partner Paul, a furniture maker and owner of PH Meubels op Maat (PH Custom…

When her sons flew the nest, psychotherapist Alexandra Jackson’s five-bedroom house in southeast London suddenly felt very big. Toying with the idea of leaving London, she visited a friend in Essex and spotted an opportunity. ‘We drove past a house that I couldn’t get out of my mind,’ she says. ‘Then it came up for sale, so we went to see it.’ She discovered that the interior hadn’t been touched for 40 years and was dark and dingy. But undeterred, Alexandra put in an offer, securing planning permission for the renovation before the sale was even complete. Alexandra appointed local building firm Westross and lived in the property throughout the project. ‘They were absolutely incredible,’ she says. ‘There wasn’t a single cross word spoken in eight months.’ It was just as…

Bursting with original features, it’s easy to see why this 16th-century yeoman’s house in Suffolk held such appeal for interior designer Mel Massey and her husband, Simon. ‘I can’t put my finger on it,’ recalls Mel, ‘but when we viewed it, it had a wonderful vibe and the potential to be a very happy home.’ The couple were looking in Suffolk for a rural retreat that offered easy access to the sea yet wasn’t too far from London. ‘The house is more remote than we’d been looking for, however,’ says Mel. ‘The only sounds here are owls, tractors and cows.’ Having been restored from an almost derelict state by the previous owner, Mel, Simon and their two boys, Henry and Freddie, have been able to benefit from the hard work and dedication…

There’s an old adage that you can’t self-build on time, on budget and to a high quality, and that one of the three always has to give. Happily, Eunice Locher and Mark Sewell proved otherwise, converting their bungalow into a house in nine months for £375,000, and to an incredibly high standard. Returning to the UK after living in Portugal, Eunice and Mark were looking for a plot that would enable them to build an open-plan ‘inside-outside’ home like those they had enjoyed overseas. The first house they saw was a 1980s Scandia Hus bungalow. ‘I stood outside and said, “Not in a million years”,’ says Eunice. ‘It was overgrown and neglected, and the thought of a bungalow at our age was just too much.’ Ten months later, she came back…

Matt and Alice Cobon had a long wish list for the kind of home they were looking for when they started house-hunting in the West Country. ‘Ideally, we wanted to be in a village that was in easy reach of London but that also felt as if you had escaped to the proper countryside,’ explains Matt. The couple and their daughters Clemmie, six, and Grace, three, have a home in London, where Alice works in finance. Matt was a fund manager for 20 years, but gave it up three years ago to become the stay-at-home parent. It took the family a year to find their country home: a former Victorian dairy farm with an unconverted barn. ‘We wanted a doer-upper, so the barn made it even more attractive to us,’ Matt says.…