English country cottage
To reimagine a historic cottage, nestled in the heart of the beautiful North Yorkshire countryside, blending its notable heritage with wellbeing and hospitality.
The brief is to create a warm, sincere and inviting luxury holiday cottage without being either too rustic or too polished. The client wants to build on the charm and character of the cottage and elevate the interior to fortify its identity as a unique and idyllic retreat.
The cottage presents several challenges due to its irregular footprint. The kitchen and bedrooms are compact, while the bathroom and storage spaces feel disproportionately large. Structural changes aren’t an option, and certain elements, such as the existing bathroom tiling and suite, and the sitting room's gas fire, hearth, and surround must remain. The anaglypta wallpaper in the sitting room, stairwell, and landing is something that the client doesn’t wish to remove. The client requires king size beds in both diminutive bedrooms.
Isobel’s design effortlessly amalgamates these necessities into an interior that is both practical and pleasing, with the atmosphere of an enchanted hideaway. The design is functional for a holiday rental and country life, as well as dog friendly. In addition, Isobel delivers this design within a tight budget and timeframe.
‘The cottage and its surroundings made me feel nostalgic for long, lazy, hazy summer days and, with the cottage’s modern-day purpose as a heritage holiday destination this association was perfect, and so, it was this that I sought to amplify in the interior design. I want guests to feel as though they’ve been transported into an Enid Blyton-Esque picture book of the English countryside, where the days are long, the air is soft, and everything feels a bit magical. The cottage interior is designed to envelop in a sense of dreaminess and comfort, a truly restful home from home.’
Isobel concentrates on softly bringing colour, texture and pattern into the cottage and weighing this with natural materials and vintage touches. Creating cohesion by enhancing the flow of the rooms through layout and the colour story and ensuring that each space has a clear identity.
One of the highlights of the project is the jolly yellow front door, chosen not only for its sun-drenched disposition but also as a unique visual marker. The door helps the cottage stand out on holiday rental listings and gives it a secondary identity to help prospective guests remember it when browsing through hundreds of competing options, it is ‘the cottage with the yellow door’. Just one example of how design decisions have been measured not only for decorative harmony but also for the client’s commercial success.
The design transforms the cottage into a charming, unique and welcoming retreat. Successfully valuing the cottage's history while answering the real-world needs of a luxury holiday rental.
The differing design elements all come together to create a distinctive personality that cultivates a sense of magic and connection to the landscape. This project is a perfect example of how design can respect the past while embracing the present and how constraints can become inspiration.
