I first spotted what was to be our home, The Flint House, while walking my son to school - we passed the beautiful flint townhouses every day and I never thought we would ever be lucky enough to live here! The row of flint houses had all remained in the same families for decades, and never came up for sale, so when I stumbled across the sales listing for our house one day in 2020 I made an appointment to view the house immediately. We were the second people to view, and we put an offer in straight away. Once we saw the interior of the house, with most of the original features in tact, we fell in love and knew it had to be our home.

The house itself is so characterful, and not like many other homes in the area - it is a tall townhouse with a Sussex flint exterior, with quite unusual design details that lend the building so much personality. We drew on the history of the house (it is Victorian) and the area to inform a lot of the interior design decisions - using the colour palette from the flint and brick exterior, and earthy green and olive hues of local forests and woodlands. In terms of the furniture and decoration, we have had much of it for a long time - pieces collected from having lived around the world. This helps keep the interior unique, as it tells the personal story of our travels and our lives.

We rarely buy something that we don’t absolutely love, which ensured that all of the pieces fit together well and remain relevant to us no matter where we have lived. Many of the furniture pieces are secondhand or antique, which gives each of the rooms a lived-in, soulful quality that can't be replicated by something that is new. Having said this, mixing in contemporary pieces and more accessible decorative elements like cushions or throws, adds character and keeps the aesthetic fresh and not too stuffy. I think the uniqueness of this mix is what makes our home unique, and personal to us.

I found while designing our home that 3 elements were always in the balance: function, aesthetics and cost. The limitations of each space often dictated the functionality (particularly in the kitchen; it is a long, quite thin space, and this led my decision-making on where to put the island, the cabinets, the dining nook and some of the appliances.)

In terms of aesthetics, I really did prioritise keeping as many of the original features as possible, and where they had been lost I added them back in. It was something that was important to me in order to maintain the historical feel of the house, while ensuring that it was comfortable enough for modern living. So I chose ceiling roses and cornicing that echoed the existing fixtures, and for new additions like the radiators, I chose traditional models that would work aesthetically with the scale of the rooms and the design of the house itself.

Cost was also (unfortunately) a huge consideration! We would have loved to have built a pantry or laundry room within the new extension space, but the cost of the steels and the construction made it a tough choice to take. We decided to forego the pantry in order to keep the kitchen design that we wanted and to keep the overall construction affordable for us.

So I think all 3 elements need to be considered on balance - and depending on the space and budget, one might take precedent over the others.

I immediately think of the shoe rack we bought in New York - it’s from the 1920s and the patina of the wood and metal is impossible to replicate. It has lived through all of our moves and has been just as at home in our Manhattan loft and open-plan home in Massachusetts as it has here in the UK. It’s always the thing I think of when people ask about my favourite pieces.

This mix really came about from all of the pieces we have accumulated from all over the world! Furniture and accessories that we bought in Hong Kong live alongside vintage furniture we bought in New York, so there is a natural balance of more contemporary pieces with rustic ones. I love how Rose Uniacke, Jake Arnold and Jasper Conran mix antiques into their interiors and those designers have been a real influence on how we designed our own home. The architect Gil Schafer has also been a huge inspiration - his use of panelling and rustic accents definitely had an influence on our interiors.

I think if you stick to a palette of wood, metals, stone and natural fibres (cotton, jute, seagrass, linen…) and prioritise natural tones, they will be harmonious and that harmony of materials will naturally bring a sense of calm to your home. Don’t be afraid to mix metals though; a while back everyone was debating between brass OR steel/ nickel, but why not both? It’s the mix of finishes and surface textures that stops a room from feeling too flat or boring - "too calm" is also a thing!

Paint colour is also very important to me - I deliberate for a looong time on finding the “right” shade for each room. For me, it is essential to find colours that have a warm tone. The green we used in our kitchen, for example, was particularly hard to find. Many of the olive colours I tested were too grey - the one we went with is so special because it is so rich and warm. Worth all those testers!

I find giving advice or “tips and tricks” so problematic! Purely because I am of the very strong opinion that despite being a designer for (GASP) nearly 25 years, I am still learning. So who am I to give advice?! I suppose the best advice I can give is to create mood boards of what you love - keep saving images, printing things out, building inspiration boards, and keep editing them over time. You will end up seeing the things that you keep coming back to aesthetically. There will be a pattern. May be a colour, or a style, or an aesthetic that emerges. Then stick to that.

If you follow that thread of what you love (this is where the importance of “over time” comes in…) your home will always be a reflection of your own personal taste and things you find inspiring.

So many projects and exciting things! I always have several projects on the go. I am mostly working on trend forecasting projects right now, from interiors projects to fashion and events.. I enjoy working across different industries and researching products that I may not know much about. It keeps things interesting...

Follow The Flint House and let their journey inspire your own. From thoughtful design to timeless details, their story unfolds beautifully, and the property is also available for styled shoot hire.

@the_flint_house