7 minute read
COLOURFUL OUTLOOK A stylish mix of
Colourful OUTLOOK
By filling this house with joyful colour and pattern, Caroline Baker has created a country retreat that is a complete contrast to her busy city life
FEATURE & STYLING KERRYN HARPER-CUSS PHOTOGRAPHY BOZ GAGOVSKI
There are remarkably few villages in England that retain a peaceful atmosphere reminiscent of a bygone era, and Caroline Baker’s picturesque house nestles in one of them. Sitting atop a steep slope, with windows overlooking unobstructed views of rolling Gloucestershire countryside, the elegantly symmetrical Georgian property with lollipop trees either side of the front door resembles a child’s drawing come to life. The sun rises to kiss the front of the house, passes over horses grazing and sheep nibbling across pastureland, and sets over a neat and secluded back garden.
Caroline, the owner of her eponymous property management company with satellite offices in Paris, New York and LA, bought this country retreat from her busy London life seven years ago. “When I decided to buy a weekend home in the Cotswolds, I gave myself six months to find a property, but this was the first house I viewed,” she explains. “It was a glorious summer’s day when I visited – the sun was shining, and all the windows were open.”
Stepping through the front door into the wide central hall, which draws the eye beyond the stairs, right through to the back door, the drawing room beckons to the right and the dining room to the left. “I loved the Georgian style – the large windows, high ceilings, wide staircase, two entrances and the sweeping views of the drystone walls and undulating
LEFT A cocktail trolley from Soane Britain keeps the accoutrements for after dinner drinks close to hand in the dining room. The floral display is by Neil at NB Flowers in Covent Garden.
The hall is wide enough to accommodate generous seating and antique furniture. The upholstered bench is from Soane Britain. Pudding, the cockapoo, eagerly welcomes guests.
fields,” she says. “And I loved the fact that it’s rural, or as rural as one can get and still be accessible.”
When Caroline moved in with her daughter in 2014, the house did not require restoration as it had been much loved and well maintained. “The couple living here had spent 30 happy years bringing up two charming girls,” she explains. However, as the interiors were in a relatively neutral palette throughout, she looked forward to the process of adding character and vibrancy to each room.
“The interiors hadn’t been touched for probably 20 years,” Caroline says. “I love colour and for rooms to have their own identity. I like to feel that when you walk from one room to another, you are in a very different space. My taste is very English for my country home; in London I have a completely different palette – it is more refined and contemporary. I believe you have to work with your architecture and your surroundings.”
Caroline has a highly developed eye for design, as well as an enviable contacts book thanks to the type of work she does. “We project-manage property for our clients, so I’ve come to know great craftspeople, trades and suppliers,” she says. “However, this is a Grade II listed house, so I had to make the most of what I could do within the constraints with paint, wallpaper and joinery, and within my budget.”
When it came to the kitchen, Caroline commissioned a local joiner to fit, bespoke cabinetry, painted in a barely there grey, teamed with grey-veined
ABOVE An informal montage of pictures above a pair of red velvet upholstered occasional chairs creates a focal point in the drawing room. A Georgian tallboy is a perfect fit for the alcove.
ABOVE Comfortable sofas, plenty of books and subdued lighting invite lingering beside the open fire in the drawing room. LEFT Caroline in the dining room. The bucolic location of the house is echoed in the choice of Royal Oak wallpaper in Aerial by Lewis & Wood. marble worktops and a traditional butler’s sink. The rest of the ground-floor spaces are decorated with a beautiful, comfortable, colourful mix of old and new.
When it came to injecting more pattern into the bedrooms upstairs, Caroline felt she needed some assistance, so, in 2020, she sought the guidance of interior designer Rosanna Bossom. “I met Rosie through a project that we worked on together for a client,” she explains. “I love that she has fantastic ideas, put across in a very calm way; she is in no way overbearing, listens carefully and works with your vision.”
Rosanna, who has worked with both Rifat Ozbek and Nicky Haslam, has a reputation for imbuing a contemporary twist on traditional style. For the principal bedroom, she gave Caroline the confidence to use the fabulous, densely patterned Pierre Frey
ABOVE Caroline is a keen and accomplished cook and her cream Aga is in regular use. LEFT The fivebedroomed Georgian house sits like an idyllic doll’s house on an embankment at the edge of a village and has unobstructed views of the countryside from the front. BELOW A Roman blind in Tendril Vine fabric from Soane Britain chimes with the walls painted in Cuisse de Nymphe Emue from Edward Bulmer Natural Paint. The carpet is from Stark Carpets.
ABOVE Interior designer Rosanna Bossom encouraged Caroline to use the beautiful, densely patterned Le Grand Corail wallpaper from Pierre Frey. The bedcover is in fabric from Veere Grenney. RIGHT This elegant bathroom decorated in soft tones of duck egg acts as an en suite to the principal bedroom but also has a door to the first-floor landing. For a similar roll-top bath try Catchpole & Rye. The blind fabric and wallpaper is Palampore from Soane Britain.
wallpaper she had fallen in love with but felt nervous about using. Rosanna then redesigned key ingredients in the bedroom around the wallpaper.
“Caroline and I have similar tastes, and she is very decisive, which made our job fun,” Rosanna explains. “She is adventurous and loves colour, but needed a bit of hand-holding to push it to the next level, and she is also so busy. I like to reuse as much as possible and build on character and story, otherwise a room can start to look a little processed. All the furniture was Caroline’s; we simply refreshed it. We updated the wardrobes by cutting out the Shaker panels and inserting fabric. Adding fabric to the doors absorbs sound and makes the room feel even softer. We created a bed canopy and replaced existing curtains with new ones in cream linen (reusing the originals in Caroline’s shepherd’s hut). The brown velvet trim echoes the branches in the wallpaper and I like to use a pelmet in a bedroom because it can make windows look taller and gives more of a blackout effect.”
Now the decorating is complete, Caroline is thrilled with the end result. “I loved working with Rosie,” she says, “and I like waking up to colour. It marries waking up with a positive feel to the day. If I woke up in a room that was totally neutral, I wouldn’t feel as ready to go.” Although Caroline admits her home is a continual creative outlet, it has absolutely fulfilled everything she was looking for in a country retreat. “I love the fresh air, a log fire in winter, a hazy, dewy evening in the summer,” she says. “The changing seasons are so much more apparent in the country. One is much more in touch and encouraged to slow down. Very few people could say life in the country isn’t good for one’s soul.” n
ABOVE LEFT Pelmet-topped curtains in cream linen add a quiet contrast to the wallpaper pattern in Caroline’s bedroom. The armchair is upholstered in Fez Weave from Guy Goodfellow. ABOVE RIGHT In the guest bedroom a duck egg velvet trim on the blind and curtains ties in with Marguerite wallpaper by Nina Campbell at Osborne & Little.
