What my home means to me Fearne Cotton
TV star, author and designer Fearne, 36, lives in London with husband Jesse Wood, 40, and children Rex, four, and Honey, two. Stepchildren Arthur,16, and Lola,12, complete the family
WHERE I LIVE
By the time we viewed this house in December 2014, Jesse and I were really despondent. We’d seen so many over the months and were convinced we’d never manage to move. Then we stepped through this front door and had an instant feeling that it was meant to be.
Built around 1850, the house is filled with original features, such as ornate woodwork along the hallway ceiling and beautiful wooden window shutters. While I wanted a house with character, it did need some modernising.
We knocked three small rooms across the back of the house into one large kitchen, with a central island, living area and plenty of cupboard space – with four children there’s lots of mouths to feed! Our ground floor has open-plan social spaces and a conservatory. Plus, there’s a music area in the basement.
The kitchen has cream and white units with wooden worktops. One cupboard is painted pastel pink, and there are turquoise chairs. It’s a wonderful mismatch of colour, which always makes me smile.
Elsewhere in the house I’ve gone for calm, light decoration. There’s a lovely white wallpaper featuring a pattern of delicate silver feathers in the hallway, and the flooring throughout is either original stripped or simple, white painted floorboards.
There’s one place where we’ve gone totally mad and that’s the cloakroom, which has a green paisley design on the walls.
Among our pictures is a framed Led Zeppelin album cover, which a friend gave me because I’m such a fan.
MY INSPIRATION
I grew up in a little 1960s bungalow and then we moved to a mock Tudor semi. We were a working class family with limited money for making things look fancy, but my mum Lin has always had a flair for colour and encouraged me not to be afraid of using vibrant shades. She still has a bright green carpet!
Mum also has a great talent for finding a bargain, which I’ve inherited. On Ebay I found a little coffee table for £20, as well as a massive sideboard with really ornate wood and some beautiful large mirrors for the garden.
In my teens, I visited a friend in Dorset whose family owned a gorgeous thatched cottage complete with an Aga. I fell in love with the romance and nostalgia of the place, and my dream is to have my own Aga one day. In the meantime, I have a Rangemaster cooker that
I love – it produces the most perfect Christmas dinner!
When I came to design my new retro range of kitchen appliances for Swan, I selected colours that would fit into my own kitchen. I chose honey – after my daughter – as well as shades of turquoise, pastel pink and truffle for the range of traditional-style food mixers, toasters, kettles and blenders. I love the idea of using colour to transform everyday kitchen items into objects to be admired.
MY FAMILY LIFE
Past and present family is captured in a beautiful turquoise French dresser that belonged to Jesse’s mum Krissy, and now stands in our kitchen. Although she passed away 12 years ago, the dresser bears signs of many years of wear and is a reminder of her. We hang teacups on the hooks and fill the shelves with jam jars stuffed with coins and wishes written by the children.
This house was made for Christmas, which we host every year. Fake holly and garlands wind around our banisters, and we put a large flashing wicker reindeer on my stepson’s bedroom windowsill and lights in the garden. For Christmas Day, we have a lovely conservatory space for eating, and my dad built a huge tabletop that fits over our dining table, allowing us to fit 16 people around it.
With lots of fun, laughter and vibrancy, all year round, my house is about messy anarchy. Add some festive spirit and the result is a perfect Christmas!
The Fearne By Swan range is a beautiful collection of pastel-hued kitchenware and cookware. For info visit fearnebyswan.co.uk