25 Beautiful Homes March 2017

When friends or family are house hunting, I love accompanying them. It’s always interesting to see what they look for and what makes them decide that a particular property is the right one for them. Usually, we agree on most of the aspects that would make it a great home, but the areas where we differ can be surprising. When we viewed the 200-year-old farmhouse we now live in, there were two reasons why I liked it: the main rooms were big and light, and the owner wanted a quick sale, which was ideal for us as we had already sold our home. However, what really caught my imagination were the original panelled doors and the quirky details, such as the small drawers built into the wall below the windowsills…

1 LET IT SHINE Mini Gaston bedside lamp in Pretty Pink, £55, Loaf 2 CANDY STRIPES Schiap dinner plates, small, £6; large, £14, Oka 3 FRENCH FANCY Serena bedside table, £1,008, made to order, Oficina Inglesa 4 PETAL POWER Birch Peony Pink framed artwork, £91, Voyage Maison 5 PLUMP IT UP Embroidered cushion in Nude, £55, The French Bedroom Company 6 ROSY LEE Rose Cottage cup and saucer, £34.50, Villeroy & Boch 7 SOFT TOUCH Linen bedding, £190, Tolly McRae 8 GILT EDGED Occasional table, £165, MiaFleur 9 CHECK MATE Sanderson blanket, £75, Bedeck…

When friends or family are house hunting, I love accompanying them. It’s always interesting to see what they look for and what makes them decide that a particular property is the right one for them. Usually, we agree on most of the aspects that would make it a great home, but the areas where we differ can be surprising. When we viewed the 200-year-old farmhouse we now live in, there were two reasons why I liked it: the main rooms were big and light, and the owner wanted a quick sale, which was ideal for us as we had already sold our home. However, what really caught my imagination were the original panelled doors and the quirky details, such as the small drawers built into the wall below the windowsills…

1 LAID-BACK LOOK Madeleine slipper chair in Bamboo Rust, £649, Iqrup + Ritz 2 SHADY NUMBER Moroccan metallic hanging light, £120, Barker & Stonehouse 3 ON THE FRINGE Coral throw, £19.99, Dobbies 4 TROPICAL TASTE Paradise Palm table lamp and shade, £120, Biba Homeware at House of Fraser 5 OUT OF AFRICA Zebra cushion, £25, Marks & Spencer 6 NATIONAL DISH Alimazi decorative plate, £68, Oka 7 ORIGAMI STYLE Safari lamp, £29.99, Firebox 8 ON THE TERRACE Fusion wire web round coffee table, £375, Libra 9 DIVIDE & RULE Havannah foldable bamboo screen, £240, Out There Interiors…

WINE CABINET Could you help me track down a stylish wooden console table cum wine rack similar to the one in the dining area of Yvette and James Craig’s home (p48, December 2016 )? LYNDA FRANK, BY EMAIL A versatile unit like this will keep wine to hand in the dining room while also offering a useful surface. The Cotswold Co (0333 200 1725, cotswoldco.com) sells a Newark wine rack cabinet (shown) made from oak, which stores 28 bottles and has two drawers; it measures H91.8 x W90 x D32cm, £199. Barker & Stonehouse’s (0370 218 8706, barkerandstonehouse.co.uk) Carisbrooke wine rack is made from reclaimed pine with an off-white painted finish and a sun-dried ash top. It can house 24 bottles and incorporates two drawers and a cupboard, H100 x W105 x…

INSPIRING HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Country house and cottage knocked into one, dating back to 1750 LOCATION Dorset ROOMS Hall, drawing room, sitting room, dining room, kitchen-diner, breakfast room, studio, workshop, four bedrooms (one en suite), three bathrooms PURCHASED 2014 PREVIOUS PROPERTY ‘We lived in a larger farmhouse, also in Dorset,’ says Georgie. A winding Dorset lane flanked by high hedges leads to Georgie Maynard’s picturesque 18th-century home, overlooked by a stately eucalyptus tree, with views of a private estate. ‘My late husband and I were looking for a smaller property, but having restored six English houses and four in France, I was keen to find something that didn’t require any major building work,’ says Georgie. Having had so much experience of stripping properties back to their bare bones, Georgie was delighted to find that, in this case,…