Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2025 i Homes & Antiques

Tell us what inspires you in this issue of H&A. Tag @homes_antiques on Instagram or use the email address, right My day job may involve leafing through pages of aspirational homes and grand schemes, but the fact is that I occupy a pretty humble abode. But if our two-up, two-down has taught me anything, it’s that a little creativity can go an awfully long way. This issue is all about small spaces. On page 20, our style expert Kiera Buckley-Jones shares the best-kept secrets to making your rooms look – and feel – bigger, and rounds up some of her favourite elongating stripes in shops right now (p22). Jenny Oldaker looks to the past for bright ideas with furniture on page 31, exploring multifunctional storage, transforming tables, and metamorphic designs that maximise…

Tiles of joy Molly Mahon’s beautiful block-printed fabrics have long been admired, and now you can extend the look to walls and floors with the Mosaic Factory × Molly Mahon collection of encaustic tiles. Choose from six joyful designs, priced from £94 per sq m. mosaicfactory.com English rose The new ‘Tales of Aunt Rose’ range from Piglet In Bed brings a nostalgic feel with its blend of classic ginghams, florals and stripes. Made from a mix of linen and long-staple cotton to ensure natural breathability and a restful night, these delightful designs are perfect for layering up in a combination of fresh summer colours – Honey, Sage Green and Elderberry are favourites. Yours to enjoy from £45 for a pillowcase pair. pigletinbed.com The gilded age Combining warm brass, frosted glass…

It’s a cornucopia of greens, dappled sunlight percolating through the dense canopy overhead and spotlighting patches of bright matcha, velvety spinach and dazzling, peacock-feather fronds in various shades of lime. As a breeze tugs the jungly ferns around me into motion, walking around the stumpery here is like stepping into an artist’s impression of a prehistoric landscape. I’ve visited The Newt several times before, but I’ve never explored this corner of the Somerset garden attraction and it’s a revelation. Drawn deeper into it along ribbon-like paths, I come out at a circular hollow where one huge stump has been turned on its head, forming a sculptural round table. The sound of water rushes from a nearby waterfall and a woodpecker drills sporadically a few feet away. The effect is otherworldly.…

When Jessica Adams moved into her two-bedroom flat in an Edwardian mansion block in Barnes with her husband, William, shortly before the birth of their son, she knew this would be her opportunity to finally create a home that reflected her style and passions. Jessica is an interior designer and had been waiting for the chance to put her skills to work in her own surroundings, and conjure up a warm, welcoming and colourful family home. The couple’s previous rental flats had felt like a short-term compromise with little opportunity for improvement. And while this apartment was also rented, here was a place with large, light rooms, neutral flooring throughout, and an amenable landlord who was happy for Jessica to paint the walls in any colour. ‘I didn’t want the…

Sometimes in life, past and present seem to criss-cross in time, coming together quite unexpectedly. ‘When my partner Rupert was a little boy, he used to visit a cousin in Rye who lived in a little house in the centre of the town,’ explains interior designer Amy Maynard. ‘He loved coming here and remembers being charmed by the house and the higgledy-piggledy little streets: he thought it was like a storybook.’ Fast-forward several decades and one day, in 2023, the couple were idly looking at a property site when a familiar-looking cottage suddenly appeared. ‘Rupert recognised it instantly as the house he had visited all those years ago,’ Amy says. ‘It was one of those serendipitous moments: we’d been looking for a bolthole in Rye, and he immediately knew that…

From a very young age, I was drawn to the magic and tranquillity of gardens. Growing up in Chester, I was fortunate to visit the beautiful local National Trust gardens at Bodnant and Erddig in Wales, which left a lasting impression on me. These gardens, with their intricate designs and peaceful atmospheres, felt like works of art brought to life. As a child, I also visited French châteaux, and the experience of wandering through their magnificent gardens shaped my understanding of beauty and history. One particularly vivid memory is of visiting Fontainebleau and being captivated by the grandeur and ambience of its gardens – the elegant sculptures, the opulent stone fountains, the milky turquoise pools with large, black carp gliding beneath the opaque surface. I can still sense it all…

Barbie’s story begins with Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, the toy company she and her husband Elliot set up in 1945 with their business partner Harold ‘Matt’ Matson. As Ruth watched her daughter Barbara play with paper dolls, she realised that ‘little girls just want to be bigger girls’. It was a revelation that led to Mattel developing a new teenage fashion doll that was the polar opposite of the baby and toddler dolls of the time, which celebrated motherhood. Barbie No.1, available in blond or brunette, was launched in 1959 along with 22 mini fashion outfits to dress her up in. Now 66 years old, and with more than 260 careers under her belt, there’s nothing old hat about Barbie. In 2023 she joined Forbes’ ‘The World’s Most Powerful…

Holkham (and Wells) Beach Drawing fame in the closing scenes of the 1999 movie Shakespeare in Love, where it represented the expansive shores of Virginia, Holkham Beach is an enchanting bay on the north Norfolk coast. The area is co-managed by Natural England and the Holkham Estate, and its vast miles of sand are backed by nature-rich dunes and shady pine forests – as a result, it is as popular with birdwatchers, walkers and horse-riders as it is with holidaymakers seeking a relaxing beach day. Walk far enough east and you’ll arrive at the similarly alluring Wells Beach, where colourful beach huts complete the idyllic seaside landscape. Bamburgh Beach Big skies, drifting dunes and an ancient castle are the order of the day at Bamburgh Beach, set within the Northumberland…

What first sparked your interest in antiques? With family spread across Sweden, France, the Czech Republic, Italy, and now the UK, my childhood was spent moving between places, each with its own distinct sense of home. Interiors weren’t just backdrops, they were storytellers. I grew up surrounded by French antiques and Italian tiles, gathering in my aunt’s apartment where timeworn furniture sat against boldly layered wallpaper. I remember the creak of old wooden chairs, the patina of tables worn smooth by generations of use – the kind of pieces that invite you to sit, to spill, to live. I watched the women in my family curate their homes, layering past and present in a way that felt entirely natural. It wasn’t just about decoration – it was about atmosphere, about…

‘Employ horizontal metro tiles to widen a small bathroom, or position them vertically to increase the feeling of height’ In the words of Leonardo da Vinci, ‘small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind; large ones weaken it.’ We’re not all lucky enough to live in homes of vast proportions - and even the grandest abodes can still sport small corners – but with some creativity and careful planning, even the humblest room can be transformed into an elegant space. Whether you’re battling with a box room that’s become a storage area for winter clothes and Christmas decorations, or struggling to find enough room for a burgeoning collection, here are five stylish ways to boost that feeling of space. 1 CLEVER COLOUR There’s a reason estate agents and property developers promote clean,…

Tell us the story behind Hemswell Antiques. The journey began with the vision of the late Rex and Nepi Miller; a like-minded duo who saw potential that others may have overlooked. The business opened its doors for the first time on the 24th May 1986, with two buildings of a former RAF airfield housing just 150 dealers. That was only the beginning, though, and by 2005, a third building was added, with the iconic Guardroom following in 2014. Today, Rex and Nepi’s legacy lives on through their son, Robert, who took the reins in 1999. What’s a typical day like for the Hemswell Antiques team? Every day brings something new. One day we may be sourcing items for a high-profile film or TV production team; the next we could be…

Artwork is the easiest way to express your personality in your home. If you’re unable to make any permanent changes to your walls, frame the wallpaper or fabric that you’d buy if the property was yours. Vintage paintings can often be found at affordable prices, and oils provide wonderful depth and colour. Once your walls are filled with artwork that you love, the house will feel very individual. Soft furnishings help to add colour, without relying on paint. The larger the piece, the better, so investing in a large rug with lots of colour and an arresting pattern will create a vivid and interesting space. Flatweave rugs are a good choice for layering on fitted carpet, if that’s what your home is furnished with. If you have the flexibility to…

Textiles and water have always had a complex relationship. While water washes fabrics clean, most are not equipped to cope with pouring rain outdoors. It’s taken experiments across centuries to find ways around this inconvenient reality. Early evidence comes from homes built from textiles, notably the yurt that has housed the nomadic tribes of central Asia for thousands of years. Yurts have now come west with their style appropriated for professional use, holidays, and even extra accommodation in gardens (woodlandyurts.co.uk). Nomadic tribes designed these circular dwellings, supported on flexible poles, to be put up and dismantled in an hour and carried on horses or camels to the next grazing site. Yurt covers were made from up to five layers of felted wool from the sheep, goats or yaks they herded,…

1 Adam Lloyd Interiors Adam runs his antiques and interiors business from Leek, Staffordshire, and sells exceptional cabinets, bookcases and cupboards. The odd piece of bobbin furniture turns up, too, and currently there’s a c1890 pair of Arts and Crafts bobbin armchairs, two Irish 18th-century cherry bobbin side tables, a c1870 English mahogany bobbin rocking chair, and an unusual French marble and oak bobbin table. adamlloydinteriors.com; @adamlloydinteriors 2 Custodian Antiques Rachel and Tom carefully curate a beautiful collection of traditional furniture and objects – and antique and vintage bobbins feature heavily. At the moment they have an early 20th-century Victorian bobbin console table, two French vintage bobbin tables, and a French mid-century bobbin wall shelf. Those uber-popular corner rush-seat bobbin chairs often surface, too. custodianantiques.co.uk; @custodian.antiques 3 Dean Antiques This antiques business is…

Fabric Wallpaper Open up a small area with a wide-striped rug, to suggest the room is wider than it is. Stripes on the floor can help lead the eye away, creating a sense of spaciousness…

From solid Victorian dressers to the lavish hulk of a Regency bookcase, it’s no stretch to associate antique furniture with large proportions and grand rooms. As it happens, the demand for clever furniture is nothing new, and antiques make for an effective approach to furnishing small or awkward spaces. Furniture from the past can also provide an opportunity to experiment with usage and function, as Charles Wallrock of Wick Antiques suggests: ‘Don’t be constrained by the previous uses of a piece, but consider instead how it might function in a new environment. Bringing new life to old favourites is part of the evolution of taste, and it can be done without compromising the item’s integrity or originality in any way.’ Space-saving TABLES Whether you’re dealing with a compact kitchen, awkward…

Walking past the old Methodist chapel in a pretty village in east Suffolk, passersby might be taken aback to catch a glimpse of an oversized 1960s Sputnik light through the arched windows. Those in the know, though, wouldn’t be surprised. Interior designer and colour consultant Helen Harlow bought the chapel 20 years ago, bringing with her a love of mid-century design and a playful approach to decorating, much to the amusement of the locals. Inside, Helen has taken a cue from the chapel’s heritage, her eyes trained to look for decorative religious items when she’s scouring antiques markets and eBay. One of her most beloved items is the light-up mid-century Virgin Mary, bought from Columbia Road Flower Market. At Christmas, Mary is joined by Joseph and one of the three…

Described by King Edward VII as the ‘Jeweller of Kings and King of Jewellers’, Cartier has long been favoured by the royals. In the early 1900s, staggeringly wealthy Russian nobles, Indian princes, and the British and European royal families all spent lavishly at Cartier. The firm made 27 tiaras for the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902, and by the outbreak of the First World War could boast eight royal warrants from around the world. In 1936, when King Edward VIII chose love over duty and proposed to American socialite and divorcée Wallis Simpson, he gave her a colossal 19.77 carat Cartier emerald engagement ring. ‘We are ours now’ was engraved inside the band. There were to be no Crown Jewels for Simpson, but the Duke of Windsor showered…

Replete with golden-hued stone cottages, a picture-perfect village green and a high street that’s spilling with enticing antiques, art and interiors shops, Broadway is the very definition of a quintessential Cotswolds village. Perched above this idyll is the gorgeous 500-acre sprawl of field and forest that makes up the Farncombe Estate and its three hotels: Foxhill Manor, The Fish, and 17th-century Dormy House, my base for a rural getaway. The place wears its long history comfortably, the evidence of its long past complemented by artful design, as ancient beams and old stonework rub shoulders with patterned wallpaper, boldly upholstered sofas and plush wingback chairs. It all adds up to a warm and friendly atmosphere, enhanced by attentive staff. Bedrooms at Dormy House possess the same painstaking attention to detail as…