An interior designer's clever conversion of a farm outbuilding into an elegant, unfussy country house
When Thea Speke first saw what is now the weekend home that she shares with her husband, Jack, and their one-year-old daughter, it provided shelter to sheep rather than humans. Sitting in a secluded spot on the far edge of Jack’s parents’ family farm in Wiltshire, it had a total lack of amenities. But that did not deter the couple when they had the chance to make it their own. ‘I was won over from day dot,’ recalls Thea, an interiors consultant and online antique dealer, who divides her time between the house and their flat in west London.
What the former agricultural building lacked in obvious charm, it made up for in two respects: its location, nestled in the bend of a stream and surrounded by fields of sheep; and its pitched roof, which, 15 years previously, had been clad by Jack’s parents in reclaimed red clay tiles. These would end up setting the colour palette for the downstairs rooms. First, though, it was a case of making the space liveable. Planning consent to convert it into a dwelling was granted in 2018 and the builders started work the following year. Electricity and water were installed, and the outside was clad with insulation and topped with wide Douglas fir boards. ‘The breeze-block walls needed softening, but I also wanted the look to remain true to the simplicity of the building,’ explains Thea.
The footprint – an L shape of roughly equal lengths – could not be altered, so it was a case of what Thea describes as ‘rigorous spatial planning’. Working within a shell of a building with no internal walls, Thea added an upper floor in order to accommodate four bedrooms and two bathrooms, which now sit snugly under the pitched roof. ‘Rather than create corridors upstairs, I tucked the single beds and baths under the sloping ceilings to make the most of the space,’ she explains. Each side of the L shape is identical in layout and functions as a romantic enfilade of rooms, starting with a single bedroom that leads onto a bathroom and then the main-event double bedroom at the end of each ‘wing’. ‘The challenge was to create a feeling of light and space, even though we were battling with these restrictions,’ says Thea.
Downstairs became a sitting room and study on one side and a large kitchen and dining area on the other, with a generous hallway joining the two spaces. Limestone flooring runs from the entrance through to the kitchen, which means that ‘you read the space as one’, Thea explains. Soft, tonal pinks on the walls – ‘Lilac Pink’ from Edward Bulmer Natural Paint for the entrance hall and the kitchen, and its deeper ‘Jonquil’ for the sitting area and study – tie the spaces together, too, setting the tone for the rest of the house and picking up on the clay roof tiles outside. Upstairs is painted in a similarly tranquil palette – Paint & Paper Library’s soothing ‘Clay III’ for the side that houses Thea and Jack’s bedroom and its archive green paint ‘Both Barrels’ for the other side. ‘I wanted it to feel warm and restful up here,’ she says.
At the time Thea embarked on this project, she was working for Rose Uniacke, having joined the team in 2015 as an intern and worked her way up to being a designer. ‘I learnt so much during my five years with Rose, especially when it came to antiques and the importance of establishing a language between pieces of furniture,’ says Thea, who left in 2020 to set up on her own. This house is a testament to her talent for sourcing and paved the way for her going it alone. ‘It helped me hone my eye,’ she explains. She is particularly drawn to 20th-century European – especially Swedish – pieces: from the curvaceous cane chairs in one corner of the kitchen, which she bought from London dealer M Kardana, to the Swedish floor lamp in her bedroom. ‘I like strong silhouettes and pieces that are refined examples of their type,’ she says.
Thea has been admirably thrifty in her choice of fabrics, using canvas cloth, bought from an art shop for £2 a metre, to conceal under-stairs storage, while curtains made from cream needlecord – which she snapped up for a song from a shop on Goldhawk Road, W12 – provide a gentle division between the sitting room and study area. An inviting sofa and ottoman in natural linen, both of which she designed and had made, bring additional softness to the sitting room. In one of the single bedrooms, a checked fabric from Merchant & Mills was used for curtains that close to conceal a little wrought-iron bed tucked under the sloping roof, transforming it into a magical den, while the vanity units in both bathrooms have been kitted out with simple fabric skirts. ‘I wanted the house to feel unfussy, elegant and calming,’ says Thea. I think we can all agree that she has whole-heartedly succeeded.
Thea Speke: theaspeke.com
Michael Sinclair1/16A door curtain in antique ticking from Tobias and the Angel brings colour to this space with its pale limestone floor from Beswick Stone.
Michael Sinclair2/16Walls in Edward Bulmer Natural Paint’s ‘Jonquil’ are the backdrop for a painting by Chloe Lamb. Victorian armchairs re-covered in Rose Uniacke’s garnet ‘Jumbo’ corduroy provide a rich contrast with an ottoman in her ‘Heavy Weight’ linen and a sofa in George Spencer Designs’ ‘Joshua’ linen.
Michael Sinclair3/16A chair from Atomic Antiques in Shoreditch is paired with a vintage desk and an Einar Bäckström table lamp, both from a Swedish auction house.
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Michael Sinclair5/16Rustic antique pieces, including a painted cupboard, a farmhouse table and French 20th-century chairs add character to cabinets from Howdens.
Michael Sinclair6/16The still-life painting is by Swedish artist Eric Cederberg.
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Michael Sinclair8/16A wool throw from Baileys and linen curtains add warm touches.
Michael Sinclair9/16An Audoux Minet rope mirror from 1stDibs is set off by walls in Paint & Paper Library’s archive colour ‘Both Barrels’.
Michael Sinclair10/16Curtains in a green check from Merchant & Mills screen an iron bed from The French House.
Michael Sinclair11/16A bedcover and upholstery in antique linen and a rug from Sunbury Antiques Market create a serene feel.
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Michael Sinclair13/16The mirror and lights are from a Swedish auction house.
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Michael Sinclair16/16Thea Speke
