LABOUR OF LOVE

The marriage of old and new architecture

LIVING ROOM

A kingfisher-blue velvet sofa from Swoon Editions takes centre-stage in the living room, along with a huge painting by Janey’s younger daughter Lucy, for her Art GCSE. ‘We didn’t think we would fit it in, but it’s made for this space,’ says Janey. The burnt orange cushions from John Lewis & Partners echo the coppery tones on the outside of the cottage, and in the garden.

HOME CV

WHO Garden designer and TV presenter, Janey Auchincloss, shares this cottage in Lavenham, Suffolk, with her husband John. WHAT Janey often walked past the cottage when she was living in a larger property nearby. When the couple decided to downsize, it came up for sale at just the right moment. ‘Our two daughters had left home and we were rattling around in a huge place,’ remembers Janey. ‘We just wanted somewhere cosier.’ Another draw was the cottage’s location in the centre of town, which Janey loves for its pubs, restaurants and half-timbered buildings. ‘There’s an eclectic community here, too,’ she adds. ‘Lots of our friends are architects, designers and writers.’ RENOVATION The cottage contained just a handful of cramped rooms. ‘It had been owned by an elderly man, and it was like stepping back into the 1950s,’ Janey says. She and John knew they needed to extend to gain space and to boost light; they approached London architects Project Orange. The couple opted for a linear sequence of rooms that flows seamlessly from the old part of the house, and is flanked by a garden connecting the indoors with the outside. The new extension has an open-plan kitchen and dining area, an office and, hidden inside a pod structure, a guest bathroom and utility room. ‘We use all the space,’ Janey says. ‘We love to cook, so we spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and I work most days in the office, which is wonderfully light and bright. Being able to look out on to the garden is lovely.’

DRESSING TABLE

Janey’s dressing table is by mid-century designers John and Sylvia Reid. She hangs her jewellery on a rack with antlers.

BEDROOM FIREPLACE

The couple uncovered four original fireplaces when they were renovating the cottage. This one is decorated with a plaster of Paris panel made by Janey when she was an art student. ‘I’ve always done things that are organic and botanical,’ she says.

BEDROOM

Janey says the dark floral theme in the master bedroom evolved from the green-black paint on the panelling – a discontinued Fired Earth shade (Little Greene’s Obsidian Green is similar). She bought the floral bed linen from Achica, and gradually found the prints to match.

BATHROOM

John did the graphic tilework with dark grouting in the bathroom himself, using tiles from Domus. It was inspired by a picture Janey saw in an interiors magazine. ‘There are four different sizes of tile, all tessellated together,’ she says. The metal wall lamp is from Suffolk-based lighting brand Jim Lawrence.

CORRIDOR

Black steel windows from Fabco frame one side of the extension, while on the other, a pod containing a utility room and bathroom is clad with floorboards reclaimed from the original cottage interior. The turquoise Vietnamese sun dish came from the couple’s previous home, and the chest of drawers was a gift from friends.

KITCHEN SHELF

Every object in the house has a story behind it – among the objects on the kitchen display shelf is a metal Christmas tree from Scandinavia, another smaller tree that was a present from one of Janey’s daughters, and a guinea fowl ornament found on a trip to South Africa.

KITCHEN

Oak units, white brick walls and a concrete-topped island from local firm AG Lifestyle in Sudbury, give the kitchen a natural feel. ‘It’s a lovely light, bright space, so we decided to use dark paint (Little Greene’s Invisible Green) on the back wall for extra impact,’ says Janey. The oak kitchen units were custom-made by Lavenham Joinery and partly finished in a lighter shade of green to complement the wall. The white Everhot stove (just seen) is the heart of the home for Janey and John, who are both dedicated foodies.