Wealden Times | WT244 | September 2022 | Winter Interiors Supplement inside

This page: Clashing pattern creates a wonderfully vivid scene in the newly redecorated sitting room – a lockdown project
it had a conservatory on the side, so we were able to
get planning permission to put a new one in.”
But before we go through to explore that light and airy
space, we take a moment to sit at the dining table to take
in that splendid area, looking through to the sitting room,
with sliding doors to separate the two spaces, if required.
All of it is papered with a wonderfully vivid Asianbird
wallpaper by Colefax & Fowler sourced from
the excellent decorating resource of Vintage Bird,
just a few hundred metres away in the High Street.
“We looked at loads of wallpapers,” says Berni. “I
wanted the background to look slightly tea stained,
so we chose this one for the background really.”
But while the background colour may be soft
and subtle, the overall effect is marvellously
vivid – exactly what they wanted.
“When we first moved in here we had the woodwork
painted blue/black and the walls were dark grey – it looked
very chic, but during lockdown we used this room more
during the day and we started to find it depressing.”
There is no chance of that now, with colour and
pattern leaping about. From the vintage tiled coffee
table to the wonderful ceiling lampshades, made from
mixed-up fabrics. “We sell them in the shop,” says Berni.
“A woman makes them for us in the South of France,
from vintage fabrics. They are all mixed and no two are
the same. We met her at an interiors show in Paris.”
Another masterpiece in mixed fabrics, is the armchair
next to the fireplace. “Peter has had the chair for 40
years,” says Berni, “and we came up with the idea to
cover it with a patchwork of old Indian Kantha quilts.”
So, in this one room, are two perfect examples of
how they like to keep switching things up, to keep
it interesting. “The house is forever changing,”
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