Your life made easier - every day. 25 Beautiful Homes is a magazine for readers with a sense of personal style. Aspire to your dream house and enjoy looking at other people's homes, designs and styles for inspiration.
Are you in full-on Christmas planning mode or maybe you’re putting it all off to the last minute? To help move your preparations along, we have pages full of FESTIVE ideas for your home. We love Tracey Gill’s farmhouse in Kent. As a serial renovator, Tracey has learnt to turn her hand to many different aspects of design and renovation work and at CHRISTMAS all her efforts are shown off in wonderful style (page 8). Amanda Townsend also likes to go the extra mile at this time of year, and she has created an idyllic Norfolk cottage that is a perfect RETREAT for friends and family (page 28). Wherever you are spending the holidays, we hope you have an amazing time.…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY A farm worker’s cottage dating from 1730 turned into a weatherboarded farmhouse with veranda ROOMS Sitting room, snug, office, kitchen-diner, laundry room, boot room, cloakroom, five bedrooms, four bathrooms, dressing room LOCATION Mid-Sussex When looking for her next project, location and land were top of the list for serial renovator, Tracey Gill. ‘I had a buyer for my last home which was a big manor house and I was in the process of buying a 30-acre smallholding but it fell through and I had to find something fast.’ The house she found was an old farm worker’s cottage just 10 minutes away but the location couldn’t have felt more rural. ‘The manor house only had an acre and felt quite suburban while this place has land.…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY A flat conversion in a 1890s villa ROOMS Sitting room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, bathroom LOCATION Copenhagen, Denmark Returning to Denmark having been in Africa for several years, Cathrine and Anders de Lichtenberg were looking forward to setting up home permanently. ‘We’d been living out of a suitcase for years,’ says Cathrine, ‘so it was great to finally make plans for a home of our own. When I found this apartment – even before I showed it to Anders – I sat down with an architect and came up with a plan for what we could do, so I could then convince Anders that it was the place for us. We both loved the lovely old marble window sills, stucco work, panelling and parquet flooring.’…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Detached cottage ROOMS Sitting room, kitchen-diner, four bedrooms, two bathrooms LOCATION North Norfolk As Amanda Townsend strolled into a cosy, brick-and-flint cottage with an inviting inglenook fireplace, she knew immediately where the Christmas tree would go. ‘I was bubbling with anticipation when I arrived for the viewing and instantly felt that the cottage was really special; somewhere to make joyful festive memories with a roaring fire and beautifully decorated tree,’ she says. When Amanda and her husband, Taras, who live in Suffolk, began searching for a holiday bolthole in 2011, they hadn’t initially thought about buying in north Norfolk. ‘France had actually been our first idea, but we soon realised it made much more sense to stay closer to home,’ she adds. Hiring a homefinder, within…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY A detached home built in the 1900s ROOMS Living room, family room, dining room, kitchen, laundry room, powder room, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, courtyard LOCATION California HOW DID YOU COME TO TAKE ON THIS PROJECT? The house actually belonged to the family of Warren Beatty. My friend was living here, taking care of the house and when it came on the market she suggested we view it. Despite a dated look from its last renovation in the 70s, the bare bones were fantastic. My husband, Parsa, and I put in an offer and were very lucky to get the house. We then embarked on a three-year renovation during which Lisa Berman, my co-founder at Studio Gutow, and I pored over every detail. WHAT WERE YOUR BIGGEST…
HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY New-build home ROOMS Open-plan kitchen/dining/living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, office/self-contained apartment LOCATION Isle of Syke The first thing that Marcella FitzGerald sees and hears when she wakes up in her Skye home is the sea loch. ‘Depending on the tide, I open my eyes and I might see a heron, thigh-deep on the shore hunting for breakfast. On other mornings the loch water seems to lap on the windowsill. It may be blue-grey rippling satin, or an olive green sheen so still that it mirrors the hills and clouds, or the water might be frantic with the jabbing rain and wind.’ Marcella and her husband, Ian, have lived on the island for 16 years, since relocating from central London, and decided to embark on their…
