A Berkshire country house packed with unexpected colour by Nicola Harding
When the new owners of this Georgian-style house embarked on a major revamp of its interior, they decided to ‘call in the big guns’. Enter the interior designer Nicola Harding, whose sense of style and eye for colour put a new spin on the idea of escaping to the country.
‘I have sleepless nights about how it’s going to turn out,’ Nicola says with a laugh. We are discussing some of the colours and paint combinations she plays with in her projects. ‘And it can look awful before the furniture goes in,’ she adds. It is not that her choices are particularly avant garde, but they are certainly unexpected. Apart from anything, this can be a powerful tool for knocking any sense of stuffiness out of a space.
That is one of Nicola’s greatest achievements at this large house in Berkshire. Despite additions over the years, it has retained its pleasing neoclassical symmetry. There is certainly a sense of grandeur as you approach the house via its long, narrow drive through the grounds, crossing a little bridge along the way. It was the inside of the house that sold it to Clare Woolfenden and her husband, however. ‘We had seen so many big, old country houses,’ she explains. ‘But their layouts never really seemed conducive to modern family life. You could be in one part of the ground floor and have no idea what was going on in the other.’ This one, however, had an appealing flow of spaces. ‘You never feel far from the action,’ she continues. Which sounds handy with two young sons.
What about that stuffiness? I have seen photographs of the interior taken before the couple bought the house and, while it was perfectly smart, it is fair to say it did not exactly hum with energy. ‘The house needed something to make it feel a bit younger – and to show it belonged to them,’ Nicola explains. It does not take long to work out that this is not the home of someone for whom a move to the country meant abandoning any sense of metropolitan edge. It did not involve buying a job lot of half testers and acres of chintz, or a deep scrutiny of historic paint charts. It is, without being self-conscious, far cooler than that.
Clare (a lifelong Londoner) and her family had moved from west London, where Nicola had helped out with one of their rooms. ‘Buying such a big house, I knew I would need some advice,’ Clare recalls. ‘The sheer amount of furniture required – where do you start? Nicola was an obvious choice – she has an incredible gut instinct and an amazing way of visualising things quickly.’
The entrance hall is painted a zingy green with wood-work picked out in aqua blue. It is quite a statement. ‘The best designers push you a little bit out of your comfort zone,’ Clare says. ‘When Nicola suggested that green, I thought it was far too bright. I was afraid that I would hate it, but it has become the colour I like the most.’ Beyond this is the dining room – its low ceiling painted the same blue as the bookcases that now line three of its walls. With its brass table by Matthew Cox, low-hanging brass pendants and red velvet-covered chairs, it conjures the intimacy and glamour of a private dining room in the type of members’ club that I would rather like to join.
A sitting room at the front of the house is gloriously well endowed with large windows. There are six of them on two sides – once cluttered with tied-back curtains and ruched pelmets. These have been replaced with simple pleated linen curtains trimmed with teal-dyed vintage lace. This streamlining has greatly increased the amount of natural light. The room’s generous proportions have been tamed by bringing the furniture towards its centre. This formation in front of the fire permits a good sense of circulation and creates a cosier feel than you might expect.
‘I think that the rooms you spend the most time in should be less complicated colourwise,’ Nicola explains. An example of this is the garden room at the back of the house, which has space for another seating area and large dining table. While the colour may not be complicated here, it is clever nonetheless. The room, which has walls painted a pale green, overlooks the garden on two sides. ‘We’ve used a slightly darker green on the wood-work,’ says Nicola. ‘Your eye stops on the lightest thing in its range of vision, so this allows it to keep travelling beyond the window through to the garden.’ It is the kind of trick you do not notice until it is pointed out.
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There is a gentleness to the use of colour on the two upper floors as well, with pale pinks, blues and greys teamed with the occasional flourish of a patterned textile. The existing eight bedrooms were reduced to seven in order to create a series of rooms for Clare and her husband, including a large bathroom and dressing room.
The family has taken to their new life in the country very well. And what is not to like? They are minutes from a postcard-perfect village and Clare – who had reservations about leaving London – felt as though she ‘walked into a ready-made friendship group’ through the children’s local school. She has also been testing out a new business idea – hiring out the house for corporate away days – and the preliminary signs are hopeful. ‘The first guests were from an office in London and they really loved it,’ she says. With seven acres of land, including a river, a pond, an orchard, a tennis court and a pool, it is an idyllic place to spend some time. Perhaps I’ll ask my editor if the House & Garden team can book in for one.
Paul Massey1/11The walls of this light-filled room are painted in ‘Setting Plaster’ by Farrow & Ball. Blue and green fabrics include a bottle-green velvet by Rose Uniacke on the bespoke George Smith ottoman and ‘Cordoba’ linen by Vanderhurd on the vintage armchairs.
Paul Massey2/11Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Chelsea Green II’ paint on the walls is combined with ‘Salvia’ on the woodwork. A circular art deco oak table stands on a vintage Tuareg mat made from woven reeds and leather.
Paul Massey3/11'Stone Blue’ paint by Farrow & Ball on the ceiling and built-in bookshelves creates a vibrant background for brass accents, including ‘The Plain Table’ from Matthew Cox and wall lights and oversized pendants from Cox & Cox. Two ‘Palayam’ block-printed cotton rugs from Oka were sewn together. The velvet-upholstered ‘Safia Dining Chairs’ are from Made.
Paul Massey4/11An abstract painting by the Brighton-based artist John Goodison hangs over a green painted cabinet bought from an antique dealer in Somerset.
Paul Massey5/11In the open-plan garden room, the seating area has a sofa from Sofa.com and vintage armchairs reupholstered in a striped fabric from Tissus d’Hélène. The walls are painted in ‘Tracery’ and the woodwork in ‘Normandy Grey’, both by Little Greene.
Paul Massey6/11The rattan ‘Wengler Chairs’ in the dining area are from Sika-Design.
Paul Massey7/11In the kitchen, DeVol cabinets are teamed with Sika-Design’s ‘Simone Bar Stools’.
Paul Massey8/11Nicola’s team collaborated with Naturalmat to design the headboard in the main bedroom, which is upholstered in ‘Carolina’ linen from Vanderhurd. Walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Setting Plaster’ and a rug from Guinevere continue the pale pink and blue theme.
Paul Massey9/11Floor tiles from Emery & Cie complement two colours from Paint & Paper Library: ‘Sobek’ on the walls and ‘Samphire’ on the vanity unit and bath. The wall lights are from Felix Lighting Specialists.
Paul Massey10/11The joinery in the boot room was painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Claydon Blue’ to tone with walls in ‘Oval Room Blue’.
Paul Massey11/11The house has retained its sense of neoclassical grandeur.
