AU Bespoke founder Anna Unwin’s home is all set for a tranquil, viewed as Xmas

© Michael Sinclair
Minimalist but heat, her Cambridgeshire residence is a festive mix of curated vintage finds and sustainable layouts

Elegance is additional than skin deep at Anna Unwin’s Cambridgeshire residence: a previous spiritual retreat in Hemingford Grey that greets you with an fast feeling of relaxed and understated sophistication.

Its symmetrical Georgian proportions perform host to a selection of just one-off structure finds, all picked with the eager eye that has designed her antiques and textiles shop, AU Bespoke, a favorite decision of interior designers, boutique lodges and private clientele.

‘Restoring the unique bones of the property with integrity was as critical to me as the aesthetics and operation,’ suggests Anna. ‘When sourcing home furnishings and equipment, I’m drawn to soulful outdated parts – repurposed for present day dwelling, their feeling of tale constantly resonates.’

© Michael Sinclair
Anna’s dachshund Sid sits on a Sofa.com couch. The artworks are from Dwelling of Grey

Following swapping the streets of London for everyday living in the countryside 10 years in the past, with her partner, Willie McDougall, and their 3 ladies – twins Olive and Flo, 12, and Betty, 11 – Anna has slowly and gradually reworked this area from austere, 22-bed room monastic retreat to fashionable five-bedroom household household.

‘The sheer scale of the 790-square-metre assets meant getting our time to finesse the inner format and to thoughtfully supply,’ she explains. ‘It gave me the independence to think about and produce.’

Through the house, off-white backdrops are complemented by a couple of considered items. There’s the covetable parquet flooring reclaimed from the outdated MI5 making in London, 400-calendar year-previous thick stone fireplaces from a vendor in France, Italian travertine tables and mid-century contemporary lighting, as perfectly as summary art and major antique textiles.

© Michael Sinclair
Bespoke kitchen cupboards painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Calamine’

‘Curating aged finds within a minimalist scheme provides a present-day edge that new, on-craze collections under no circumstances very supply for me,’ says Anna.

In the kitchen area, pale pink bespoke cabinetry is complemented with an clever combine of luxury elements, together with brass, copper, foxed glass and natural granite particulars, even though in the residing room bespoke linen-included sofas, purchased 20 several years back from Caravane, established the tone for this property’s inviting palette of product and white.

© Michael Sinclair
A marble table from AU Bespoke and Caravane couch include luxury to this bed room

It’s a color scheme that lends by itself to Christmas, but Anna’s identical small aesthetic applies to the festive season. Consider oversized branches of fir, a handmade wreath and waxed brown paper parcels, finished with rustic string – uncomplicated, foraged, organic, recyclable.

‘During the renovation, sustainable choices grew to become a way of lifestyle,’ suggests Anna, who is an advocate of looking out patterns that have a design and style capable of transcending time and traits. ‘I enjoy that my shoppers progressively benefit this aesthetic way too,’ she provides. ‘Choose items very well and you will like them without end.’ aubespoke.com

This posting very first appeared in ELLE Decoration December 2020

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