Page 168 - home and garden

designer Piers Westenholz. ‘He has the
most wonderful eye, was familiar with the
furniture that I wanted to bring from my
old house and incorporated it brilliantly.’
The hall and corridors are painted a
shade of Cornish cream and hung with
large paintings of dogs. Chunks of raw
amethyst and stuffed exotic animals and
birds are displayed over two hall tables.
The scheme for the drawing room was
designed around a set of seventeenth-
century Soho tapestries, which hang on
each side of the chimneypiece. An unusual
painting by the French-Polish artist
Balthus hangs on the adjacent wall. ‘Two
random figures are running from an
orchard across a landscape,’ explains the
owner. ‘You glance out of the window at
our view and the two views somehow seem
to talk to each other.’
The dining room opposite is painted in
‘Chappell Green’ from Farrow & Ball,
which makes an ideal background for the
Restoration portrait above the chimney-
piece. Through the dining room is the
study, a mini replica of the one in the
owner’s previous house. Piers continued
the crenellation theme with two oak and
burr bookcases made by a specialist
furniture maker; these flank a painting
by Ivon Hitchens above the sofa.
Upstairs in the main bedroom hangs
a collection of John Nash watercolours. ‘I
love them, they represent “my England”;
it makes me happy looking at them,’ says
the owner. The magnificent Tabriz carpet
is reputed to have come from the house of
the poet and arts patron Edward James,
West Dean in Sussex. A cinema room
along the corridor from the bedroom is
dominated by original beams. THIS PAGE FROM
An array of supporting beams on a TOP The neutral walls
much larger scale were revealed during of the main bedroom,
the restoration of the original barn, and painted in Farrow &
these became the focal point for its deco- Ball’s ‘Light Blue’,
ration. The barn now has a mezzanine allow pieces such as
bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and sitting the bold Tabriz carpet
room, and is completely separate from and dark wood chest
the main house. to take centre stage.
The result of the collaboration between A cluster of artworks
and a chinoiserie
the owner and her three expert advisers
has been a real triumph – a distilled screen decorate
the main bathroom.
study in restoration, but also a joyous Garden designer
celebration of a new home complete with
Jinny Blom created
a glorious view. ‘The project was a chal- the various topiary
lenge and an inspiration,’ says Ptolemy.
shapes in the garden.
‘But it was also enormous fun’ OPPOSITE Exposed
beams are the focus
Ptolemy Dean Architects: 020-7378 7714; of the renovated
ptolemydean.co.uk | Westenholz Antiques barn; seen here is the
& Interior Decoration: 01279-842545; view of the sitting
westenholz.co.uk | Jinny Blom: 020-7253 room from the
2100; jinnyblom.com mezzanine bedroom

166 NOVEMBER 2015 HOUSEANDGARDEN.CO.UK