A designer's idyllic urban cottage where nature and intuition inform every detail
The first time Tamsin Saunders visited the 1930s cottage that would eventually become her bucolic nest, it wasn’t the architecture that caught her eye. ‘I was looking for a new home and I’d always really wanted to move out to the country,’ says Tamsin, founder of Home & Found. ‘But because of work and the children’s schools, I needed to stay in London. So I started looking around Ham, Petersham and Richmond. When you drop down the hill and head towards the river, everything changes — the air feels cooler and fresher, and you slip into a completely different gear.’
Overlooking an open meadow, the modest red-brick building hadn’t been touched in decades. Its architecture was honest, if somewhat unremarkable. Yet at the back, a generous garden stretched out — unloved, but full of promise. ‘It was completely covered in crazy paving, but it seemed to go on forever. I knew it was a chance to make something really beautiful.’
For some time after moving in, Tamsin kept the house’s original ‘two up, two down’ layout largely intact, limiting herself to essential structural updates and decoration. But as her three children grew and the need for more flexible space grew — both for family life and entertaining — she embarked on a thoughtful reconfiguration and expansion.
The most transformative change on the ground floor was the addition of an airy rear extension. True to Tamsin’s vision, it serves multiple purposes without disturbing the graceful proportions quintessential to a cottage. ‘I thought long and hard about how to pull together a kitchen, a dining area, somewhere to sit and enjoy the garden, a study and a laundry room,’ the interior designer says. ‘Eventually, I managed to fit all of that into a relatively small footprint. Anchored by wide French windows framing a view of mature trees and swathes of planting, the light-filled living and dining space flows seamlessly into the kitchen. If an appreciation for simplicity guided the fluid layout, the considered use of joinery and furniture placement preserves each area’s distinct identity.
From structural elements to the smallest details, every choice reflects cherished memories and a pursuit of beauty — often found in the simplest things. ‘I based the wood panelling on a tiny outbuilding at a friend’s house that I just loved,’ Tamsin says, gesturing to the walls. ‘The sofa started out as a chaise I found in a market. I adored the legs and it was just the right length, so I had it reupholstered and reshaped the arms. I love having the opportunity to improvise. It means everything ends up completely unique, fulfilling our needs more by good fortune than calculation.’
A separate little study serves as Tamsin’s workspace. From the window above the desk, she enjoys the ever-changing spectacle of nature, its colours shifting with the seasons. Natural light filters in gently, casting flickering patterns across a densely hung group of botanical drawings. ‘I found them completely by chance,’ she says. ‘They’re school drawings, I think from the 1930s, by a girl called Dora Baird — she even received a certificate of distinction for drawing from memory. Then I came across the simple wooden frames at Rowley in Kensington. They were perfect, and from the same period. That kind of serendipity is what I love most.’
The internal reconfiguration offered the opportunity to turn the former front living room into an inviting snug, the family’s favourite spot to curl up during the darker winter months and enjoy the late afternoon light that caresses this side of the cottage. The walls are painted in a deep, glossy shade of chocolate brown, cleverly dissolving the room’s edges to avoid any sense of boxiness. These rich, dark tones set the stage for a tantalising interplay of textures, materials and objects. In one alcove, a sofa is upholstered in Dutch linen with an old blanket draped over the back. Another is covered in a Bennison fabric, ‘a one-off made for someone else and later rejected.’
Upstairs, the bedroom of Tamsin's first daughter, Freya, nods to her love of colour and pattern. The bed’s headboard is upholstered in Mirakel linen by Svenskt Tenn, one of Josef Frank’s earliest designs. ‘She saw and fell in love with it when I was using it on a chair for a client and asked if she could have the same on her head board when we moved here,’ says Tamsin. Above the bed, a group of Chinese watercolours echoes the fabric’s exuberant palette. ‘I had initially planned to use them in a client’s bathroom, but before they made it there, Freya spotted them and asked if she could have them.’
The cupboard, the shelves above the desk, the bedside lamps — even the light switches — are all painted in joyful colours by Freya herself. What began as a pastime during lockdown has grown into Black Lion Workshops, the creative studio she founded in 2021 to give new life to old lamps with her bespoke, hand-painted designs.
Tamsin extended into the attic to create a large, light-filled bedroom and ensuite bathroom, accessed by a narrow staircase. The panelled walls are painted a soft off-white with green undertones, and the room is sparsely decorated, with just a few small paintings that feel almost incidental. 'I love art — but up here, the views mean that the windows are the paintings on the wall. I’m drawn to the colours of the leaves and the sky. When what’s inside is in harmony with what’s outside, you don’t feel in any way enclosed.’
Tucked away at the end of the garden, hidden by fig, apple and sambucus trees, the shed feels as if it had quietly grown out of the garden itself. None of the planting was there when Tamsin arrived. The structure was designed around the base of a chestnut tree, with a clearing in front where they eat in the shade of the fig tree and catch the last low rays of the sun in summer. ‘That’s where the last light falls in the evening,’ she explains.
Built from reclaimed wood, the shed is full of gentle details, such as a finely carved door from a Victorian folly and the patterns that Freya painted on the walls and around the windows, drawing inspiration from seed heads and carvings from the Alhambra and a Cornish church.
With a thoughtful renovation complete and the garden now in full bloom, what makes Tamsin’s cottage truly special is the irresistible sense that everything in it has been brought together not for effect, but out of instinct, memory and emotion. It’s the same layered, intuitive approach that defines her work as a designer. ‘Every home I work on is a portrait of the people who live there, their experiences, what they love. That’s why I called my business Home and Found, not Tamsin Saunders. For me, home should feel natural and true — a place where house, garden and contents have evolved organically over time, shaped by their setting and the lives of those who live there.’
Christopher Horwood1/15Tamsin added a fireplace to the garden room to create a sense of permanence. ‘I didn’t want it to feel like just an extension,’ she says. ‘A fireplace makes a room feel like it’s meant to be used year-round. When we have lunch on a Sunday or supper at the table, we’ll often have the fire lit too — it makes the space feel so warm and inviting.’
Christopher Horwood2/15A detail of the kitchen, where shelves display a cheerful mix of pottery and art. Tamsin designed all the joinery to make use of every inch of space.
Christopher Horwood3/15
Christopher Horwood4/15Secluded and light-filled, Tamsin’s study looks out onto her bountiful garden.
Christopher Horwood5/15Warm chocolate tones, layered textiles and rich patterns bring character to the cosy snug at the front of the house.
Christopher Horwood6/15The coffee table holds a medley of beloved books and curious finds, including an old paper box that turns into a portable chessboard.
Christopher Horwood7/15A steep flight of stairs leads to the first-floor landing, painted in glossy grey to amplify the limited light. The bedrooms and bathroom shared by Tamsin’s children open off either side.
Christopher Horwood8/15The headboard in Freya’s bedroom is upholstered in Svenskt Tenn’s ‘Mirakel' fabric, its vivid colours echoed by a group of Chinese watercolours and one of her own exuberantly painted lamps. Freya has also decorated several details in the room, including the wardrobe doors and light switches.
Christopher Horwood9/15Occupying the top floor of the cottage, Tamsin’s bedroom feels calm and unfussy. Her low bed is flanked by two mismatched side tables, a quiet nod to her preference for character over symmetry.
Christopher Horwood10/15Tamsin’s second daughter, Ottilie, occupies a north-east facing bedroom at the front of the cottage. ‘Pattern is much kinder and easier to live with than solid colour,’ says Tamsin, who softened the cool light with a blue-and-white Bennison fabric that Ottie chose herself. The lamp above the bed was painted by Freya, the cushion is sewn from Ikat linen sourced from an old mill in Mallorca, and the midcentury butterfly collage is Swedish.
Christopher Horwood11/15Tamsin’s son Jago’s bedroom makes the most of its compact size, filled with the things he loves and a cosy atmosphere all of its own.
Christopher Horwood12/15A view of Tamsin’s cottage from the garden she has lovingly transformed from a paved backyard into a bucolic haven of flowers and foliage.
Christopher Horwood13/15Freya painted the patterns on the shed’s interior walls, inspired by natural forms and motifs from the Alhambra and a Cornish church.
Christopher Horwood14/15The shed draws on the quiet beauty of natural pattern and texture. When lit in winter or at night, the perforated metal lantern above the bench throws intricate shadows across the reclaimed wood ceiling and painted walls.
Christopher Horwood15/15Built using reclaimed materials, the shed nestles into the end of the garden, blending seamlessly with its surroundings.
