SEASIDE INSPO
Interiors stylist Melanie Molesworth has always been drawn to nature. As a child she collected butterflies and hatched silkworms in the airing cupboard. No surprise, then, that she was drawn to this two-storey house in Dorset, near the seafront
Interiors stylist Melanie Molesworth has always been drawn to nature.No surprise, then, that she was drawn to this two-storey house in Dorset, near the seafront
There was a fitted kitchen already in place, but Melanie gave it a facelift by painting it with Farrow & Ball Mole’s Breath and replacing the handles. New tiling, open shelving and a wall-mounted metal saucepan rack completed the transformation. Try Neptune (neptune.com) for similar kitchen units
Behind the sofa, which faces the kitchen table, shells and fossils that Melanie has collected from the beach are kept in an antique cabinet. Melanie cites Kettle’s Yard, a house and gallery in Cambridge, as having long been an inspiration for her interiors style (kettlesyard.co.uk)
The huge sofa came with the house and has been recovered in dark grey linen. A white Ikea table stands between two armchairs, one covered in a floral fabric by Paul Smith for Mulberry (mulberry.com)
Melanie turned her talent for foraging into an art, pressing seaweed found on local beaches. She works in a room that leads off the kitchen and doubles as a guest room, using this press made for her by her husband Martin
Shop the look
SOFA, £5,340, The Conran Shop, conranshop.co.uk
(LEFT) TILE, £7.06, Bert & May, bertandmay.com;CUSHION, £19.50, Marks & Spencer, marksandspencer.com.
Framed PRINTS, £215 for four, Oka, oka.com
SISAL RUG, £425, The White Company, thewhitecompany.com
LIVE ABOVE, WORK BELOW
Before the Industrial Revolution, people worked where they lived. Today it is less usual, but if you own a shop as pretty as that of textile designer and botanical artist Carol Lake, you might be tempted to take up residence, which is just what she and her partner John Kitson have done above this former sweet shop in Norwich.
On a side street, five minutes’ walk from the historic centre of Norwich, Carol’s shop sits in a row of independent retailers, with an artisan bakery on one side and a store specialising in antique bathroom fittings on the other. The frontage is original
Thanks to its high wooden screening, the courtyard that the kitchen opens on to is private and surprisingly quiet for a city centre. Paved in slate, it is furnished almost like a sitting room, with vintage metal tables and chairs and a wooden bench padded with flowery cushions
Before John and Carol bought the property, it was being used as a café, with serviced apartments above and a mess of shabby outbuildings at the back. These were demolished to make way for a single large room, with three arched french doors that open on to the lushly planted courtyard garden. For a similar extending dining table try Heal’s (heals.com)
The original fittings and décor of this Victorian confectionery have all survived, including the textured Anaglypta paper on the ceiling, and the verre églomisé frieze with its gold lettering
The rooms above the shop, which had been divided up, were transformed to create a comfortable town apartment. On the top floor, under the sloping roof, is a bedroom and bathroom. carollake.co.uk
Shop the look
SIGN, £25, Rockett St George, rockettstgeorge.co.uk
WALLPAPER, £185 a roll, House of Hackney, houseofhackney.com
DR ESSER, £1,376, Maisons Du Monde, maisonsdumonde.com
FROM LEFT: CHAIR, £445, Oliver Bonas, oliverbonas.com; Hand-blown JAR, £430, The New Craftsmen, thenewcraftsmen.com;CUSHION, £28, Ted Baker, tedbaker.com
A GORGEOUS GEORGIAN
On Instagram, gardener and antique-dealer Jack Laver Brister calls himself @tradchap. His diminutive 1780s end-of-terrace in Somerset is furnished with antiques typical of the English country house
This is the only room in the house with wallpaper: Raphaël by Sandberg (sandbergwallpaper.com). Jack found the carved oak base of the washbasin in a recycling centre, coated with thick white gloss paint. He already had a piece of old marble, which was cut to fit the top
The dining room is full of the kind of furniture, paintings and china that would have been found in more formal rooms of the time. The 18th-century corner cupboard, with its fretwork and shaped shelves still with their original green paint, was an Ebay find. For similar decorative urns try Petersham Nurseries (petershamnurseries.com)
Wreathed in wisteria, the front door with its canopied porch is more cottage than townhouse, even though the steps lead straight to the pavement
Shop the look
BASKET, £49.95, The Holding Company, theholdingcompany.co.uk
HIBISCUS FLORAL PLATE and RENAISSANCE GOLD PLATE, £35 each
RUG, £8,450, Knots Rugs, knotsrugs.co.uk
This is an edited extract from Perfect English Townhouse by Ros Byam Shaw, published by Ryland Peters & Small, price £30.To order a copy for £24 (a 20 per cent discount) until 4 April, go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640; free p&p on orders over £15
