Jeremy, who was head of content at Mr Porter for the best part of a decade and is due to launch his own skincare brand, is renowned for his taste and is an expert at object placement. “We loved the process of doing it up,” Simon recalls. The sofas have been upholstered in curtains repurposed from a previous home. Patterns work in harmony, with jewel-toned pinks and blues a recurring colour pairing and the walls painted a sandy brown – Chocolate by Edward Bulmer Natural Paint. Walk into the expansive, light-filled drawing room at the opposite end of the house and there is a shift in mood – less snug farmhouse, more elegant country house. “The red in the kitchen makes it feel warm in winter, whereas the blue adds freshness during the summer.” The cream-coloured walls hold everything in place. “We didn’t want the units to be all the same colour,” Simon says of the introduction of red and blue to the palette, which took more than 40 tester pots to get right. Layers of pattern: a Moorish table creates a focal point in the drawing room. An expression of their stylish selves, a statement piece, such as the green dresser from Framlingham antique dealer Dix-Sept in the kitchen was the starting point, with accessories in a multitude of prints and supporting colours, bringing the whole room together in a lively mix. “I think we’re moving away from bold-coloured rooms where the furniture is almost a secondary thought.” “If you took away the patterns, the rugs and the paintings, the decoration is plain underneath,” Simon explains. Other than the tiny dining room, which is painted in Farrow & Ball’s India Yellow, neutral walls are the foundation. The ottoman is from Robert Kime and the striped jute log basket is from Maison Bengal. These are all by textile designer and interior decorator Susan Deliss, who had a hand in many of the textile goings-on.
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In this room, hand-dyed yellow linen blinds are paired with silk ikat lampshades, and a chair is upholstered in red linen from Pierre Frey with blue piping. Throw in a touch of Tangier with the Moorish ottoman in the living room (found on eBay) through to the striped ticking fabrics that are used as door curtains or sofa throws all over the house, and you have a decorating masterclass on learning to layer.įor instance, take the cosy sitting room in the oldest part of the house. In its place, there is a Swedish twist – cue the painted Gustavian cabinets that the couple have collected over years. There’s not a hint of French shabby chic. Similarly at home, furniture may be vintage, but it’s far from twee.
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The result is an inviting, homely atmosphere that is modern yet unstuffy.
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Here, the style of decorating features the same confident use of pattern and paint that counterbalance the antique wooden furniture. Alongside business partner Andrew Black, a former publisher at Wallpaper*magazine, Simon renovated the Hare & Hounds Inn near Windermere, a 17th-century pub with rooms. Simon, a PR-turned-hospitality entrepreneur, never thought he would move back to his home county in the Lake District (where his family founded the kitchenware business Lakeland), but a pub changed his mind. Kitchen confidential: Simon Rayner sits at the table in the cosy kitchen on a fleece from the Living Rug Company.