Category:

Interior Design Under £50K Winner

Design Practice:

Penelope Allen Design

Project Title:

Surrey Country House

Project Location:

Surrey, UK

Design Practice Location:

Betchworth, UK

The brief given to Penelope Allen was to take a living room contained within a large country house and create a contemporary scheme more befitting a young family and whose owners were keen to be more experimental with contemporary interior design. The room was extremely dated and tired and was ageing both the property and the occupants.
The space had very few existing character features just a large brick inglenook style fireplace and large windows- one arched, the rest of the room felt devoid of character.
One specific request was that part of this living space would need to serve as a home office for the client as he was looking to start working from home on a more regular basis.The house is surrounded by countryside and has architecturally very interesting planting. Consequently,the property has fascinating focal points to observe from the interior, rows of topiary trees lit from below with white light sets the scene for a contemporary backdrop. Thus the choice of more muted tones of taupe, champagne and deep browns were decided upon to harmonise with the outside and not detract from the beauty of the garden. The scale of the room however, left the space feeling cold and therefore the use of deep tones and texture but with reflective value was an immediate decision so as to create an intimate feel. This became the starting point for the design process.