PERFECTLY IMPERFECT
An artful blend of mismatched curtains, roughly plastered walls and assorted antiques creates a pleasingly worn and welcoming look in this 18th-century Devonian cottage
Artfully blending roughly plastered walls and assorted antiques brings a worn and welcoming look to an 18th-century Devonian cottage
sunny day in north Devon means the door of Patricia Campbell’s cottage in Braunton will be wide open to let in the air, the light and the little blackbird who lives in the bay tree in the garden. Patricia feeds the birds each morning and this bold little fellow likes to sit on the doorstep, or even hop inside to peck about on her kitchen floor. “If I haven’t fed the birds, he will come in and remind me,” she says. “Everyone loves coming into my kitchen, even the blackbird!”
It’s not hard to see why. With its roughly plastered whitewashed walls, tiled floor, simple furniture and rustic accessories, Patricia’s kitchen has an irresistible appeal. Along one wall sits a huge Victorian pine dresser filled with stencilled French plates and pretty coffee bowls. A pleasingly worn farmhouse table sits in the middle surrounded by old chapel chairs, while the mismatched cushions and curtains and rustic stoneware jars create a relaxed, thrown-together look that is so perfectly imperfect it calls to mind the composition of a painting.
It was the kitchen that captured the heart of Patricia, a dealer in vintage homeware, when she first stepped through the door in 1985. She was on the hunt for a home for herself and her two-year-old son, James: just a five-minute walk from the village and a five-minute drive from the sea, the three-bedroom 18th-century cottage had all they needed.
It was, however, very different from how it looks today. The victim of a 1970s makeover, the house has gradually evolved over 35 years into the relaxed and comfortable home that Patricia now shares with her husband Peter. “Although I loved the size and feel of the property, the kitchen was actually dreadful,” she explains. “It was all orange pine – the furniture, the cupboards. It had strip lighting and awful carpets and a big breakfast bar with peeling Fablon surfaces.” The rest of the house wasn’t much better, with foam-backed fitted carpet and a brick-clad chimney breast in the living room and a 70s orange suite in the bathroom.
As a working single mum, Patricia knew that she couldn’t change everything at once – she also knew
“I like to start with one thing, then gather other things around it”
what she could and couldn’t live with. The bathroom suite was replaced straightaway with a white one, while the kitchen was stripped of its strip lights and up came the carpet. Underneath, she discovered quarry tiles that covered the whole of the ground floor – not a particularly old floor, but a practical one that she liked and felt suited the house. Next to go was the orange pine, as she whitewashed the woodwork and walls.
Patricia met Peter in 1989, and his hands-on, practical skills allowed them to make further progress. In the living room, the brick-clad chimney was plastered over, while in
Patricia has used shades of white for the walls as a neutral backdrop for her vintage pieces
the kitchen, the cupboards were gradually removed and replaced by a huge Victorian school cupboard that they bought at auction, and other freestanding units made by Peter, who also put in a Belfast sink. “I didn’t want anything fitted,” Patricia says. “I wanted something that suited our purpose with more of a rustic feel.”
The kitchen cabinets were painted in a blue-grey blend of Annie Sloan paints, mixed together by Patricia from various leftovers. Having needed to cover up a lot of pine, Patricia developed an appetite for painting and distressing furniture 25 years ago, a technique that she still employs to great effect. In the kitchen, she has used this method on a wireworkfronted cupboard that she found “too piney”, while in the bedroom a mahogany chest of drawers has been transformed in cream, allowing a heavy piece of furniture “to recede back into the room”.
Patricia’s penchant for painting furniture is matched by her love of old furniture. This is another common theme in her decorating, helping to add to the well-worn, lived-in look. A current favourite piece is the Victorian table she uses as a desk on the upstairs landing: “It’s painted bright yellow on top of bright green and is exactly the kind of old chippy look that I love.” She has paired it with an old chair painted red in Annie Sloan’s Emperor’s Silk.
Patricia has stuck with shades of white for the walls. These provide an ideal neutral backdrop for the many antique and vintage pieces that she sources from auctions, markets and other dealers, and those that come and go through her home. “I put so much stuff into the house that it would look silly against anything else,” she says. “And nothing matches anywhere. In the kitchen, I have one old Laura Ashley curtain that I liked for the sunny colours (the other one is upstairs), a vintage French curtain, some crochet cushions and a French linen cushion. They don’t match, but they do blend.”
Before starting her business, Patricia worked as a graphic designer and book illustrator, and has not lost her eye for composition. The living room – a dark room with a woodburner that comes into its own in winter
– is home to several lovely corners created by Patricia. By the window, she has placed a still-life of flowers above a small table holding candlesticks, teacups and table lamps. Shades of red pull the whole together like a magic crimson thread. “I have a very strong feeling for balance,” she explains. “When I look at the corner of a room, I have to compose it so it looks right.”
In this room she took her colour cue from the enormous deep red rug that she bought at auction: “I like to start with one thing, then gather other things around it that work.” Every piece in this home looks like it fits perfectly into its setting. Patricia’s years of gathering and her patient progress have created something of a work of art, as well as a welcoming and comfortable home.