Colour, texture and heritage were the buzz words for Kemi Lawson’s beautifully renovated home

Cottage charm

When I started house-hunting, I wasn’t looking for a period home. I’d actually overlooked the cottage as I was scared of the idea of owning something old; but when I looked at the pictures, I just fell in love. Even though there was some damp and a leaky roof, I saw so much potential to remodel the interiors and create a house that reflects us and our heritage.

My goal was to make a fun, welcoming home for my two young daughters and to create an inspiring space for them. I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from our Nigerian and Jamaican heritage in terms of colour, texture and accessories. A lot of my African heritage pieces are quite old and sculptural, so lend well to the architectural beams and fireplace in the very English cottage. Honouring the period features was also really important to me, first of all because I love the features and partly because it’s a listed building.

I’m really inspired by the use of colour and texture by designers such as Kit Kemp and Beata Heuman. I thought the textural look of raw materials would work really well with the cottage, so in the living room I chose a seagrass wallpaper and sisal flooring, both of which have got a unique feel and look.

The fireplace, without a doubt. It’s actually got two – one’s working and one’s not. The not-working one was dusty and uncared for on the inside, so we decided to give it a new lease of life and make a real feature of it. We tiled the interior with geometric tiles, which I thought would be fun to lay in a random manner. You would have thought it would be easier that way, too, but the tiler said it was really hard to place them in a random layout as your brain automatically wants to make patterns. To the side of the fireplace we installed bookshelves; there were some there when we moved in but they weren’t very solid-looking. They are very deep and give me space to store my extensive book collection and photographs.

I would just say ‘go for it’. I was so nervous when I was looking around. I’m one of those people who can’t really visualise, so it’s not until the last piece of wallpaper is hung that I can see how it will come together. I kept telling myself that as long as you love it, you can’t lose.

See Kemi’s project on Instagram @cottagenoir and be inspired by the home and lifestyle edit on her website thecornrow.com, which sells curated products tailored to the modern black aesthetic