Room of the Week: A Light and Welcoming Open-plan Family Space
A workshop adjoining this 18th-century farmhouse in Hampshire was converted to become the spacious heart of the home
Creating a relaxed but super-functional kitchen, dining and living space is the ambition of many homeowners. In this farmhouse in Hampshire, built in 1773, the dream was achieved by converting an adjoining workshop. With its barn-like proportions and generous footprint, the workshop could easily accommodate a multifunctional room, but its listed status meant the build was complex. Kitchen designer Jamie Blake was asked to design the kitchen when it was still a building site. Combining two key looks, he created a Scandi-meets-industrial kitchen, using rustic materials, rich colour and a polished concrete floor. “This is now very much the heart of the home for the family,” he says. “You feel connected with the rest of the house in here. It really is a beautifully designed space.”
When it came to the look for the kitchen space, the owners had clear ideas. “Anna came to me wanting the Scandinavian kitchen that I had created for a home belonging to Malcolm Menzies, a photographer who took these images,” says Blake. This particular kitchen was very light and clean, with no dark colours. “Then, around the same time, we launched our industrial kitchen, which is in Malcolm’s current home, and she loved that too and wanted to incorporate aspects of it.” The result is a mix of pale, textured-oak base units, with more gritty touches, including painted cabinets, industrial light fittings and a concrete floor.
The base units are finished with a 6mm rustic oak veneer. “We have our own specialist process for creating grain in the oak,” says Blake. “It is then burned and treated with a white Danish oil to make it pale. You can control how pale you want it to go by how many layers of the oil you apply.” The owners bought the bar stools many years ago, but they work beautifully against the oak units.
Fridge, Liebherr. Stools, owners’ own.
Fridge, Liebherr. Stools, owners’ own.
The white Aga has a simple tiled splashback. “Anna was quite clear on how far she wanted the kitchen to go down the industrial-looking route,” says Blake. For example, she chose white grout instead of black on all the tiling. “It’s a more subtle, lighter look,” he says.
Glazing across one wall of the kitchen gives views of the garden and lets lots of light flood in. The polished concrete floor also bounces light up.
The glazed doors can be completely opened to give seamless access to the terrace and garden. Anna sourced a mix of vintage church chairs and Tolix chairs to flank the dining table.
Tolix ‘A’ Chairs, John Lewis.
Tolix ‘A’ Chairs, John Lewis.
The owners wanted flexible lighting above the island, so Blake created an industrial-style fitting using a length of copper plumbing pipe and three pendant lights. “The lights can rise and drop by just wrapping them around the pipe,” says Blake.
Pendant lights made with NUD concrete light fixings, Haus.
Pendant lights made with NUD concrete light fixings, Haus.
The island is finished with a honed Carrara-marble worktop and contains drawers and a breakfast bar on one side. The side facing the AGA houses the dishwasher, a wine cooler and the bin. There is also a double sink and mixer tap.
Callisto three-hole sink mixer with ‘C’ spout and lever handles, Perrin & Rowe. Shaws Classic Shaker Belfast sink, Taps UK.
Callisto three-hole sink mixer with ‘C’ spout and lever handles, Perrin & Rowe. Shaws Classic Shaker Belfast sink, Taps UK.
The kitchen opens onto a relaxed living space which also has its own glass doors to the garden. Through the dark painted door on the right is a walk-in larder, supplying generous food storage space.
Poste coffee table and Young Bean sofa, both Loaf. Jazz gig posters, bought by owners in Switzerland.
Poste coffee table and Young Bean sofa, both Loaf. Jazz gig posters, bought by owners in Switzerland.
A TV room lies beyond this white door, with stairs to the upper floor rising from this space, too. It flows into the casual living area in the kitchen. The date the farmhouse was built is immortalised in neon above the door!
A door just behind the dining table leads through to a more formal reception room. The stairs sit between this corridor and the hallway shown in the previous picture. Clear glass pendant lights hang above the dining table, zoning this part of the open-plan room.
Hereford clear glass globe pendant lights, Fritz Fryer.
Hereford clear glass globe pendant lights, Fritz Fryer.
The glass-fronted wall cabinets have tiled backs but again, using white grout rather than the more industrial-looking black, softens their appearance. The worktop on this run of wall cabinets is concrete.
Here are some more creative ways to use your kitchen walls for storage
Here are some more creative ways to use your kitchen walls for storage
Blake fitted neat, antiqued brass catches to the wall-cupboard doors. They were imported from the USA.
Wall cupboard painted in Railings, Farrow & Ball.
Wall cupboard painted in Railings, Farrow & Ball.
A generous dresser stands opposite the island. It’s fitted with the same honed Carrara-marble worktop as used on the island. The interior of the glass-fronted cupboards have been painted a bright blue.
Dresser painted in Railings; cupboard interiors painted in Lulworth Blue, both Farrow & Ball.
What do you think of this spacious kitchen, dining and living space? Let us know in the Comments below – and please remember that you’re discussing someone’s home!
Dresser painted in Railings; cupboard interiors painted in Lulworth Blue, both Farrow & Ball.
What do you think of this spacious kitchen, dining and living space? Let us know in the Comments below – and please remember that you’re discussing someone’s home!
Who lives here Anna and Jon Beauchamp, and their three young children
The property A farmhouse built in 1773; the kitchen, living and dining space sits within a converted workshop that adjoins the farmhouse
Location Fleet, Hampshire
Room dimensions 10m x 5.3m
Project completed September 2015
Kitchen designer Jamie Blake of Blakes London
Photos by Malcolm Menzies, 82mm Photography
The Beauchamps converted a workshop that adjoined their farmhouse to create this large kitchen, dining and living space, and asked Jamie Blake to design the kitchen. “The workshop and farmhouse are listed so it was a massive job,” says Blake. “The builders reused the original roof beam and had to take a chimney down, numbering each brick as they went, so they could build it back up exactly as it was.”
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