A 15th-century farmhouse in Carmarthenshire filled with riotous colour
“It’s a house that smiles”, says Willa Lloyd of her renovated 15th-century farmhouse in Carmarthenshire, south Wales. And assuming you agree that intensely bright colours and patterns upon prints upon ornamentation are the design equivalent of a warm, broad grin (and we do), then she’s not wrong. “Because it’s southwest Wales, houses are usually one colour: magnolia,” Willa explains. “[But] I just love colour. I like people to walk in the door and smile.”
Originally built around 1460 by a soldier returning from the English army, the building began life as a defensible farmhouse and has been extensively remodelled over the centuries, including most recently by interior designer Willa and her husband Tom. As a result, it contains manifold layers of history, but has been clad according to Willa’s own tastes (Willa runs Drumkilbo Designs; the house offered that rare opportunity to work without compromise that can be catnip to designers). It is bright and bold, but still demonstrates all the aesthetic consideration one would expect from a design professional, and Willa agrees that she is a maximalist – sort of. “On the whole, I think I would be, probably, a contemporary traditionalist. I want everything to tell a story.”
The story in this instance is as follows: the farmhouse originally belonged to Tom’s family, who have lived here for nearly two hundred years, and Willa moved in in 2015 (“I couldn’t think of any more excuses not to!”). Before Willa and Tom took up residence, the house had been occupied by his parents and grandparents, and it was more traditional, and perhaps a little uptight. The informal agreement between the couple was that she’d move to Wales on the understanding that she would be allowed to apply her own inimitable style to the house’s interiors. “When I first visited, Tom’s mother was very, very possessive of it. I couldn't possibly wander around. I didn't really see very much of it until I'd actually practically moved to Wales, which is rather ridiculous.”
The work took a year, and Welsh weather being what it is, the house was clad in a huge tent cover for eight months of that. Willa began by swapping some of the ground-floor rooms around, moving the kitchen from the back to the front of the house, and drawing up plans for a conservatory beside it. The house is so old that it was far from the first tweak to the design – dozens of elements have been changed or added over the years – and Willa explains how in the original farmhouse, the ground floor would have housed cattle whose body heat would then rise and heat the first floor where the house’s inhabitants lived (a ladder to the first floor would have been pulled up at night for protection).
In the mid-18th century, the building was much enlarged and remodelled, creating the Georgian front elevation it has today, before doubling in size in 1830 to accommodate a large, prosperous Victorian family and their servants. An ancient room became a chapel with a vaulted ceiling, then was turned into a bedroom again in the 1950s. The history of the farmhouse was always just under the surface during the renovation, sometimes literally: when Willa and Tom dug up the floor in the main hall, they found the original 16th-century stones about two feet down.
Amid this planning minefield, Tom, an architectural historian, was invaluable in securing permission to change things by demonstrating that the house was originally laid out in a particular way. Willa only got permission for her conservatory, for example, because Tom “produced quite an old drawing” that proved there had been a similar room there in the past. That was lucky, because today it is Willa’s favourite room – though it likely looks rather different to whatever room was there before in its place. Stepping in through a doorway up from the kitchen, itself full of riotous colour, it’s impossible not to note the intensely bright space. “It’s completely rather chaotic, and very eclectic.”
Other elements of the house’s design were more serendipitous. While living and working in Edinburgh, Willa would often head to the Edinburgh Tile Shop for clients, where she picked up “rather saucy mermaid tiles” painted by someone called Kate Glanville. The tiles were branded “Bethlehem, Carmarthenshire”. “You remember a name like Bethlehem,” says Willa. “I said to Tom, ‘Is that near?’ and he said, ‘Yes, it’s about eight miles away.’ So we went and found her, and she’s actually become a great friend.” Kate’s saucy tiles now adorn one of the upstairs bathroom’s walls. “I gave her the wallpaper and said that I wanted it to be wonderfully bright.”
A Scottish-Welsh axis runs through the house that reflects Willa and Tom’s respective backgrounds: the furniture and many furnishings comprise a deliberate combination of their various possessions, and many of the portraits depict their respective ancestors. “All the furniture and all the pictures are merged. Half are Welsh, and half are Scottish.” She points to a portrait of a small boy in a kilt hung over the staircase as one such Caledonian touch, while in the dining room, there’s a painting of “a man and a woman who used to live here. Tom’s ancestors from years ago.” As such, the house has become a sort of incarnation of their twenty-year relationship.
“I do like people to walk in and not feel intimidated,” says Willa, for whom the space is the perfect melange of her professional work and personal taste, all expressed within her husband’s ancestral home. “When you’re a decorator, and you’re working for other people, you can’t inflict very bright colours on them unless they want it. When you’re doing your own house, you can.”
Simon Brown1/19The paintings are of a mix of both Willa and Tom’s Welsh and Scottish ancestors. The curtains are from Chelsea Textiles, and the sideboard is a Neo-Georgian sideboard from Scotland. The lamp on top of it is by Besselink & Jones; the mirror is an Edwardian pier mirror.
Simon Brown2/19The pendant light in the hall is a Granby Fretwork Lantern in yellow, by Vaughans. The chair and rug are both old family heirlooms (the rug is from Scotland) while the chest is an old Welsh blanket chest that Willa says “has always been there”.
Simon Brown3/19In the hallway there is an original ancient stone entrance. The cupboard on the left is inherited, along with “a very temperamental clock”.
Simon Brown4/19The fridge is a bright orange Smeg, while the pendant lights are by Jim Lawrence. The painted chairs in both the kitchen and conservatory (see image number seven) are from Spain and made by a village carpenter with a different picture on the back of each one. They are all over 30 years old; Willa has had them as her kitchen chairs since she got them. The tiles are coloured Metro tiles from H & E Smith. All the paints throughout the house are from Papers and Paints.
Simon Brown5/19The ceramic vegetables on the wall are by Diana Tonnison – “A much-loved birthday present from my husband,” says Willa – and the dresser is a North Wales dresser bought locally. “North Welsh dressers are more useful as they have enclosed cupboards in the base, rather than the open South Wales ones.”
Simon Brown6/19All the armchairs and furniture in the conservatory are much loved, says Willa, and have been used for years and recovered. The nearest armchair is upholstered in Robert Kime; the wing chair is upholstered in a discontinued fabric also by Robert Kime. The curtains are by Manual Canovas. “I have always loved this fabric and was determined to have it in the conservatory which has an eclectic collection within it.” The ottoman is upholstered with a suzani. The rug is by Robert Stephenson.
Simon Brown7/19These are the same chairs as in the kitchen, made by a local carpenter in a small Spanish village, all painted with a different painting on the backs. The tablecloth is from Australia, via “a small company run by a French woman who makes plasticized fabric tablecloths in French provincial fabric”. The curtains are by Manual Canovas. The clock is an American export C1870 clock, sold locally, which used to be in the Victorian kitchen.
8/19The wallpaper in the drawing room was digitally printed from an unused original roll Willa found in the attic. Willa asked Hamilton & Weston to reproduce it; the original 1860 wallpaper had gold leaf on it. Both the sofas have belonged to Willa for many years – they are both now upholstered with Gainsborough silk. The wing chair fabric is by Turnell & Gigon. The mirror is a reproduction from Overmantel. The painted stool is from Christopher Clark Workshops with a tapestry cushion. The fireplace is original to the house.
Simon Brown9/19The lights are “old favourites” of Willa’s: Glass Globes from Vaughans. The dining table, dating to c.1840, was bought for the room. The chairs are a Harlequin set, some of Welsh farmhouse type. The curtains are by HA Percheron. “The curtains have moved three times but this time they were too short so I added a long pelmet to them to fill the gap!” The fireplace is original and dates to c.1830.
Simon Brown10/19The beds are from Multibends – “The most comfortable beds ever”, says Willa – and the wallpaper is by Watts of Westminster. The armchair is upholstered in a discontinued fabric by Nobilis. The dressing table chair is upholstered in a Turnell & Gigon fabric. The curtains were in Willa’s last house in Scotland and have been altered to fit here with new plain matching pelmets.
Simon Brown11/19The mirrors are a pair of painted French mirrors, the chairs are old family possessions with new seat covers, the rug is a family heirloom, and the chest of drawers is Georgian, in mahogany.
Simon Brown12/19This ancient room was converted to a chapel around 1830, then reverted back to a bedroom in the mid-1950s. The wardrobe of the left is made from a copy of an original by Clockhouse Furniture. The rugs are old family rugs.
Simon Brown13/19The stool at the end of the beds is upholstered in an old tapestry which Willa found in the attic. The beds are a pair of day beds with scroll ends. They were very short at 5ft 10”, so Willa had them elongated to 6ft 6”, which was more useful in the present day.
Simon Brown14/19The seat is covered in fabric by Pierre Frey. On the bed is “Valance” by Colefax & Fowler and a beadhead with a throw by Sarah Kortoris. The botanical prints are from Ramsay Antiques. The wallpaper is “Ashling” by Colefax & Fowler. The fireplace is original, dating to 1830.
Simon Brown15/19The curtains are in a Colefax and Fowler fabric “purchased at one of their yearly sales”, Willa says, while the throw on the bed is from OKA.
Simon Brown16/19The duck wallpaper in the “grandchildren’s bathroom” is from Squint Ltd in bright pink, yellow and green. The tiles are by local ceramicist Kate Glanville, who Willa discovered was based nearby in Carmarthenshire. “She made the duck tiles to match and has become a good friend.”
Simon Brown17/19The wallpaper is from Lorca. “I wanted a wallpaper to go with the Manuel Canovas fabric of the blind which is a discontinued fabric which I found at the Colefax & Fowler yearly sale.”
Simon Brown18/19Willa found the loo seat in Uganda while travelling. “It had to be altered quite a lot to fit the British loo but it works and it is fun.” The wallpaper is Pierre Frey fabric made into wallpaper; there was only enough for the two sides of cloakroom, as seen in this photograph, so Paper and Paints made up a paint in the same colour red as the background fabric for the other two walls. The tiles over the sink are the same as in the kitchen: Metro brick tiles from H & E Smith.
Simon Brown19/19The conservatory was built when the major renovations were done in 2015 replacing a demolished one. As Willa and Tom turned the former sitting room into the family kitchen in the front of the house, they now use the adjacent conservatory every day as a family room, “even though Tom would rather be growing plants in it!” Willa adds.
