Rita Konig's deeply comfortable farmhouse in County Durham

Casting my mind back to my first visit to North Farm in 2016, it is odd to imagine these rooms as they were, particularly as I am sitting in one of them as I write. The house has been transformed – both the outside as you approach and the interior. When my husband Phil and I decided to take on this project, we knew the most important thing was to turn the previously enclosed staircase around so that it now opens into a central hall. This initial move set off a chain of events that led to a much more elaborate building project than we had originally intended, but the end result is a very happy one. The single most significant change is that, overall, the new layout is simpler and more open.

After a year here, the house has settled well and embraced all those who have come to stay. It feels like such an old soul, thanks in part to the things we brought with us – my collection of bed linen, the pictures and other ‘stuff ’, which I went on about in my column in this magazine. I often find it hard to persuade clients to spend on these things, as they always feel superfluous when you are at the planning and purchasing stage. But stuff is really the core of a place; it is what finishes a house in a way that furniture alone cannot possibly achieve.

MAY WE SUGGEST: Style file: Rita Konig

There were a few splurges. A big one was the drawing room rug, bought from Robert Kime just before Christmas. It felt a very grown-up acquisition and pulls the space together, making sense of all the colours. I was afraid the room was going to look like a circus tent, but in fact it seems to have fallen into place. Rugs have been one of the unplanned elements that have really completed all the areas they are in.

An interesting thing about living here has been the revelation of discovering that certain pieces, which I did not expect to use, have really come into their own. For example, my round Philippe Hurel dining table that I thought for sure was too contemporary and urban for this Durham farmhouse; it is now the centre table in the hall and looks fabulous. A large Jacques Tati film poster that no longer fits in my mother’s house is also now in the hall. Neither of these were things I would have gone out and bought for the space, yet both work brilliantly: this is where the magic lies in decorating.