IN FULL BLOOM
A neutral backdrop has allowed Rebecca Sterling to add colour with all the things she loves, from home-grown flowers to vintage finds
Pretty displays of home-grown flowers and classic hues bring freshness and energy to this Grade Ii-listed forever home in Hertfordshire
From freshly-cut blooms to souvenirs and keepsakes, your home should be filled with all your favourite things says Rebecca Sterling, a full-time blogger and Instagram influencer (rosesandrolltops.co.uk, @rvk_loves) with a penchant for horticulture. ‘I find gardening a really good distraction from the constant scrolling of social media: the physicality of it and the connection to the earth is incredibly grounding,’ she says.
The home Rebecca shares with her husband Ben and their toddler daughter Freya is in a beautiful Hertfordshire village where the couple grew up, and it is indeed sprinkled at every turn with the Sterlings’ show-worthy blooms and time-worn treasures, all set against a simple backdrop of off-white shades. ‘I’m a bit fearful of using bright colours on the walls,’ admits Rebecca. ‘I prefer to keep things light and classic, that way I know the look won’t date – and also that I won’t get bored too quickly.’
That said, she has injected a few doses of deep charcoal here and there in her home. ‘I decided it would be a good idea to add some unexpected drama on the kitchen island, in the utility and in the study,’ says Rebecca. ‘I think it offsets the many pale pink accessories dotted round the house, too.’
Although it has the feel of a timeless country house, the Sterlings’ home has undergone quite the transformation in just a few years, as Rebecca explains: ‘We bought the house from an elderly couple who had lived here for 40 years; it was very dated and desperately needed some modernisation work, yet lots of the original character had been stripped out. We weren’t really looking to move at the time as we were quite happy in our Victorian terraced house nearby, but the thought of taking on this place – which is one of the most beautiful houses in the village – and
creating our forever home, albeit a little earlier than expected, was incredibly exciting.’
Rebecca and Ben had big plans and got cracking on stripping out old-fashioned wallpaper that unfortunately led to having to replaster; ripping up garish carpets to reveal some beautiful original floorboards that needed a fair amount of TLC, and, of course, all the services needed bringing up to modern standards. ‘Ben is a property developer so none of this work worried us,’ says Rebecca. ‘And luckily, we were able to stay with my parents during the first phase of work, which lasted five months. The couple concentrated on creating some usable living space that they could partition off from the kitchen so that when they finally got the permission to go ahead with the extension they had planned, they would have a space that could be partially separated from the mess.
The house’s Grade II listing meant that architectural details, including an archway upstairs and a window between the utility and sitting room had to be retained. Even with taking this into account, the couple’s plan to build a two-storey kitchen extension to include a bedroom above was rejected. ‘We’ve had to make do with a single storey for the moment, but maybe one day in the future we’ll be able to persuade them to overturn that decision,’ says Rebecca. ‘There are a few other jobs I’d like to do, too, such as fitting a log burner in the kitchen, but we are quite happy to tackle these gradually in the coming years so that right now we can focus on enjoying time with Freya.’
last word ‘We love that we can be walking in the fields within two minutes or jump on a train and be in London in just half an hour’