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  • Home tour - a thatched Danish house with a contemporary interior | These Four Walls blog

    Home tour | A thatched Danish house with a contemporary interior

    October 10, 2019October 7, 2019

    Many of the home tours I feature are the work of Copenhagen-based Norm Architects, and with good reason – I’m continuously inspired by the way the buildings they design are…

  • New discoveries from London Design Festival 2019 | These Four Walls blog

    New discoveries from London Design Festival 2019

    October 7, 2019October 4, 2019

    The third week in September brought London’s annual Design Festival, with hundreds of exhibitions and installations springing up around the city. It’s always brimming with inspiration, and after spending far…

  • 15 of the best simple, sculptural candleholders | These Four Walls blog

    15 of the best simple, sculptural candleholders & candlesticks

    October 2, 2019February 23, 2022

    Autumn has officially arrived, and that means candle season is here! To be honest I light candles year-round, but as the nights draw in and the days get darker, they…

  • Home tour - a stunning mix of old and new in southern Sweden | These Four Walls blog

    Home tour | A stunning mix of old and new in southern Sweden

    September 30, 2019September 26, 2019

    It’s home-tour time again and today I’m taking you over to Sweden for a peek inside the beautiful apartment of Felicia Alm. Set in the small town of Landskrona, it’s…

  • Eight alternatives to grey and white for fans of neutral decor | These Four Walls blog

    Eight alternatives to grey and white for fans of neutral decor

    September 25, 2019September 26, 2019

    If, like me, you want your home to be a calming sanctuary, then you’re probably drawn towards neutral walls in grey and white. But soothing, understated interiors don’t rule out…

  • The 'Fusion' collection from Georg Jensen | These Four Walls blog

    The ‘Fusion’ collection from Georg Jensen

    September 18, 2019September 25, 2019

    [Advertisement – this is a paid post in collaboration with Georg Jensen, but all words and opinions are my own] I always think it’s worth investing in timeless homeware when…

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I'm hoping to share our finished living room soon I'm hoping to share our finished living room soon but it's too hot to photograph - I don't want to move more than a couple of metres from the fan! So here's a sneak peek snapped a few weeks ago - needless to say we haven't yet tried out the bioethanol stove! 

#neutrallivingroom #neutralhomedecor #cottagerenovation #softminimalstyle #simplehomestyle
Snippets from the first few days of yet another he Snippets from the first few days of yet another heatwave... Late-evening walks around our little town once it's cooled off enough to actually go outside, Loki falling asleep in front of the fan with his mouth hanging open, and a visit to the beautiful @walledgardenatmells in Somerset. 

And if they see this, hi to the couple I got taking to while queueing at The Walled Garden. I didn't catch your names before the queue moved, but your kind words about my books made my day! 

#visitwiltshire #thisprettyengland #visitsomerset #slowsimpleseasonal #summermoments
[AD - PR product] From one Loki photobomb (see my [AD - PR product] From one Loki photobomb (see my last post) to another... I love this view through the doorway from our dining room to the living room. And it perfectly frames the 'Ecru' throw, designed by @ceciliemanz for @elvangdenmark, that I've draped over our CH25 chair. The subtle stripe detailing along the edges is gorgeous, and it's made from super-soft baby alpaca wool. 

#neutralhomedecor #simplehomestyle #cottagerenovation #rusticminimalistdecor #softminimalstyle
Thought I'd have fun doing a little summer still l Thought I'd have fun doing a little summer still life yesterday evening - an hour of creative play, just for the fun of it. Loki decided he wanted to join in too. 

#cottagekitchen #summermood #summerstilllife #lightandshadow #seasonaldecor
[AD - features PR products] After months of floori [AD - features PR products] After months of flooring, sanding, priming, painting and juggling different trades, the ground floor of our little cottage is pretty much finished. And that means I can finally reveal some completed rooms!

I'm starting with the dining room, as it’s the first space you enter after coming into the house through our tiny vestibule (I’m not sure it even counts as a hallway) and it sets the tone for the calm, cosy mood we want to create throughout.

We wanted a rustic-minimalist style: pared-back yet textural, with subtle nods to the countryside setting. 

Like the rest of the cottage, the dining room has beautiful light. It faces west, so it’s illuminated by a golden glow later in the day, but it also gets morning light from the east-facing living room behind. And the ground floor as a whole has a wonderful sense of flow: each room leads directly to the next, creating the ideal balance between separation and connection, openness and cosiness.

To enhance the light and the sense of flow, we’ve painted all walls, ceilings and woodwork in one colour, @farrowandball's ‘Slipper Satin’. It’s a chalky off-white that’s neither too cool nor too warm, and it interacts brilliantly with everything from bright sunshine to flickering candlelight.

We’ve also used the same pale oak engineered hardwood flooring throughout the ground floor. It’s the ‘Wintry Forest Oak’ colourway from the @quickstepfloors ‘Cascada’ range, which is extra-matt for a soft, organic look. We’ve laid it continuously, with no thresholds between rooms, to lead the eye seamlessly from one space to the next.

[PR product]

The ground-floor layout did present some challenges, though. The dining room essentially acts as a transit space from the front door to the rest of the house, so we had to leave clear paths to move through it while also ensuring it has a defined function of its own. To achieve this, we positioned the table towards one corner of the room and anchored it within the wider space with a large jute rug.

We also moved the pendant light to hang over the table rather than in the centre of the room and added a big linen shade from @baileyshome. This creates an intimate d

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