A neglected 17th-century cart shed reinterpreted as a cottage-like guesthouse
Where to begin, as a designer, when the broad brief from a client is to make sure a building is “nonspecific”? That was the challenge faced by Caroline Riddell and her eponymous interior design studio when she was asked to renovate a mostly derelict 17th-century cart shed on the curtilage of their Berkshire manor house near Lambourn.
Such a loose remit would be enough to strike fear into more heavy-handed designers, but Caroline relished it. “I think I find that quite freeing, in a way,” she says. “Liberating. I like being nonspecific in many ways, because you’ve got much more breadth. I enjoy that.”
She had already worked on the main house, anyway, so she had a very good handle on what the clients wanted. “It only had capacity for the family,” says Caroline of the cart shed, so the plan was to turn the shed – an open-sided herringbone brick-and-flint structure with oak beams which had long been used as little more than coverage for cars – into guest quarters to accompany the main house. The space would be used, she says, by “a very broad range of people, so it had to be entirely flexible. Grandparents, as well as the clients’ friends, as well as overflow for children.” As such, Caroline needed to design an open, fairly neutral space for anyone to stay in, but one that was still homely and cottage-like. “They wanted it to be a very welcoming, cozy, familiar space that you can walk into, and feel immediately comfortable. That did obviously dictate the choice of fabrics and everything else.”
The first point of order was to enclose the sides of the building while keeping it bright. Like the main house, the cart shed is Grade II listed, but Caroline and the architects’ previous work on that project offered evidence that the renovation would be done sympathetically. As a single-storey, lateral building, the shed had a much more “low-key” silhouette, she explains. “The house itself has classic Georgian proportions; this is much smaller and obviously was not originally used as a living space. So the bedrooms are much more cottagey.” At the ends of the now-enclosed shed, small rooms had been used for covered storage; these were retained and turned into the guest house’s bedrooms and ensuite bathrooms. Double doors were added all along the longer sides of the building, flooding the double-height space with natural light.
Traditional materials and techniques quickly became a mainstay of the design process. Caroline incorporated tongue and groove panelling units and slate surfaces in the small utility kitchen (which, due to the cart shed’s supplementary nature as a building, is more likely to be used to make cups of tea or breakfasts than to host full dinner parties), and rustic encaustic tiles in the bathrooms, as well as reclaimed oak flooring elsewhere. The kitchen floor was paved with pamments, and a Clearview stove was installed in the main living space, furthering the cottage-like feel. Caroline kept the colour palette generally calm in the main space of the cart shed, preferring to introduce intenser colour in the smaller spaces – Farrow & Ball’s ‘Eating Room Red’ on the kitchen walls, for example.
Furnishing the main living room offered another opportunity to introduced some understated yet characterful pieces. Caroline sourced a large, teal ‘Big Daddy’ chair by Amy Somerville to add a shot of colour to the room, as well as a large sofa clad in ‘Japura Coral’ by Christopher Farr. “There are little things that give it a bit more of a present-day feel,” she explains, contrasting these contemporary elements to the room’s traditional French farmhouse table. “The clients are very happy to mix a bit of modern with the old; having said that, the Cartshed is predominantly quite traditional in feel.” She also consulted on the art; a huge Rory Carnegie photograph of a horse hangs at one end of the room, and ceramics are scattered throughout which Caroline picked out. “We buy a lot of modern British art, and the art was a real joy, because we literally started from scratch.”
The result is a robust yet bright building whose bones have had new life breathed into them. “I’m really proud that we’ve turned a beautiful building that was derelict into something which is really usable,” says Caroline. “We haven’t destroyed its true inner character. It really does have a purpose. This building has evolved into a modern, functional space.”
Caroline Riddell is a member of The List by House & Garden, our essential directory of design professionals. Visit The List by House & Garden here.
carolineriddellinteriors.co.uk
Rachael Smith1/14The large photo of the horse is by Rory Carnegie. The chair is an Amy Somerville chair called ‘Big Daddy’. The clock on the wall was sourced at clockprops.com.
Rachael Smith2/14The pendant light is an Aplomb light in Cement from FCI London. The table is a French farmhouse table and the sideboard at the end of the room was found on site in another empty barn.
Rachael Smith3/14The sofa is covered in ‘Japura Coral’ by Christopher Farr Cloth. The task floor lamp is by Original BTC.
Rachael Smith4/14The lamp is from OKA.
Rachael Smith5/14The ensuite bathroom is painted in ‘Celadon’ by Edward Bulmer; the encaustic tiles are by Maitland & Poate.
Rachael Smith6/14
Rachael Smith7/14The floor tiles in the kitchen are reclaimed terracotta from Bert & May, while behind the sink are ‘Zelliges’ by Emery and Cie in colour 36. The paint is ‘Eating Room Red’ from Farrow & Ball.
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Rachael Smith9/14The lamp is from Pooky, and the bedside table was found at Appley Hoare Antiques. The bed’s headboard was bespoke; Caroline had it made and covered in ‘Boe’ by Vanderhurd in Bluestone/Natural.
Rachael Smith10/14The chest of drawers is from Chelsea Textiles. The cushion is the client’s own, and the throw is by Shenouk.
Rachael Smith11/14The tiles are ‘Birch Herringbone’ by Otto Tiles. The marble is Carrara marble.
Rachael Smith12/14The Roman blind fabric is ‘Moorish Maze’ in Carmine by Rapture & Wright. The sheer blind fabric underneath is by Volga Linen.
Rachael Smith13/14The green bedside lamp is from Sharp glass. The chair, ‘The Editor’s Chair’ from David Seyfried, is upholstered in ‘Wave Wave’ by Fermoie. The curtain is ‘Soldanelle’ by Rapture and Wright in Carmine.
Rachael Smith14/14The chair is a made-to-order piece by Lawrence Neal. The curtain is ‘Acanthus’ by Pukka Prints, sourced at Tissus d’Hélène.
