When garden designer Clare Matthews
discovered her dream home, she transformed a warren of rooms into a large and
light-filled space and brought the outdoors inside.
Clare Matthews is a garden designer who
loves the great outdoors, as do her husband, David, an accountant, and their
three children, Harriet, Nancy and Joshua. So when they found their dream home,
a 19th-century stone farmhouse in deepest Devon, eight years ago,
Clare’s priority was bringing the outdoors in – and letting in the light.
The farmhouse had been renovated during the
1970s, and one of the changes had been the creation of a granny annexe of
several small rooms. Clare had these knocked through, the flat ceiling lifted
off and the gable-end wall replaced with glass, so that the kitchen and living
roon are now one gloriously large and light space.
Bring
in the light
‘The architect had designed a window for
the end wall,’ says Clare, ‘but I walked in one day as it was being built and
said on impulse, “Let’s have that wall down, and replace it with glass”, and
literally scribbled a drawing on a piece of paper. I’m not so glad that I did
because the sun streams through, and every day the views from that gable end
change.’
In winter, with the comforts of an Aga and
a wood-burning stove, the family use this space more than any other, and in
summer, the two new sets of French windows leading out on to the terrace are
seldom closed.
In the garden, a giant pizza oven doubles
up as a fire and barbecue on a dining terrace that’s flanked by large Tuscan
pots of herbs. This stands next to the boules court, a sandpit marked on either
side by a line of silver birches, yet another bright idea of Clare’s to make
her home a perfect place of dimple pleasures.
Keep a neutral backdrop
‘if you paint your walls a pale, neutral
shade, then you can choose fabrics and furnishings that really sing out,’ says
Clare. Her choice for the living room: warm tones of red and gold stripes of
the family-size sofa, and rich red, floor-length curtains at the windows.
Get creative
Faced with two bathrooms locked in the
1970s, Clare ripped out the avocado and peach suites, and the claw feet silver.
‘It was easy and add an element of fun,’ she says.
Cover a multitude of sins
The bathroom pipework was extensive, and
Clare didn’t want to start moving it around. Her solution was tongue and groove
paneling. ‘It’s a godsend,’ she says, ‘because it covers everything, looks
smart and was a breeze to paint. Finishing it with a narrow shelf along the top
gave me a place to display a row of candles, too.’
Be practical
When you have children and pets, comport
and practicality win out every time. Clare chose limestone paving for the
floors, lying it from one end of the house to the other. ‘I needed a through
path for running children with mud on their feet,’ she says.
Go for grandeur
‘There are still bargains to be had in
country junk and antique shop,’ says Clare. On one local treasure hunt, she
found a beautiful French fruitwood bed that you could imagine belonging to Madame
de Pompadour. It gave her the theme for her bedroom: paintwork in Versailles
blue, a marble-topped 19th-century dressing table and toile de Jouy
curtain.
Invest in the best
‘The house is old and has a lot of
character, but the doors had all been replaced with cheap, paneled version,’
explains Clare. ‘We replaced them with handmade oak, which makes all the
difference, and fits in with the personality of the rooms.’
Go with the flow
‘I need a totally kick-proof interior,’
says Clare, who chose only robust or fashionably weathered furniture, like the
outsize dining table of reclaimed oak, teamed with old wooden benches from the
Far East. ‘Everything is already so worn that nothing anyone does could
distress it further,’ she says.
Make the most of outdoor space
Clare added a sandstone terrace to the side
of the house to sit, eat and entertain in. on either side of the terrace, she
had two circular grille-topped firepits carved into the sandstone.
Use textiles to add softness
‘I didn’t want to replace all existing
furniture,’ says Clare, ‘but the two black leather sofas I’d brought into our
new home didn’t fit in with the country comfort look I’d planned. I got round
this by adding banks of cushion in light colours, and using throws to soften
the hard edges.’
Bring in the blooms
‘it’s amazing how one vase of simple
flowers in a room can transform the space and make it come alive,’ says Clare.
‘I try to pick something from the garden all year round, which is a great way
of linking outdoors with in. one wigwam of sweet peas keeps me in blooms
throughout the summer.’
