Wealden Times | WT178 | December 2016 | Interiors supplement inside

Previous page: The painting over the woodburner is by Oskar Barblain Above left: The wallpaper in the porch is Louise’s design
Grapevine, from the Paper Tiles collection Above right: The foldaway table belonged to her grandfather
Beautifully arranged, select items, dot the surfaces. What
looks like a cylindrical copper vase is in fact a shell case,
saved and polished by her grandfather Peter after the war.
And this is not the only copper-coloured decoration;
elsewhere there is a large copper vase, a partially coppered
vase... and in the living area next door, the entire
fireplace has been gilded, with the same warm metallic
hue. I was unaware that you could buy copper leaf, I
remark. “Yup, you can buy copper leaf, just like gold
leaf,” says Louise. “It’s really easy to use - but then you
just want to copper leaf everything!” she adds. Louise
was clearly ahead of the trend for copper homewares.
On the wall, gilded sconces add a classical, rather than
retro tone and tie in with the original plasterwork on the
ceiling: “The sconces were from Butler’s Emporium on
George Street, then my friend Philip Oakley re-wired them
for me,” says Louise. Beside the dining-room table are two
simple, 1950s style chairs including an Ercol chair which
Louise bought on eBay and had covered with her own fabric.
Looking through to the living room area, at the front
of the house, I catch a glimpse of the copper-painted
fireplace. That, and the smell of scented candles, is
enough to tempt me through, to sit on the plush, shagpile
rug and admire the room. It’s hard not to immediately
start looking for Louise’s handiwork, although it’s not
always immediately obvious what is her work and what
has been created by talented friends and family.
By the fireplace is a huge standard lamp and next to it, a
lower table-style lamp. The latter’s shade features a design with
echoes of Aubrey Beardsley... but is in fact a design that Louise
sold at Liberty, called ‘Erotica’. Perhaps Aubrey did have some
influence? The other, a pretty design featuring ferns, leaves
and flowers, is more modestly titled ‘Autumn Leaves’. “The
ferns and flowers were ones I found in a sketchbook of my
grandmother’s about 15 years after she died. So I literally
just put them on to a silk screen and exposed the screen.”
Opposite the fireplace, and overlooking a huge sofa
scattered with plump cushions covered in vintage fabric, is
another of Louise’s murals, this time called ‘Poppy Tree’. It’s a
suitably dramatic backdrop for a 1960s Scandinavian Troeds
sideboard, bought on eBay by Louise and topped with a spaceage
lamp from Snooper’s Paradise in Brighton. A spindly,
spiky Dracaena plant, which stands where the dividing wall
used to be, adds a touch of 70s kitsch to this light and airy
living area. The 70s flavour is repeated as we continue the tour
upstairs, passing a print of a Swiss Cheese plant, with Louise’s
signature in the corner... before arriving on the landing.
The landing not only links the upstairs bedrooms,
65 wealdentimes.co.uk