I turned a plain room into a retreatinspired sanctuary Susan Doherty swapped city living for country life and brought her love of nature indoors

When Susan swapped city living for a bungalow in the countryside, she made it her own with palm-print wallpaper and natural tones to reflect her new love of the outdoors

After nearly 20 years of living in the bustling centre of Guildford, Susan Doherty, 68, was ready for a lifestyle change, so she bought this twobedroom bungalow just outside the village of Alfold, Surrey. ‘I’d been living in a 1930s city apartment with no garden for most of my adult life,’ she explains. ‘Moving to the countryside was a dream of mine. Where

I live now, I have a garden and there’s so much space and fresh air.’ Susan’s home is a new-build property just outside the village. ‘This was the last property left in a small development,’ she says. ‘I fell in love with the rural location and the exterior. It was so pretty to look at. My only problem was the décor inside.’ The developers had left her with white walls and plain grey carpets. ‘I had no say on the interior in the run up to the sale so I inherited a white box,’ she says. ‘I had literally 101 ideas for my new home. But it felt overwhelming to know where to start.’

STEP ONE In April 2020, before Sarah even completed on her new home, she called on the help of Sarah Craddy from SLC Interior Design, a Surrey-based interior designer on Instagram @slc.interior.design. ‘After 20 years of living in the same home, I was finding it difficult to pick out what I wanted for my new home,’ she says. ‘I found Sarah through Houzz and after a brief chat on the phone, it was obvious we were on the same wavelength. I was confident she would edit my ideas for the space and stick to my budget.’ Before she moved in, Susan had a huge declutter. ‘The furniture from my last home wasn’t the right fit for this house. I either sold or gave away all of my old furniture and moved in with just a mattress and couch.’ Getting rid of unwanted furniture that didn’t suit her new light and airy home gave Susan the freedom to start again.

STEP TWO They kick-started the design process using Pinterest to gather Susan’s ideas. They combed through the images to pick a cohesive theme and palette. ‘It turns out I love boho style, which I would never have guessed,’ she says. ‘It was all too muddled in my head for me to recognise that. When Sarah looked at my Pinterest ideas she could see a common theme, with lots of greens and terracotta.’ The inspiration for her new living room started with a palm-print wallpaper by Tektura. ‘Sarah gave me a few wallpapers to choose from, and I was drawn to the bolder palm-print design. It was a clever way to reflect my garden’s greenery into my living room. And we could pick out the tones in the design for the rest of the room,’ she says.

STEP THREE Once Susan firmed up her ideas, she started choosing the furniture. On her wish list was a corner sofa and lots of natural texture to create a calm and relaxing atmosphere. ‘Because of Covid, there was a delay with booking decorators, so we worked backwards by ordering all the furniture first,’ she explains. ‘I chose things that looked fabulous but were at a

reasonable price,’ she says. The decorator put up the wallpaper and pre-ordered the window treatments, and the scheme started coming together. ‘While I was at work, Sarah had everything dropped off at my house. I cried when I walked in, it was so wonderful.’

STEP FOUR Over the next few weeks, the last tweaks were made. ‘The room was 99 per cent complete. The electrician put the TV on the wall, the lighting was fitted, and a mini dining room was created in the corner overlooking the garden.’ Most recently, she hung the wooden birds and choose new prints for the walls. ‘Now I know my style, I feel far more confident about picking things out,’ says Susan. She’s looking forward to enjoying her new space. ‘I can’t wait to spend my evenings pottering around in my living room and in my garden. I love looking out of the French doors to watch the birds in the trees. It’s like being on a retreat, it’s so serene in here now.’

Susan’s new living room is all about comfort and calm, with plush textures, a comfy, roomy sofa and a soft, neutral palette to bring the outside in. ‘I went for a modern, slimline sofa in a calming green. There’s space for me to put my legs up, too,’ she says

Before

Now Susan has found a style she loves, she’s more confident with adding to the scheme over time. Her latest additions are these wooden birds from Maisons du Monde, which are fitting for her countryside location Susan plans to spend a lot of time in her new living room, so she’s tweaked furniture to make it as practical as possible, including having safety glass cut to fit the coffee table to give it a smooth, protective surface

Susan placed the dining table in front of the French doors for an indoor-outdoor feel. ‘The dining chairs are actually outdoor chairs, so I can use them in the garden in the summer,’ she says Susan has kept her Cox & Cox sideboard minimal, with a pair of books, simple greenery, a statement lamp and a print of a woman in a sun hat, which ties in with the summery feel of the wallpaper