It’s Friday so it must be time for a little poke around the property market. This week we’re starting in Kent with this enormous (7,500 sq ft) in rural Kent. A former industrial building which was transformed by the design firm Brinkworth for the artist Dinos Chapman and knitwear designer Tiphaine de Lussy, it’s on the market for £2,450,000 via The Modern House.
The house sits on a private plot in approximately four acres, near the villages of Ulcombe and Lenham. The building forms part of a link detached pair that were both transformed by Brinkworth in 2009. Apart from the pavilion, which makes up the entire first floor, internal accommodation includes five bedrooms (four with en suite bathrooms), a 49 ft open-plan living room / kitchen / dining area and a 25 metre long swimming pool. There is a large studio / garage and a large utility room.
It’s an extraordinary place and you should definitely look at the other pictures of it, which I haven’t got room for here. Very often I find that these very modern houses lack a little soul. They’re so mimimalist in design that they can end up being a little stark. Architecturally amazing, don’t actually want to spend the evening there.
This one feels a little more real though and I think that might be down to all the different layers of textiles, fabrics and finishes. There’s a mix of comfy looking chairs round that table, the George Nelson paper lights will give a soft glow to the evenings and that bedroom is full of pastel colours and fur rugs which contrast beautifully with the polished concrete floor.
It is, as you would expect from Dinos Chapman full of surprises because it isn’t just a conventional industrial design but feels like you might actually be welcomed in and could take your shoes off without cluttering the place up. What do you think. If I had a spare 2.5 million quid I could be tempted really I could.
Still, moving on. This time down the road to Buckinghamshire, to a house I’ve just realised is on for £10m! So we might as well have a virtual look round because I’m assuming that unless there’s something you haven’t told me, none of us are getting inside this one for real.
Mind you, have I have to say this one, which is on with Knight Frank is all about the outside for me. It’s right on the river and the views are tremendous. If you need to know it has nine or ten bedrooms, nine bathrooms and six receptions rooms.
I would just like to be sitting here for breakfast every day, that’s all. Then you go stroll over to the outdoor pool for a dip before heading inside for a spot of light typing before lunch.
I mean I couldn’t work in here with that carpet but if you removed that then I could imagine this might quite inspire the old creative juices. What do you think?
That’s all for this week folks. Did I tell you I’ve got a book to write…..
