Case Study Dark And Handsome

Masculine styling was requested for this bathroom in a 17th-century farmhouse 

- Catherine Coyle

Character is a tricky proposition for a bathroom designer. Clients often demand it – but where does it come from, and how do you get it? Perfectly smooth-walled modern homes tend to have too little. Period properties, with their wonky floors and architectural quirks, can sometimes have too much. For Louise Ashdown, designer at West One Bathrooms, her latest project fell very much into the latter category. Her clients wanted a strikingly different bathroom in a very old house. To get the balance right, so it would feel authentic and meet the brief, she had to think outside the box – quite literally.

Louise’s clients had purchased a 17th-century farmhouse in rural Sussex in 2014. When she was first invited along to see it, the renovations had already begun: the interior was being remodelled, the property was being extended, and a vineyard was being established in the grounds. The house, in the High Weald National Park, takes a sympathetic approach it its setting, combining aspects of the natural environment with the modern aesthetics that appeal to the clients.

“To retain the look and feel, I was careful to do little that would obstruct the original architecture, such as the beams, which created a good balance against the modern amenities,” Louise explains. “It was of great importance to the family to preserve the heritage of the building. This meant being sympathetic to the traditional fabric while adding a minimalist feel. The rest of the house features polished concrete, clean lines and muted colours.”