A wonderland inspired by a fantasy tale

When I first viewed the cottage, the open-plan living area and small proportions initially put me off – and then I saw the master bedroom.

With three large window bays, the room is bathed in panoramic light and it’s large enough to fit a super-king bed. I loved the space at first sight so, after weighing up the fact that I travel often for work, I decided the bedroom and immediate access to the countryside from my doorstep was enough to make it work for me.

However, the small size of the rooms has been the greatest challenge since I got the keys on the first day of lockdown. People often tell you to paint everything neutral in a smaller house, but I wanted to turn the space from what felt very much like a holiday cottage into a permanent home that represents me and my personality.

It took a while for me to shake off that advice and go for decor with a little colour and pizazz. I have a background in textile and fashion design, so I’ve always favoured quirky and eclectic styles.

When it came to the interior design, I set myself a brief focused on achieving three things – enhancing the countryside cottage look and feel of the property, adding in contained doses of colour and visual interest, as well as ensuring the spaces worked hard for their keep.

Now, the house sits perfectly as a

living and evolving moodboard of me and my favourite things.

For example, my living room is loosely inspired by my favourite book as a child, Through The LookingGlass And What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll, complete with shell pink painted walls that confuse the height of the ceiling to make it look taller, and an upcycled gin bar set against a uniquely proportioned cupboard door. The house very much echoes my love of textiles and fashion, with inspiration being drawn from classic French fashion houses such as Hermes and Yves Saint Laurent.

Early on, I found a Hermes scarf print, which features vintage typography and colour-blocked teal, orange, red and green hues, and it very quickly became the basis for sourcing wall colours, artwork and display objects. Both colour and quality are important to me, so I decided to use Farrow & Ball paint throughout.

My living room walls are painted in Pink Ground, which is a perfect earthy balance of pink and peach, and Pointing, a fresh but not brilliant white inspired by the lime render originally used on architectural brickwork.

In my bedroom, I’ve used one of my favourite colours of all time, Inchyra Blue, a masculine blue-green with a kaleidoscopic finish that appears different depending on the light. This house truly feels like a home to me, not just because I’ve put my own personality into decorating and refurbishing, but because it took some seriously hard work to save up the funds to make a dream home become reality.

It’s harder than ever for single people to navigate buying a home, so I feel proud I was able to make this happen for myself. My home is an unapologetic expression of me and I feel fully relaxed and at peace when I spend time here.

For that luxury, I feel very fortunate.