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10 Beautiful Rooms: The South East

Now I’ll be honest the geography’s gone a bit Pete Tong here. This is basically the south east minus London. But not all of it. Call it a south east part I and part II may follow. And then there may be London. But that doesnt’ matter too much does it? It’s still 10 Beautiful Rooms and they start in Essex.

wallpaper bathroom by melanie lissack interiors
wallpaper bathroom by melanie lissack interiors

If ever you wondered about wallpapering a bathroom then this is the picture for you. It’s basically fine in a room with good ventilation and Melanie’s bathroom with the Cole & Son hummingbirds wallpaper is one of my favourite spaces on the grid. The whole effect is very Soho House.

freestanding bath by fiona duke interiors
freestanding bath by fiona duke interiors

Or how about this for a luxury bath – something that is a proper Monday morning fantasy as you hurtle past on your way to the shower vowing that come the weekend you will take the time to luxuriate. And finishing with bathrooms another one of Fiona’s, co-founder of the Interior Design Collective, who created this wonderful walk-in shower. Give me this over a bath any day and you can buy these tiles here.

patterned tiles in shower by fiona duke interiors
patterned tiles in shower by fiona duke interiors

Still in Essex and still in the bathroom. Seriously if you need a wash this is turning out to be the county to go to what about this fabulous copper bath belonging to Lexden Home. The whole house is great but this is a gorgeous bathroom by any standards.

copper bath by lexden home
copper bath by lexden home

Next up staying in Essex but moving into the kitchen of Just A Few Changes – and we all know that’s how it starts but is rarely how it finishes. And I write that as someone who is typing in the middle of a huge pile of books as the library shelves have had to be emptied for painting shortly before the chaise longue returns from the upholsterer and while the 17yo has spent the weekend moving from his room to the spare room and vice versa. That particular chain of events started with the sitting room being painted, the knock-on effects of which seem to have spread to every room in the house.

pendant lights by just a few changes
pendant lights by just a few changes

Anyway just a few changes *laughs hollowly* but do look at the pendant lights hanging down above the sideboard. It looks good, saves space on the top of the furniture and creates a decorative feature. I definitely think we should all be more imaginative with the placement of pendant lights.

half painted wall with pink line by Amy Adams
half painted wall with pink line by Amy Adams of @_onehundredandtwelve

Now this is clever. Amy Adams half-painted the wall in her daughter’s Essex nursery and then decided it was all a bit too dark. A steady hand and a roll of pink washi tape later and the room has been transformed. And the even cleverer bit? If she goes off the pink it’s simple to peel off and change to another colour. One of those wish-I’d-thought-of-that moments.

dark kitchen cream aga by nest_twenty_eight
dark kitchen with cream range by nest_twenty_eight

Moving round to East Sussex and the home of Lucinda Mitra with its black cupboards and cream range cooker. Dark kitchens are definitely gathering pace this year but the light tiles and cooker stop it being too overwhelmingly dark.

wood burning stove by shnordic
wood burning stove by shnordic

This is the gorgeous south east home of Susanna Hawkins, who owns a grey cat much like Enid (called Ebba) and who works as a product stylist. Her feed and home are both gorgeous and I could spend a happy hour sitting here alternatively gazing at the fire and out of the window.

Back to bathrooms – this was very nearly 10 beautiful bathrooms – but this time in Suffolk and the House of Wilde, which is available on AirBnB if you fancy a little getaway.

black and white bathroom at house of wilde
black and white bathroom at house of wilde 

And finally to Hertfordshire – and the very cool room of Rebecca of rvkloves. She bought this oak chest from ebay, painted it pink and converted it into a sink unit. If you’re inspired to learn how to do it, she wrote a post about it on her blog.

pink dresser in bathroom by rvkloves
pink dresser in bathroom by rvkloves

And there is the south east. There is some more south east and some London and the two may wind up together in the last post of this series. I’m particularly keen on some of these bathrooms. What do you think? Inspired?

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.

6 Comments

  1. Wow what a lovely surprise to see our playroom featured in 10 Beautiful Rooms this morning! I’ve loved this series and some more gorgeous spaces in the South East. Looking forward to London’s spaces. Thanks x

  2. The “just a few changes” image is my favourite, the gold pendants look fab – but nevermind those, I’m in love with those kitchen units… any idea where they are from? The colour is gorgeous. Dark, but not too dark.

  3. I prefer showers to baths too. Each to his own. It seems that Australians and Brits are often not keen to give up on their baths. I live in Sweden and it seems there are fewer and baths around in houses and flat here these days. Thanks for an inspiring blog. I like seeing what is happening in interiors in England – quite a bit different to what is happening in Sweden, in many ways.

    1. Hi Kristen – I’m a British born new Australian and I haven’t taken a bath in years! We are very committed to showers here and most people would only keep a bath for children and resale value.

  4. Thanks for the shout out Kate – loving this ‘geographical’ theme to the 10 beautiful rooms slot. Some fab content and inspiration on here today. Particularly lusting after the kitchen cupboards in the Just a Few Changes shot. Lush 🙂

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