Vicarage revisited
This Georgian home and its restful palette prompted owner Charlotte Watson to launch three businesses. Sharon Dale reports. Pictures by CRB Photography.
Georgian homes are generally a joy to decorate, not least because they lend themselves to a variety of styles. You can go mad with colour and swags and tails, as seen in the Regency drama Bridgerton, and you can also take a pared back approach with a calming colour palette.
The caveat is that whatever you do should show good taste because the Georgian era was, without doubt, a time when great design proliferated.
It gave us brilliant architects, such as Yorkshire-born John Carr who embraced the value of symmetry and light, and fabulous furniture designers and makers, including Thomas Chippendale, Robert and James Adam, George Hepplewhite and Thomas Sheraton.
When Charlotte Watson and her husband bought Ryther Hall, a fivebedroom Georgian vicarage near Tadcaster in 2015, it was decorated in opulent style and in need of updating.
“The interiors weren’t to my taste but the house had a really good feel and it is in a lovely village with the most amazing steak house, the Rythre Arms,” says Charlotte, who embarked on a major project to bring the house into the 21st century without sacrificing its period features.
Reconfiguring the space was a must as the original kitchen was too small and the Watsons and their two children had no need for the grand dining room.
What was the dining room was turned into a sitting room and two other rooms were knocked into one to create a large, open-plan area with a kitchen, a lounge and a dining space. Meanwhile, the old kitchen became a home office.
Keen to have access from the new living kitchen onto the patio and garden, the Watsons knew that bi-fold doors would have been a design disaster and instead came up with a solution that the Georgians would approve of. What appears to be three arched windows are, in fact, doors that look as if they have been there forever.
Upstairs, a bathroom with Grecianstyle pillars, round bath and gold taps was replaced with an elegant, free-standing bath from Easy Bathrooms.
Redecorating brought a complete change to the walls and ceilings, which were mostly magnolia, and Charlotte used a Farrow & Ball colour consultant to help her choose a new palette. “I knew that I liked soft greys and wanted a calm, soothing look but I was conscious that I had a whole house to paint and I didn’t want to get it wrong, which is why I used the consultant who was brilliant and gave me confidence,” she says.
“The other benefit of using her was that rather than the little paint cards that Farrow & Ball have on their stands, she had much bigger, A4-size paint cards.”
She opted for Purbeck Stone, a soft, mid-grey, which is used in most of the rooms, along with Strong White paintwork, plus Inchyra Blue for the
fireplace and hallway panelling. The new, Shaker-style kitchen came from Hunter Kitchens and includes a quartztopped island.
Much of the furniture and furnishings is new as the Watsons’ previous home was a barn conversion and the rustic look was not right for Ryther Hall. So Charlotte chose grey, upholstered chesterfields for the sitting area and hired Claire Williamson, of From Fabric to Finished Interiors in nearby Burton Salmon, to make bespoke curtains and blinds, as the windows are a variety of shapes and sizes.
Upstairs, the main bedroom is in greys and soft pink with a chandelier to add glamour.
The interiors and especially the beautiful accessories caught the eye of Charlotte’s followers on Instagram and that in turn sparked an idea for a new online store, www.myglamorousplace.com.
“I realised there was a market for glamorous furnishings and finishing touches that were a step up from what you could find on the high street but which offered value for money,” says Charlotte, a former interiors buyer for Wilko who launched her shop in 2018.
She now stocks mirrors, lighting, home accessories, soft furnishings and furniture and has a large and loyal customer base.
Trends, in particular colours, are taken into account and at the moment navy, sage green plus gold finishes are popular.
The success of the store led to a second business, the Yorkshire Design House, after a customer asked Charlotte to dress her apartment in Marylebone.
“I now furnish and dress rental flats and AirBnB properties for clients, mixing value products with more expensive pieces and that has really taken off,” she says.
Now a third start-up, Dog Box Boutique, is under way inspired by the family’s cockapoo Poppy. You can subscribe to get a monthly dog box with quality toys and treats or send a single box as a gift.
“I really love what I do now and best of all I can make work fit around my children,” says Charlotte.