Houzz Tour: Simplicity a Virtue in an English Country Cottage
http://www.decor-ideas.org 09/13/2014 21:13 Decor Ideas
When interior designer Nicola O’Mara and her partner, John Merriman, from Inspired Design, bought a 19th-century cottage, they knew it would require some attention. After one year of devoting weekends and evenings to the renovation, their dream home in the countryside was finally ready.
“It was a beautiful cottage, but it was full of damp, and once we’d stripped it back to the stone walls, it was basically a pile of rubble,” O’Mara says. “We had to rebuild the entire structure, but it meant we could put our own stamp on it.”
When the building work was complete, O’Mara began creating the interiors. She chose a muted palette and furnished the house with a mixture of antiques and eBay finds. The finished home is a charming, easygoing cottage peppered with luxurious touches and clever design details — perfect for a modern family’s needs.
Houzz at a Glance
Who lives here: Nicola O’Mara, John Merriman and their daughter
Location: Banwell, England
Size: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms
The combined kitchen and dining room is the heart of the house and reflects the family’s easygoing style. “There’s definitely a French influence in this part of the cottage,” O’Mara says. “It’s all about muted creams and blues, but it’s all very simple. Also, because the right-hand wall slopes, we couldn’t put any furniture up against it, hence the full-length mirror, which also reflects some light into the small space.” O’Mara sourced the powder-blue pendant lights from John Lewis; the kilim cushions are from India Jane.
O’Mara likes to mix and match her furniture, and she scours eBay, antiques shops and flea markets for her big purchases. “I like to wait until I find the right piece,” she says. “I haven’t found my ideal kitchen table yet, so this one is totally makeshift — it’s just a piece of plywood on some table legs. I found the old chapel chairs in a local antiques shop, so it’s quite an eclectic mix.”
O’Mara didn’t want this room to look like a typical kitchen, so she decided against overhead cupboards in favor of open shelves, which also prevent the narrow space from feeling cramped. “I wanted it to be a space where people feel comfortable,” she says. “It’s small, but it feels open and inviting.” The stable door is a new addition and leads to a small garden area. O’Mara used Little Greene paint in Slaked Lime on the walls and French Grey Mid on the cupboards.
The flagstone floor, from Mandarin Stone, is an arresting feature in the kitchen. “I fell in love with the dark color and texture,” O’Mara says. “I didn’t want anything flat and uniform, and it’s authentic to the style of the cottage.” The French windows lead to a balcony with 180-degree views of the surrounding countryside. “It’s a wonderful, secluded spot with no through traffic,” she says.
“We exposed and sandblasted this stone wall and [remortared] it using lime mortar to create a feature in the room,” O’Mara says. The cottage is quite dark, but she resisted the urge to paint everything white and made the dark, cozy corners work for her instead. She painted the skirting boards and window frames in Railings by Farrow & Ball, which she repeated throughout the house for continuity. The black leather trunk was a flea market find and serves as both a table and storage.
The living room fireplace is an original feature that O’Mara stripped back to expose the brickwork. The oak beam hearth is also original. It was rotting, but she managed to save the facade to retain the country-style charm of the room. To counter the traditional elements, O’Mara added a few quirky touches, such as the rhinoceros light fitting from Sia. She didn’t want the TV to be the main feature of the room, so she built a false wall with cupboard doors to hide the set and cables.
The house has two staircases, and this one in the kitchen leads to the bedrooms. O’Mara kept the space light with Farrow & Ball Hardwick White on the walls and Cornforth White on the wooden steps.
The master bedroom is a soothing space that O’Mara uses as a retreat. “I wanted this room to be light, gentle and calming,” she says. “The pendant light from John Lewis gives off a lovely soft glow, but just enough to read by —nothing too bright. At the other end of the bedroom, there’s a French door with a little balcony outside. It’s a lovely room to spend time in.” The walls are painted in Farrow & Ball Cornforth White, and O’Mara found the bed linen at the White Company. The cushions are a mixture of homemade items and bargain TK Maxx finds.
“I didn’t want our daughter’s bedroom to be too girlie, so I’ve mixed in touches of green,” O’Mara says. Her 3-year-old is now trying to fill the room with princess posters, but O’Mara has insisted on a few smart details, such as the folding chair, a flea market find she’s topped with a sheepskin rug.
O’Mara gave her daughter’s room a subtle bird theme and found these little houses at the White Company.
This staircase had to be replaced, so O’Mara built in a wall-to-wall bookcase, both as a storage solution and to create a colorful feature in an otherwise dead space. She used Farrow & Ball Railings paint on the steps to highlight the geometric shapes.
Carrara marble on the floor and walls gives the master bathroom a luxurious feel. The sophisticated gray paint on the walls is Plummett by Farrow & Ball. O’Mara found the roll-top bath in a reclamation yard and linked it to the rest of the house by painting it in Farrow & Ball Railings.
More:
So Your Style Is: Cottage
15 Ways to Get the English Cottage Look
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