close

The Househunter: Room by Room

I loved these two houses when they were on the market back in May. The character, the history and the colours. Watch out for that mustard yellow. You may not put it on your walls but you are going to be seeing a lot of it in the accessories. And you’ll come round. We always do in the end….

It’s just as well you don’t date houses – I’d be a proper Casanova (or whatever the female equivalent is). I’d honestly be falling in love and romancing a new one every week. I was all over that gorgeous Cornish house last Friday and now I’d dump it without a backward glance for this two bedroom flat over a former East End pub outside which a notorious murderer was  buried in 1811.

The body, thought to belong to the suspected Ratcliff Highway Murderer John Williams, was dug up in 1886 when a gas company started working on a trench outside the pub. Williams had been dumped there after committing suicide in prison, before he came to trial for the murders, and a skeleton was found (upside down with a stake through its heart as Williams had been left – he wasn’t allowed to lie in conscrecated ground). The landlord of the Crown & Dolphin apparently claimed it as a souvenir but it has now disappeared. So that’s all right then. Now you can buy this gorgeous two bed flat for £750,000 via Knight Frank. Coming to look round?

It has been beautifully done up with this kitchen island made from a converted Victorian shop counter and the vintage dresser. The worktop looks like its reclaimed school laboratory worktops which are easy to come by from salvage yards and you can get them in various states of repair. I have used one as a desk in my loft.

We’ll glide by the colour co-ordinated books, which is something I dislike intensely as I can’t bear the idea of books being forced to line up like that and believe they should find their own place on the shelves, but I know that some people are fans and I do believe in each to their own. Mostly.

This gives you a good view of the main living space – there’s room for a table as well as that long counter. And if you do live in one open plan space – or are planning to create one, creating a kitchen that looks like furniture rather than a sleek modern kitchen can work really well in an old property as it feels more natural and, when you’re sitting in the sofa end, is more likely to make you feel that you’re in a sitting room rather than squatting in the kitchen.

Moving out into the hall and you get a glimpse of the gorgeous bathroom and soft colour palette of the bedroom with the bed behind curtains. I’d never draw them but I love the idea and it’s a nod to the age of the building when curtains were often used to create privacy in bedrooms where there might be several people sleeping at once.

But we’ll end in the bathroom because look at that. It’s been really cleverly done to look Victorian with that soft green and aged copper pipe work. So I’m buying this one. I’ve sold Cornwall – made a huge profit of course and now I’m moving here. Anyone else like this one for their fantasy Friday househunting?

Or shall we look elsewhere? OK I’m fickle but now I fancy this, but then we can have two can’t we  – town and country? This is a five bedroom Grade II* listed house in Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire, that’s on for £999,950 with the Modern House. And I need this one too. Fancy a quick look round?

It used to be the village hall and has been renovated by the current owner. There are four bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs and a fifth downstairs, which has its own en suite. There is also a study, drawing room, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor. And a large garage and off-street parking. And so warped am I by London prices that I feel the need to jump up and down shouting that it doesn’t even cost a million pounds.

I know I know. But compare what you get here with the converted pub above and you see what I mean. I’m not saying it’s right I’m just saying what it is. But we’re not here to debate the housing market – this isn’t that post – this is about a lovely Friday stroll though some gorgeous properties with a view to getting some inspiration. Or possibly even moving… I would. This week.

So the kitchen – navy blue – those dark kitchens are coming for you people. White is off the radar at the moment. One tip though – pendant lights can be a problem with low ceilings but this fan one works perfectly as it’s flat and curving and doesn’t need to hang low like so many of them do. Now I have searched deep inside the folds of my brain for the name of this pendant but I can’t dig it out. If anyone else remembers then do add it in comments and I will keep searching in meantime.

Moving into the study with these gorgeous dark green walls- try studio green by Farrow and Ball, for a similar colour. And you know what I’m going to say about the radiator don’t you. If you are buying old school style and don’t want to paint them then think about the colour of the wall they may be going on. I have written before about how Bisque will colour match to your wall paint but actually a plain black or cast iron one would work well here.

And then there is this bedroom. Painted in an old gold mustard colour – something I would never have thought of for my own bedroom but look how well it works with the simple black bed and this tree mural below.

Now this terracotta is another colour that is coming for us. In a couple of years I think the blush pink will be darkening and moving towards these richer, warmer shades. It has started already but it’s still quite new. And for US readers who aren’t familiar with our crooked houses have a look at this.

It’s like the house I grew up in, which was built in the 1400s and where the floor in one of the bedroom sloped so much the bed had to be on bricks to make it level and stop it sliding across the room.

Finally, this lovely restful bedroom although I will be forever perplexed about why those two pictures aren’t directly over the bed. Maybe they moved the bed for the photographer to show that there was space for a bedside table. Anyway, this is not a dealbreaker and as soon as I have cashed in my fantasy lottery chips I’m moving in. And I might not even redecorate.

Which one do you fancy this week? Town or Country? Let us know below.

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

18 Comments

  1. Does anyone know where I can find the paint that is like the Old Gold Mustard, it is just the colour I am looking for my bedroom.

  2. To be fair, the book collection at the Crown & Dolphin looks like lots of Penguin Classics which are colour-coded by subject matter (eg. orange/ white – general fiction, green/white – crime fiction, dark blue/ white – biographies; you get the picture) so the arrangement is both logical and probably the exception to the rule about arranging books by spine colour.

  3. To be fair, the book collection at the Crown & Dolphin looks like lots of Penguin Classics which are colour-coded by subject matter (eg. orange/ white – general fiction, green/white – crime fiction, dark blue/ white – biographies; you get the picture) so the arrangement is both
    logical and probably the exception to the rule about arranging books by spine colour.

  4. So glad to have found your blog Kate. I am constantly looking at Estate Agents websites or ‘house porn’ as my husband calls it. Enjoyed the friday stroll and I’d have the flat – handy for the pub anyway. What with that giant loo though?!

  5. What do you mean the body has disappeared?

    Yes, I’m up for both houses too despite feeling a tad short-changed about the Crown and Dolphin. I want my bones!

    Slightly off-piste – love the idea of books finding their own place. Very ‘Howard’s End is on the Landing’. A chapter in your next book perhaps?

  6. The pendant looks like Petite friture’s vertigo pendant. Very popular in French interiors.

Comments are closed.