Surrey Homes | SH37 | November 2017 | Gift supplement inside

Above: When the family moved in, they added a new kitchen
and bathroom to the main house Left: An old French chateau
shutter on the living room wall is displayed like a piece of art
above an illuminated coiffeur unit from a French hairdresser’s,
picked up in Lille at the Braderie France, a massive flea market
The family have lived in the house for over 10 years, but as
Ben explains: “When we first saw it I wasn’t that keen. I didn’t
like the windows for a start and decided that maybe this wasn’t
the house for us. However, I once drove through Chiddingfold
when I was younger and said to myself that I wanted to live in
the village. What I didn’t realise when we came to see the house,
because we entered the village from a different direction, was
that it was in the village of my dreams.” So they bought it. But
what about the windows? “They would have cost thousands
to replace,” he says, adding, “I’ve learned to live with them.”
The interior of the house was not ideal either. “It
was not to our taste when we moved in, but it was very
clean and tidy. We put in a new bathroom and kitchen,
took up the carpets and sanded the floorboards,” says
Ben, adding, “now we need to do them again!”
The walls throughout the house are painted in pale grey
shades – Farrow and Ball’s ‘Hardwick White’ and ‘Mouse’s Back’
predominate. Elsie’s bedroom is pure white and is calm and tidy,
save for a single rustic oak shelf packed full of teddies and toys.
This shelf may well have sparked the idea for the shed. “She
wanted a woodland creature theme for her bedroom,” says
59 surrey-homes.co.uk