
OUR entertaining home
Updating a dark and oppressive home to match some lively personalities.
Dominique & Iain are a fun, vibrant couple who love spending time with their family and entertaining friends. When they moved into an old property in a beautiful Buckinghamshire village, they were smitten with its character and original features.
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However, the low, beamed ceilings meant many of the rooms were quite dark. We embraced that in the dining room and went for dark walls and gold accents to create an opulent feel for sophisticated dinner parties.
BEFORE

AFTER

The dark wood and dim light was incongruent with the couples’ vibrant nature.
On the other hand, we wanted a lighter, airier feel in the lounge and hallway so we painted out the dark beams in a delicate grey and kept the walls a soft white. We used an accent colour of green in the lounge that connected with the garden outside the windows and a highlight of black in the artwork to link with the Crittal window into the dining room.
Sarah was on hand through the evolution of each room
and although the house is very much us,
we would never have got there without her help.



The up-cycled seat uses a turquoise from the wallpaper as an accent colour.
Adding colour and pattern
Although we used the same soft grey and white in the hallway, adding wallpaper opposite the front door and pulling out the turquoise as a bright accent colour on the upcycled seat, zig-zag stair carpet and the blind has completely changed the atmosphere. The clients chose a fabulous fabric to re-cover the wing chair which coordinates perfectly without looking remotely ‘matchy-matchy’. And the zigzag cushion was a stroke of genius.




The couple have quite different styles but by being open in our communications and using humour we have ended up with a home they both love and works for them as a family home and a fabulous place to entertain.
Iain and I like quite different things and a meeting of minds wasn’t always easy – that’s where Sarah came in.

