Brought to book in living colour
When Steph Worsley first set eyes on her detached Victorian home in Headingley, it was a minimalist’s dream. “It belonged to an architect and his partner so the interiors were immaculate and very calm, uncluttered and neutral,” she says.
Eight years on and they couldn’t be more different. The property is full of colour, books and art and it is very family friendly.
Steph and her husband have four young children and a dog so ensuring the house catered for their needs was vital, though the biggest challenge of all was accommodating 15,000 books.
“My husband collects books and he doesn’t like getting rid of any, which is fine,” she says.
“We all love reading and it’s exciting for the children to have such a huge choice. There’s everything from novels to nonfiction and when the children get older they’ll be able to earn their pocket money by dusting them!”
This beautiful, book-filled home is the work of a woman who loves colour. Sharon Dale reports. Photographs by Louise Bates.
The solution to storing and displaying the collection includes using the spaces around doorways by turning them into bookshelves.
Walls in the hall and sitting room have also been requisitioned as floor-to-ceiling libraries.
The book spines offer a rainbow of interest, which Steph is more than happy with.
“I love colour and I’ve looked into the original colours that might have been used here in the Arts and Crafts and
Edwardian eras,” she says. She has had many of the rooms in the house repainted in strong shades by Farrow and Ball and Little Greene.
“I’ve used a lot of peacock colours like Farrow and Ball’s Hague Blue and they show the art off far better than a white background. The darker walls somehow amplify the colours in the pictures,” she says.
The art is an eclectic mix of everything from originals, prints and posters to cards sent to the children by their grandmother, which have been put in little box frames. More colour and pattern comes from flooring from Jim’s Carpets, in Leeds, and from rugs, some of which are from Habitat, one of Steph’s favourite stores.
She also shops at John Lewis, Laura Ashley, Ikea and Wayfair for new items, which are teamed with antique and vintage pieces handed down by family and from auction houses.
Favourite hunting grounds are
David Duggleby Auctioneers, in
Scarborough and Morphets, in Harrogate.
The property’s gorgeous good looks come from Steph’s love of interior design. She studied economics and maths at university but she has always had a creative eye.
Her work has landed the house a place on the books of Yorkshire-based agency Lifestyle Locations, which sources properties suitable for photo and film shoots.
One of the big attractions for those hiring the Worsleys’ home for a shoot is the kitchen.
It is now more than double the size of the one that they inherited with the property.
“The original kitchen was tiny so we