LOW POINT
“There actually hasn’t been one! Easter Shian has never given us a moment of doubt or worry. The energy the house emits is that it will work out, it will be okay, and it has taught us so much patience. If I had to pick faults, everything has probably cost three or four times more than we originally budgeted! It just means we work harder to make it happen.
With its exposed stone wall and wooden beams, floor to ceiling shelving and dark blue walls, the new library has been a triumph, and is easily one of their favourite rooms in the house
commenced the renovations by painting every room in Farrow & Ball’s Lime White while they decided how to reconfigure the layout. This fresh start also allowed Debbie to eliminate the weird and wonderful colour palette that the property had been painted in and gave her a chance to live with a neutral backdrop and see where the natural light came in. “Asides from the crazy colour scheme, the house was lacking in character, and it didn’t feel remotely like a 200-year-old farmhouse. It really needed some personality,” Debbie remembers. The bright yellow and blue kitchen was one of the first rooms to be neutralised and although the couple had inherited the AGA with the sale, it wasn’t in working order. “We phoned the local AGA installer, and it turned out he had put the AGA in in 1964 but he hadn’t been back since! Let’s just say it was overdue a service!” The layout of the property had also been somewhat neglected and was a bit of a mish mash; it certainly didn’t work in its current format for the family. On the ground oor, there was a shower room and utility/boot room by the front
jul/aug 2023
door. Off the large kitchen was the first of the “white boxes” that the house was famous for in the area – namely two conservatories that had been added to the rear of the property. Adjacent to the kitchen was a huge living room with fireplaces at either end, and access to the second white bo. On the first oor were four bedrooms and on the attic level a further two bedrooms with one utilised as a bar. As Debbie had always wanted a library this was her jumping off point. “The main living space was one really massive room with a fireplace and a sofa at each end which found quite a peculiar way to live.” In the kitchen, the dining table had been placed under the stairs which made it impossible to seat everyone at the table but while the kitchen was generously proportioned, the island made it difficult to relocate said dining table. Dave and Debbie’s solution was to redesign the main living space by erecting a partition wall at one end of the room to create a separate library and then use the remainder of the room as a dining room and games room. This configuration created a better
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