Surrey Homes | SH110 | March 2024 | Kitchen & Bathroom Supplement inside

the two sitting room walls on the corner
site have a lot of windows. People could
see in and spotting the amazing, fringed
lampshades that Sarah Jane makes by
putting new fabric on old frames, they
thought it was still a going concern and
tried to come in. “We put up Victorian
nets,” says Sarah Jane, laughing, “and
then we blocked a couple of the windows
off so there would be more hanging
space for paintings.” Very cleverly these
are hung from the picture rail, so they
can be switched about without banging
nails into the wall, and stand out
beautifully against the green/grey paint.
Moving from the sitting room to
the kitchen at the back of the house,
you start to get an impression of the
unusual layout, so different from
the rows of picturesque – but tiny
– two-up, two-down early Victorian
artisans’ dwellings all around it.
The kitchen had already been
converted when they bought the house
and has a very cool professional kitchen
stainless-steel unit with integral sinks,
against a bare-brick wall, with a Crittal
window and door looking out onto
the verdant courtyard. At right angles
to that there is a set of steel drawers,
topped with wood, and a stainless
steel range. All of it was there.
It has an industrial look – which is
a brilliant counterpoint to everything
else in the room which is very
much Sarah Jane’s style, showcasing
her love of wallpaper. Or would
it be rude to say obsession?
You get a good idea of how she likes
to play with printed paper, in the area
around the kitchen wood burner – which
was also already there when they moved
and is flanked by two very comfortable
chairs, covered in a mixture of printed
velvets (another theme throughout
the house, of which more to come). I
can witness from personal experience
that this is a supremely cosy place to
sit for a chat with a cup of tea. “We
don’t have a telly,” says Sarah Jane.
“We sit here and read to each other.”
From either of the chairs you can
admire Sarah Jane’s wallpaper handiwork
with a fine cheetah print on the
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