Wealden Times | WT171 | May 2016 | Restoration & New Build supplement inside

Above: The drawing room, which features another handsome Andrew Martin sofa flanked by a pair of French Provencal-style sofas from OKA with a
huge buttoned OKA ottoman between them. Pale furniture, and masses of windows, ensure that this is a house that is filled with natural light
of having a practical place to store coats, bags, boots and
even a dog basket, so she cleverly incorporated a ‘boot
room’ area that is neatly hidden from sight as you enter the
kitchen, but is efficiently served by a range of cupboards
and baskets that keep the inevitable jumble in order.
The smartly appointed kitchen inhabits a vast space that
was once the garage. The rear wall is almost completely
taken up by windows that overlook the garden and there
is a long sweep of cupboards painted in Little Greene’s
Portland Stone. A huge cream AGA sits within a tiled
alcove topped by an elegant overmantel and, along with
the underfloor heating, keeps the room wonderfully warm.
Victoria planned the whole area very carefully, not
only so that it would maximise the views across the
rear garden and to the front, and for the numerous
cupboards and drawers to be pleasing to the eye,
but also to be a highly efficient workspace.
The floor is covered in square tiles from Barge
Tiles in Lingfield that at first look like limestone, but
are in fact made of hard-wearing porcelain. Chosen,
says Victoria, because with two young children and
Molly, the miniature goldendoodle in the house,
it’s important that they can be cleaned easily.
“Essentially, the kitchen comprises several different
and distinct work stations, so we have three sinks, with
different types of Perrin & Rowe taps, two dishwashers
and two refrigerators. For instance, the smaller fridge is
under the countertop, and sited in the ‘breakfast station’
where I keep the kettle, the toaster and coffee-maker
etcetera. It means that everything we need to make drinks
and breakfast can be found in one place, then other areas
of the kitchen are designed for different tasks. I designed
the overall configuration and then I got Robert, a very
talented carpenter, to make all the cupboards and drawers.
It’s the original flooring, laid when the house was built. We didn’t even know it was here
until we discovered the architect’s plans from 1915 that showed oak floors throughout
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