Wealden Times | WT243 | August 2022 | Taste Of The South East Supplement inside

This page: The main bathroom has panelled walls, a gleaming nickel-coated bath and elegant and functional Burlington basins.
Outside on the spacious landing there is plenty of room for a chair and console table, a feature that is echoed in the hall beneath
The centre of this house is like a breathing space, perfectly
proportioned, suffused with natural light and painted in
that ever-changing magical Cornforth White. You feel that
you could almost float up the wide and generous staircase.
The makeover odyssey started on the top floor where the
children’s rooms are situated – a sensible move, because it
meant that they could stay in the house, while work went
on overhead. Caroline explains, “It’s important to take
your time and live in a property for a while when you are
planning to make changes. Some of our decisions were
not what we would have gone for in the beginning. We’ve
kept things separate and not made ensuite bathrooms, or
compromised the building at all. Maybe it will affect the
resale value, but it has preserved the integrity of the house.”
The children’s rooms have been cleverly styled for the
transition from child to teenager and are nicely grown
up spaces, while still allowing some self expression and
personalisation. There was a sixth bedroom on this
floor – “but it was so small that we’ve turned it into
a games room.” A popular move I’m imagining.
Farrow and Ball’s Dead Salmon is a soft dark neutral,
not quite pink, not really brown, but a restful, warm shade
somewhere in between. It wasn’t Caroline’s automatic
first choice for the master bedroom on the floor below.
“We’d have gone for blue colours in here, but I really
like this,” she says. “We’d have probably just chosen a
kingsize bed too, rather than the super king. It’s all about
proportion and scale though – and this really works.”
This is a large room and can easily accommodate a giant
bed, in fact anything smaller would change the room’s
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