Surrey Homes | SH63 | January 2020 | Travel & Wellbeing supplement inside

Above: Ally has kept the colour scheme neutral throughout
the house, adding interest and colour in the form of soft
furnishings and accessories Right: K has owned the tiger
print hung alongside the staircase since she was 18 years old
comfy to put our feet up while watching the telly.”
One decision they had already made was to scrap the
idea of a dining area in the living room space. The generous
kitchen, with an Aga and a lovely dresser from Neptune, is
big enough for a dining table as well as the kitchen table, so
they wanted to use the whole living space as a sitting room.
“The dining room used to be part of the sitting room, but
we prefer to have it as a separate area for the kids to jump
around in while the adults are in the other half.”
Very sensibly, the couple’s original grey sofa has
been put to use in the kids’ zone, with two new
white ones, sourced by Ally, in the adult area.
Arranged in front of the dramatic oversized mantelpiece,
with brick-coloured herringbone tiles behind the
woodburner, the new layout makes the most of the space,
with the two sofas and two matching armchairs enough to
seat about 10 people, but a much smaller number, could
still be very cosy there, stretching out in great luxury.
Ally achieves this welcoming feeling by keeping the
sofa and chairs upholstery a neutral white linen, with
simple curtains the same warm buff as the walls, but
adding lots of colourful cushions in a mix of prints
from Rapture & Wright and African fabrics.
She also boosted the snuggle factor by customising
the Loaf.com chairs and sofas with extra-squashy
cushions made by her ‘cushion man’.
A very pleasing anchoring feature of the scheme – which I
have come to associate with Ally’s interiors style (and which
I want to steal for my own house…) is a lovely big ottoman
in the middle of the seating area, upholstered with a vintage
kilim. Combined with a tray, this is a perfect coffee, or drinks
table, but for large gatherings, can also provide more seating.
Also, giving the space that professional decorator polish
is the way Ally has created a kind of visual rhythm, using a
pair of matching pouffes (from Made.com) in front of the
woodburner, matching rattan side tables (Oka.com) at either
end of one sofa and a gorgeous pair of steamer trunk-
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