Period piece
The fine historical features of Ben and Alexandra Payne’s home serve as an elegant foil to their collection of mid-century furniture
Before they moved to Leamington Spa, Ben and Alexandra Payne lived in London’s Maida Vale, where they were surrounded by properties similar in style to the Regency townhouse they now own. ‘We had a tiny second floor flat at the time, but we would walk past those houses and say to ourselves that it would be wonderful to live in a building like that one day,’ recalls Ben.
After they moved to the spa town in 2008, the couple rented for five years, but kept a close eye on the housing market. ‘Nothing we viewed was quite right until our agent suggested this house,’ says Ben. ‘It sits in a Grade Ii-listed terrace that is set back from the road, so it looked deceptively small. But when we walked in the door, we discovered that everything is scaled up – the rooms are huge with vast windows and three-and-a-half-metre-high ceilings.’
The property had belonged to the same family since the 1980s and their approach to decorating was something of an ode to that era. ‘There were heavy floral wallpapers, thick carpets and elaborate drapes and swags,’ remembers Ben. ‘There was a sense that the owners had wanted to keep the world out – whereas we wanted to invite it in.’
Even before the couple had been given the keys to the house, the amenable vendor had allowed Ben to draw up floor plans and gain listed building consent to open up the ground floor and kitchen into a double aspect space, adding elegant room dividers that were sensitive to the period of the house.
Over just 18 weeks, the couple renovated all five stories of the building, undertaking a lot of the work themselves. Layers of wallpaper and carpet were removed, while the heavy curtains were taken down to reveal rooms that were flooded with light. The house was rewired and replumbed and they redecorated throughout, using white for the kitchen and dining