Surrey Homes | SH31 | May 2017 |Restoration & New Build supplement inside

Above: Katie’s room is remarkably tidy. The pink pom-pom trim on the blinds is a recent addition that matches her pink chair
around to chat things through, and say: ‘So everyone,
shall I go with this colour or that colour?’ ” She asked her
friends if she should go for coloured glass or a mirror. “I
reckon about 95% went with coloured glass, but it felt like
a full stop. So I went with the mirror and I really like it!
It reflects the light and makes the area look bigger.” Pale,
composite worktops also keep the kitchen light and bright.
High up, overhead in the rafters of the living area are
five gorgeous metal lampshades: “I bought one of the
lampshades on a visit to Cairo, thinking it would be big
enough. Poor Johnnie. I said, ‘Can you go to the souk next
week, and get me four different ones? I don’t want them
matching.’ Then a local electrician wired them up for me.”
On the wall are two huge photographs of Katie and Harry,
standing in a stubble field amongst rolling hills. “That was
taken the day before we moved to Dubai,” says Ali, who has
accompanied her husband to numerous countries, where
he works setting up British schools. “It wasn’t a planned
shoot. We were driving along near Wye, and I thought ‘this
is Kent for me’. So I took the photos as a little reminder,
to hang in our house out there, to remind us of home.”
As I cast my eye around their current home, I notice a
curious ladder hanging on the wall, next to the kitchen.
“ The builders had just put up the 4x2 posts as the plan
was to use the lofted area as storage but at the very last
minute we changed the plan and turned it into an X-box/
movie den as well as extra bed space for the overspill of
teenagers at the weekends. The space is great and would
have otherwise been wasted.” The ladder is a French hoppickers’
ladder and is both beautiful as well as functional.
The majority of rooms in the house come off a wide
corridor, which runs perpendicular to the front door,
from the open-plan living area at one end, to the master
bedroom at the other. “I widened the corridor,” says Ali,
“and revitalised the 1930s doorway by painting the door
and replacing the rather ugly bevelled glass on either side
with clear glass panels.” The modernised doorway works
a treat and, as Ali points out, cost a fraction of what it
would have done to have a new door and surround.
Although Ali has found clever and affordable solutions at
every turn, it’s clear that she hasn’t shied away from making
radical changes to the building’s layout and, in doing
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