ROOMS WITH A VIEW
Vicki Lund and Jason Richardson had a radical rethink when it came to creating their ideal family home by the coast
When Vicki Lund and her partner Jason Richardson decided to look for a weekend home in the country, the location was a no-brainer. It had to be Cornwall, where they and their four boys –Vicki’s sons, Fraser, eight, and Lewis, six, and Jason’s sons, Barnaby, seven, and Baxter, six – had already enjoyed several wonderful holidays. ‘The beaches were a huge attraction for us, especially for the boys who just want to play and dig in the sand,’ says Vicki, who recently added baby Brodie to the family. ‘This wasn’t the prettiest property around but the views were absolutely astounding.’
The house stands on a steep hillside with farmland on one side and a large garden that slopes down to the sea. The three-bedroom property included a granny flat but, says Vicki, ‘we decided to open the whole area out and incorporate the flat into the new house.’ Although this meant extending the footprint of the house slightly, planning permission was swiftly granted and building work began in the spring of 2015.
Because of the stunning views, the living areas had always been located upstairs with the bedrooms below. Vicki and Jason retained this layout but changed the format of the stairs, positioned the kitchen centrally and turned the double garage
into the main bedroom, with a new garage being built in the grounds Local builders were employed for the structural work and Vicki and Jason raced down from London at weekends to oversee things. The builders, who also installed the kitchen and bathrooms, left the couple with a ‘white shell’ on which to imprint their own decorating style. ‘I wanted a relaxed, contemporary feeling, nothing too coastal,’ says Vicki, who was recommended the services of a local interior designer, Tracey Mannell.
‘Vicki and Jason didn’t want a look that was too nautical or overly fussy,’ says Tracey. ‘They gave me free rein with my ideas, which was wonderful.’ To maximise the views from the sitting room, she suggested a curved sofa, and for the outside balcony chose all-weather rattan seating that was heavy enough to withstand the strong winds. Upstairs, the white walls became the perfect backdrop for a display of work by local artists, while downstairs in the bedrooms, Tracey introduced more colour in the form of contemporary wallpapers.
The house was finally finished by the summer of 2016 and both the designer and client are delighted with the result. ‘It’s extremely rare that you get the chance to completely renovate a house like this,’ says Vicki. ‘Now it suits the whole family and we all love coming here.’