Wealden Times | WT217 | March 2020 | Good Living supplement inside

This page: In the dining room, varied lengths of bright orange corded cable stretch out from the central
ceiling rose with bare bulbs hanging from hooks
against the wall, in a style reminiscent of stage curtains.
I’m sure that curtain wasn’t there the last time I
visited Cuckoo Cottage and the hallway is one of many
elements in the house that contribute to my feeling
– and I am lucky to be a regular visitor here – that
every time I come to the house, it’s a bit different.
In this case it’s because Sally is gradually studding
the soft green hall walls with seven-point gold stars and
a few more have been added each time I drop in.
Another new development since my last visit are the
wall hooks, used for hats and leads for Sally’s adorable
Yorkshire terrier, Sparrow, which are in the shape of
three classic chairs – a Thonet bentwood, a school chair
and the Emeco 1006 Navy chair – in miniature.
These objects of wonder turn out to be from IKEA,
painted by Sally to match the walls. With a stand containing
umbrellas and fox-headed walking canes worthy of Mary
Poppins – and a feather duster for good measure – the tone
of the house is set the moment you take two steps inside.
And two steps does take you quite a long way into this
cottage, which really is very modest in size – Thumbelina
would feel very much at home – but the Georgian
proportions, combined with Sally’s wonderfully bold
décor, stop it feeling in any way cramped. Thinking big,
as she does with such aplomb, makes a space feel bigger.
The sitting room – one of those very special rooms, which
I never want to leave once I sit down there – is painted in a
dark rich purple (Farrow & Ball’s Pelt), a colour so bold only
someone with Sally’s professional design confidence might
have dared to choose it for such a small room. Certainly,
her painter and decorator tried to talk her out of it.
“The painter said: ‘I think you are making a big mistake
painting with this colour. It’s going to make it very small and
claustrophobic…’ Then he painted it and said, ‘Bloody hell!
How did you know it was going to look this good?!’”
It looks simply wonderful, creating a cocooning
61 wealdentimes.co.uk