Wealden Times | WT213 | November 2019 | Gift supplement inside

This page: The drawing room is a masterful mix of pattern –
wallpaper, upholstery, rugs, cushions all different, yet perfect together
says Ally. “To bring the house on to the next stage.”
The owners’ vision for the room was inspired by a family
trip to India, itself a return to a country the owners had
travelled to in their pre-children days, on a motorbike.
You get a sense of that spirit of adventure just climbing
the very old stairs up to it (carpeted with hand-woven goats’
wool runners from Coban Rugs in St Leonards-on-Sea).
Once inside, the spice of the Indian sub-continent
is immediately evoked by the burnt orange paint rag
rolled onto the walls and the rich paisley fabric, by
De La Cuona, on the headboard and bedcover.
The ceiling beams in this older side of the house are
complemented by a built-in wooden bed achieved using one
of Ally’s signature techniques. The wooden base was sourced
online and then carefully adapted in situ under the window,
adding a bespoke upholstered headboard and bookshelves.
The raised bed idea evolved after a family trip to India when
a welcome day off was spent reading in a similar style window
seat. After experiencing this nurturing spot the brief was to
recreate it and it works brilliantly in this compact space.
At the top of the house one of the bedrooms was
updated with an African theme – a style close to Ally’s
heart having spent her twenties-plus there – because
one of the sons is currently living in East Africa.
The scheme, with walls in Farrow & Ball’s warm
fawn Mouse’s Back, has a masculine appeal with a
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