Wood House
Interior Design, Wadhurst, EAST SUSSEX
THE PROJECt
Wood House, a grade 2 listed property dating back to the sixteenth century. This traditional Wealden farmhouse has provided us with a really interesting set of rooms to work on. We have been fortunate to be involved in the redesign of five rooms - and with more to follow.
The Drawing Room
This dual aspect room has a great deal of character - with too many beams and leadened panes to count! The key challenge here was to try and use the space in ways that would amake the room feel cosy, but with an air of formality when entertaining.
The far end of the room is lighter and brighter, thanks to double doors that open onto the garden - a lovely backdrop for guests. We added plenty of seating around a glass coffee table and low level lighting creating an softer ambience. Full length curtains frame the doors and help block out draughts. To add in interest we used three different colours on the curtains, so they weren't one big block of colour and to create links to the stunningly patterned blinds.
The fireplace end of the room is by default darker - and cosier, with a huge Inglenook fireplace and this was the perfect place to add more comfortable sofas and a large footstool, perfect for resting tired feet on.
The palette for the room was defined by the selection of GP&J Baker floral fabric for the blinds - blues, olive green, a warm yellow and neutrals on a clean white background has kept the room feeling bright and gives springboard for the usual stack of W&B textured and trimmed curtains.
Breakfast Room & Kitchen
Flowing from the Drawing Room, the Breakfast Room uses a contemporary take on the palette with fresh blue and green hues in the geometric Oxus pattern from Lewis & Wood. We installed roman blinds in this light airy room in order to keep it simple.
*Watch this space for bespoke seat cushions*
DINING ROOM
The key objective in the Dining Room was to embrace the space and architectural features - we added a bold wallpaper from Lewis & Wood to create a strong contrast against all the wood panelling. Given that the windows are comparatively small, leaded and low we decided against curtains and instead we opted instead for roman blinds featuring a dinky geometric pattern in yellow and blue that pops against the wood. Then gorgeous airforce blue velvet dress curtains were added to soften the lines and add a quiet elegance to the room.
The Client already had a beautiful Julian Chichester console table and mirror, we added to the collection with a side table and modern lamp in order to add interest. We were also fortunate to re-use an existing rug of theirs and add a subtle trim to tie the colours together. The piece de la resistance is the beautiful bespoke oak table, made to seat 10 which fills the space perfectly, mustard velvet dining chairs help to further complement the scheme.
Our final flourish - three stunning landscape oil paintings by Kitty McCurdy Art were commissioned to hang over the mantelpiece, they give that extra bit of flair to the perfect space for a dinner party.
Spare Bedroom
Definitely one of the more challenging rooms we helped with - we've all bumped our heads on the beams! Here Lewis & Wood's Fleurie gave us the timeless colour combination with pink and green proving calming and pretty in this bedroom space.
Master Bedroom
Not the easiest of rooms to work in - think more beams and four differently arranged windows. The brief for this room was to work with neutral walls, but to inject some colour and pattern. We unified the space with elegant blinds and little box pelmets in a textured neutral from Andrew Martin.
This worked well with the plain headboard and we had fun choosing accent fabrics, with a multi-coloured weave and velvets from Ian Sanderson to reupholster furniture. With cushions it's always our intention to add a little fun and the teal block print from Molly Mahon with brush trim and pale pink boucle cushions help lift the neutrals.
