Arts and Crafts House in Hampshire

Arts and Crafts House in Hampshire

A long-standing client came to Tamsin after purchasing this exceptional Grade II listed house set amidst four and a half acres of landscaped garden in the heart of the Hampshire countryside.

Built in 1912 by Inigo Triggs and William Unsworth for the traveller, explorer, naturalist, artist and editor Aubyn Trevor-Battye, the house is south facing and Arts and Crafts in style and was designed to a specific brief that sought to maximise light and ensure the fullest views of outside from every angle when seated anywhere inside.

Untouched since the eighties, Tamsin oversaw the extensive refurbishment of the historic interiors of the building. This included the removal of a number of insensitive interventions made in the 1950s and 60s when the house was last redecorated and the original bathrooms and kitchen were replaced. We removed these later additions and set about uncovering the bones of this beautiful house drawing inspiration from the Arts and Crafts movement to reflect the house’s original charm and character and create a fresh, elegantly restrained version of the traditional English country house idyll and a relaxed and comfortable backdrop for family life.

The joinery in the house is all bespoke and designed by Tamsin. The curve of the kitchen cupboards was designed to echo the curve in the buildings original doors and windows. The bespoke joinery was painted the same colour as the original rich cream aga. The kitchen walls and natural stone work top echo the colours of the flint stone outside.

The spirit of nature runs through the house – simply decorated it feels as though the house belongs to the landscape. Pared down and furnished with a robust simplicity using a mish mash of furniture either inherited, bought or acquired. The light changes the feel of each room as it falls into the house throughout the day.

You push open the weighty panelled front door from the courtyard and opposite on the other side of the imposing hall is another door which opens onto sloping lawns and the most glorious wooded valley. Careful not to detract from the views beyond, the hall was furnished simply and sparsely – only the Art Deco vase filled with flowers freshly picked from the garden is magnificent in scale.

The soft curve of the hall’s ceiling joins the curve of the stair as it wraps around the side of the house and leads up the bedrooms on the floors above.

The drawing room’s beautiful original ceiling was discovered almost perfectly intact above a lower later plaster ceiling and carefully restored.

Tamsin used blinds made from faded floral linen instead of curtains leaving the windows free of clutter and emphasising the building’s architectural proportions. Its high ceiling and tall sash windows and inherent simplicity are complimented by deep plump sofas upholstered in light and muted colours. Fat cushions, faded floral fabrics, delicate watercolours, oil paintings and an antique rug combine to create a feeling of serenity in what might otherwise feel an overly grand or imposing space.

For most of the year there is a fire blazing in the drawing room. The original slate surround in the wide fireplace required careful restoration as did the original floorboards throughout the ground floor. The cabinets either side of the original fireplace in the drawing room appear deceptively like the other doors in the house but open the one on the left and you discover a perfectly outfitted bar, complete with wine storage and every kind of bar and wine glass you could wish for and a seemingly infinite selection of spirits and mixers, the one on the right hides the TV.

A lusterware jug filled with flowers from the garden sits on a bureau beneath a small painting. An enormous bay window looks out onto the garden and countryside beyond. The muted colours and gentle mix of antique furniture complement rather than compete with the view.

Each area of the house is conceived as an intricate still life – seemingly haphazard and randomly placed – with a little thought everything can be beautiful.

The central staircase sweeps up to a long almost monastic corridor leading to the bedrooms on the first and second floors. Each is decorated in soft gentle colours in deference to the bucolic beauty of the garden and landscape beyond.

With views over uninterrupted countryside and the distant blur of the town, the colours in the master bedroom are drawn from the leaves on the trees and the natural world outside.

Throughout the house original features were nurtured and lovingly restored. Lighting plumbing and heating were addressed with as light a hand as possible. In old houses the bathroom is always an unavoidable anachronism. Tamsin added an Edwardian style roll top bath and reclaimed taps to compliment the original basin.

The walls of the clients daughters’ bedroom were covered in a delicately patterned leaf strewn wallpaper. The cushion on the bed is a vintage Liberty print.

Furnishing is relatively minimal – the choice of fabrics for blinds and upholstery inspired by the verdancy of the surrounding garden and the views of the countryside beyond. Each piece carefully selected for its form and function, patina and charm. A Heals chest of drawers, a beautifully patinated Windsor chair and the soft gentle colours in a vintage Swedish rug add warmth and colour to the son’s bedroom.