When we bought Starre Corner, my little cottage in Norfolk UK, we knew there was lots of work to be done but I am not convinced we knew just how much. We certainly though we’d be further down the line than we are now but it’s always been my motto, if it’s worth doing it’s worth doing properly. Having stripped her back to her bare bones and repaired all her stresses and strains we’re now carefully putting her back together using all the appropriate historic building materials to ensure she’ll be fit and ready for action for many more years to come. Excitingly we’re now at the point where we can start considering interior design and interior styling decisions. It’s at this point I thought I’d start introducing you to each room in details, starting with the entrance/cinema room.
Starre Corner was originally two farm cottages which was converted into the cottage that it is now by the previous owners about 75 years ago. This gives me two living rooms to play with; one which I call the living room and the other the entrance/cinema room.
As the name suggests the entrance/cinema room is the room with the front door in it. This is a difficult room to design due to there being three doors leading to other rooms, an original Victorian sash windows, two cupboard doors and a very large inglenook. There is very little wall space to utilise. As well as lack of wall space this is also the most walked through rooms in the whole of the cottage. It’s a room which leads to all other parts of the house.
I dream of having the luxury of an entrance hall with no other purpose than to look welcoming and fabulous but in a small English cottage I need to make every room count so we decided to use this room as a relaxed area for our children to hang out with their friends, watching films, playing games and generally being teenagers. It also has to function as the room with the front door in it so it’s important that this room has the capability of look respectable too.
This is the first room to be designed and decorated. It’s probably best to get the most challenging room over and done with first. Over the next few weeks, I will be writing about the design and interior styling details of this room from panelling to pallet wood shutters, exposed brick to pamment tiles, furniture to soft furnishings and also how we turned two vintage Rayburns into one.
As the room name suggests this room is used for film nights, one of my children’s favourite pastimes. If you would like to find out more about the hidden projector which transforms this room into a cinema room click on this link.
If you would like to receive weekly blog updates please do remember to subscribe to my mailing list.
Did you know I also have a You Tube channel?
You can also find me on Instagram