Three 17th-century Cotswold cottages become a cohesive, colourful house

‘The brief for this house was to go big on cosy and big on style,’ says Nadine. She accomplished this with a bold mixture of colour and print, and contemporary and antique pieces. The magical quality that Sophie was keen to introduce came by way of a well-hidden trail of hand-painted animals throughout the house by the illustrator Fee Greening.

The slightly odd layout of the conjoined cottages actually lends itself to the fact that Sophie and Gregg regularly have their extended family to stay. Originally, each of the buildings was a one-up, one-down dwelling with its own staircase. This means, for example, that Sophie’s mother’s room on the first floor can only be accessed from a staircase in the kitchen, offering a degree of separation and privacy. Nadine worked with Ben John, founder of interior architecture company Brachah Design, to create the kitchen, where a dining table juts out from an island into a built-in seating nook. The joinery is painted in ‘Sage Green’ by Little Greene Paint & Paper, offset by cheerful yellow paintwork on the door frame.

Paul Massey

With this being a weekend and holiday house (their main home is in Hampstead), Nadine was starting from scratch when it came to furniture. ‘Each room began with an object and this really informed the story,’ she says. The starting point for the dining room was a 19th-century Anglo-Indian boneinlaid dresser and the framed suzani that hangs on the wall. ‘We wanted the room to feel well travelled,’ adds Nadine. The ceiling mural was inspired by the village of Pyrgi, on the Greek island of Chios, where houses are painted in geometric designs. The ikat-print fabric used for the seats of the dining chairs was the basis for the pattern, which was painstakingly painted by Ben, who worked with Nadine on the kitchen.

The sitting room at the far end of the house is the largest area and would originally have been the principal farmhand’s cottage. The two generous, comfortable sofas (a diktat from Gregg) in front of an inviting fire are from Maker&Son, with a club fender upholstered in Robert Allen’s ‘Big Cat’ fabric. Perhaps the real story in this room, however, is the stripes. There are thick ones on the wall (hand-painted because the surface was too wonky to be wallpapered), thin stripes on the ceiling in the form of beams and yet more on the ottoman upholstery. The scheme is more nature-inspired in the study, where Polly Fern’s ‘Diamond Tulip’ wallpaper makes an eye-catching statement. A garden trellis is inset into the ceiling above the chaise and cabinetry is adorned with Polly’s signature floral motifs. ‘The design is extremely bold,’ says Nadine. ‘Sophie and Gregg challenged me on many levels and I was happy to go on that journey.’

The headboard in Rapture & Wright’s ‘Moorish Maze’ in madder pink is offset by a Tate & Darby rug.

Paul Massey

The main bedroom has a boudoir-like air. The initial inspiration was a Trove By Studio Duggan chest that is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Green Smoke’. ‘Sophie wanted the room to be colourful and romantic,’ Nadine recalls. The real find was the Brunschwig & Fils fabric sourced on Ebay, which was used to make a bolster for the bed and the blind, and also to reupholster an occasional chair. This floral theme is continued in the dressing room corridor, which is papered entirely in Colefax and Fowler’s ‘Jardine’.

The biggest design challenge was Sophie’s mother’s room. ‘It felt like a contemporary studio and I wanted to bring back a feeling of warmth,’ Nadine explains. She achieved this by adding dado-height tongue-and-groove panelling painted in a soft sage green and papering the ceiling in Beata Heuman’s ‘Florentine Flowers’. Sophie wanted her mother to feel as though she was ‘staying in a nice hotel’ – and an inviting king-size bed upholstered in Schumacher’s ‘La Menagerie’ and a large freestanding bath in a corner of the bedroom create exactly the desired effect. Nadine says with satisfaction, ‘I love how happy the house makes them feel’.

Decurate Interiors: decurateinteriors.com | Brachah Design: brachahdesign.co.uk