I’m so excited to share the first proper look at our new house! Today it’s our kitchen reveal; one of the busiest rooms in the house. I started designing it in my head before we’d even moved from Los Angeles and I’m thrilled with the end result. Follow @LouiseRoeHome to see every room as we reveal it next!
Coming back to England was largely about being closer to family and getting back to our roots, so we wanted our home to reflect this. The house is 200 years old, and I wanted to return to its original country farmhouse atmosphere. I knew I wanted a warm sage green, and I had seen the kinds of cabinets and drawer-pulls I wanted, online. Our cabinets are by British Standard (they also made my dressing room cupboards, more on that soon) painted in Sage Green by Little Greene. British Standard helped us through the whole cupboard process (measuring, designing, fitting- whew!) and we chose Intelligent Satinwood as our paint finish because it has a low sheen. The cupboard knobs are British Standard ironmongery too; we chose classic brass, which I think go really well with the green. The handles were outsourced – I really love their elegant, traditional style.
Our countertops are by Caesarstone in honed London Grey, which is the most beautiful pale quartz – I also chose and found this before leaving LA! I guess you could say I plan ahead. I knew I wanted honed, ie matte, not shiny, and went to a local showroom to compare a few samples. I’m so glad we went with quartz for the counters; it’s incredibly durable (more so than stone, marble or granite) as well as scratch, stain and crack-proof. Caesarstone finishes are also heat (and cold) resistant for any haphazard cooks. Having a toddler as sous-chef means we needed something hard wearing.
If you guys saw my stories on @LouiseRoeHome – you’ll have seen we also created a beautiful washstand in the master bathroom using an antique dresser, and Caesarstone tops cut to fit. I can’t wait to show you the final piece in detail!
The Kitchen walls, we were advised, need to be durable too so we chose a fab custom colour from Valspar (we went for Interiors Silk finish) and it’s wipe clean…amazing.
One of things we went back and forth on was whether to have an island or moving bar- nearly everyone we asked said no (including a lot of you guys – ha!) but we’re actually really pleased with it! A local carpenter put it together using the same reclaimed floorboards we used for our floors, using the dimensions I gave him. It’s our wine-drinking station and dining table at the moment as we still haven’t got the dining room finished. I wanted it to look like it belonged in the kitchen and didn’t want anything too modern. I love that it’s slightly imperfect. The stools that go under it were inherited from our old house in LA (even before we bought it- you can see them here!) and I had them reupholstered by Hollywood at Home in a Peter Dunham Textiles water-resistant fabric called Deeg Green on Tan. I talked through that process on my Vlog, before we left LA. We’ve had a small red wine spillage so far and all is ok! The new fabric transformed them into entirely new pieces of furniture. To create a nice contrast with the natural wooden floorboards (which we had stained a little darker), we opted for a pale sisal runner from Alternative Flooring – I love how it warms up the tones in the room.
As for the decorative accessories, I wanted to display my mismatched collection of pottery, plates and platters that I’ve amassed over the years (and added to from antique shops since we’ve been back!) My clever friend Willow Crossley has done a collaboration with Burleigh Pottery and I’ve mixed her designs in with Royal Copenhagen teapots and Portmeirion pieces as well as plates inherited from my Mum, that I’ve displayed on the wall using those little hooks from Amazon- actually very easy to do! The room is warm and cosy, bright and busy – true to its English country farmhouse roots. As is my AGA which we are loving getting to know. For anyone who has one or is new to the AGA world, Mary Berry’s AGA cookbook is a must.
I can’t wait to show you more of the house but I hope you will enjoy our kitchen reveal in the meantime!
