Inside a 16th-century farmhouse nestled in the English countryside

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I'm an interior designer based in London,

and this is my home near Oxted,

which I share with my partner David, two dogs,

and a couple of horses.

When I first came and saw the house,

I was struck by its location.

It's in such a tranquil, sort of isolated spot,

which we both loved, and the scenery was pretty spectacular,

so I thought that ticked that box,

and the house and garden I thought

was a blank canvas, really, so for me and what I do,

I thought it's a great opportunity to design a garden

and to really work on the interiors.

The house is about 500 years old.

The advice I'd give somebody taking on a project

such as this, sort of a centuries-old house

that needs quite a bit of work,

is just to appreciate its quirks

and the various nooks and crannies and little gaps

and creaking floorboards and all the little foibles,

because they're the plus points, really.

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This seemed like the right place for the kitchen to us

because it had the French doors leading to the garden.

We're in and out with the garden, in and out with the dogs,

going backwards and forwards with the horses.

so everything just needs to be wipeable, washable, moppable.

I think a country house kitchen is freestanding,

not even units.

It's sort of freestanding cabinetry.

It's utilitarian, yes, it's a bit sort of Downton Abbey,

but like, the staff quarters, which I quite like,

but I can't resist a bit of decoration,

and when I see these sorts of tiles, they're antique tiles.

I can't resist something like this.

They're Portuguese, early 1700s.

To me, it's sort of that carpet effect.

The paintings are still life,

which I think are quite appropriate

for the kitchen dining space.

The wood burning stove was here when we arrived,

and it was made by the blacksmith

in the neighboring village.

If I get the fires really going,

it's pretty toasty and warm.

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Color is very important to me as an interior designer.

In this case of our sitting room,

I definitely took inspiration from the garden

and the flowers that we've been growing.

The outside now moves seamlessly into the interiors,

which I like.

I was inspired by Nikki Haslam and his work.

I think his work is amazing.

He had a country house

where he had a very soft pale pink sitting room.

There's so many different shades of pink

growing in the garden,

and I tried to use a few of them here on the walls.

The color is from Papers and Paints on Park Walk,

the sofa, which is a Claremont sort of cotton linen fabric.

We've got the Fortuny sort of hand-blocked cotton fabric

over there in all different shades, pink on pink,

and there are even shades of pink in the carpet,

but I quite like layering the color like that.

The choice of paintings,

they're all quite country in style and substance.

If I see a nice horse picture, I'm quite partial to it,

and the other sort of favorite subject

for paintings are lurchers.

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I think this room came with quite a few challenges.

It's low, it's quite narrow,

doesn't have as much natural daylight as the other rooms.

It's quite small windows, and they're east-facing.

My approach was to go in quite strong

and make it almost darker and going with the heavy textures

and patterns and really give it some character.

I think almost overfurnished, sort of bringing it in

and making it feel extremely sort of cozy and enveloping.

Particularly in the evening when the curtains are drawn,

the candles are lit, and all the tables are set,

it does become sort of much more atmospheric and intimate.

I kept hold of some sentimental pieces.

There are some paintings in here of the Lake District

where I used to spend a lot of time

with my family and my parents.

This was my father's, and he liked Art Deco.

I probably wouldn't go out and buy it myself, but of course,

it's sentimental and I'm not going to get rid of it.

I wouldn't say I'm a knowledgeable collector

of anything in particular.

I'm more a magpie. [laughs]

If it sparkles or glistens, then I'm in.

I find beauty in a lot of objects.

I just know what I like.

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My approach to decorating this space

was to make it feel like another room,

a part of the house rather than the bathroom,

so freestanding pieces of furniture, paper the walls,

more decorative mirrors than your typical bathroom,

and paintings and these sort of embroidered banners.

The bath ended up having to be on a raised platform,

which was a bit of a last-minute shocker

because the bath is cast iron, the huge weight.

We had to put a load-bearing steel in here

and then sort of conceal it with the tender floor,

but again, it worked out better

for head heights for the view.

The blinds is Colefax's Eaton Check,

which has been around forever.

The wallpaper's GP and J Baker, it's a bit nuts,

but I thought, why not?

I'm not in here all day.

People say, well, you can't put wallpaper in a bath.

It's all going to steam and peel off.

I think what makes a good bath,

you've got to be a bit different.

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When we first walked into the bedroom and looked up,

we saw this Tudor hand-painted mural.

There's dog roses, chrysanthemums, a dianthus,

daisies, and Tudor roses, and then these up here

are meant to be sort of abstract cloud designs.

It's quite breathtaking,

and it's really something very special.

The owners all those centuries ago

were doing the same sort of thing,

bringing the garden into the interior decoration.

The mural was definitely a starting point for this room.

I liked the strong indigos and those reds,

and I picked those out in the carpet

and also this old crewelwork,

which I discovered on Dreweatts' saleroom.

Straight after I finished my diploma

at the Inchbald School of Design,

I went to work for Chelsea Textiles.

It was there, really, that I got an appreciation

for crewelwork and all those hand-embroidered fabrics.

When I saw this in auction, it's kind of the original thing,

I was pretty keen to get it.

I think it went perfectly with this painting,

and it really suited the house in terms of period and style.

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There are differences between this project

and my typical interiors project.

I work very closely with my clients

to really create something unique and special for them,

so every project is very, very different.

This one, I have a very, very relaxed way of living,

and it's a very country way of living,

dogs, horses, a lot of sort of outside, inside.

I think as the years have gone by,

I find myself getting bolder

and wanting to sort of mix and match

and be a bit more eclectic.

I think probably most designers start off a little bit

on the safe side, a little bit on the conventional side,

and as they get more expertise

and the years under their belt,

then they sort of spread their wings a bit.

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