Home tour | A minimalist farmhouse in Suffolk

After talking about minimalism and Norm Architects in last week’s posts, it seems fitting that my first home tour of 2017 is a minimal house created by the Copenhagen-based studio itself.

Contemporary Scandinavian design isn’t something you’d normally associate with a rural farmhouse, but Reydon Grove, located on a working farm in Suffolk (southern England), offers just that. Raised above the fields on a brick platform, it consists of a long, single-storey building with vertical larch cladding and an overhanging roof, designed to sit in harmony with both the landscape and existing barns nearby.

Inside, the house is flooded with natural light thanks to swathes of floor-to-ceiling glass, positioned to frame the views of the surrounding meadows. At one end are three bedrooms and two bathrooms; at the other, an open-plan living area, cleverly zoned with free-standing pieces of furniture which define the sitting, dining and cooking spaces without interrupting the flow of the building.

White walls and pale wooden floors add to the airy feel, as do the sleek white kitchen units, though two wood-burning stoves (one contemporary, the other more traditional in style) keep things cosy. There are also lots of textures, which add warmth and softness to the scheme: grained wood, plush velvet, streaked marble, silky rugs. I particularly love the muted blues and greys of the textiles, which echo the ever-changing colours of the sky outside.

The house is packed with iconic Scandinavian pieces designed for brands such as &tradition and Menu, including several items conceived by Norm: the ‘Tumbler’ alarm clock, the marble wall clock, the ‘Raw’ cushion, the ‘Bottle’ salt and pepper grinders. I also spotted HAY’s ‘Lens’ storage box and ‘Mags’ sofa, Samuel Wilkinson’s ‘Hoof’ table, Sami Kallio’s ‘In Between’ table and dining chairs, Space Copenhagen’s ‘Fly’ chair and sofa, Afteroom’s counter chair, Studio VM’s ‘String’ lounge chair, Alexa Lixfeld’s circular concrete bowl, and Jonas Wagell’s ‘JWDA’ lamp.

It’s certainly a far cry from a traditional farmhouse, but in my view it’s just as homely and inviting. Proof that minimalism can work in any setting!

All photography via Norm Architects