The DNA of Cottage Interiors
The story of Secret Bolthole
What is in our Interiors DNA
Secret Bolthole, is a micro collection of holiday spaces which celebrate the English eclectic style. I and my husband Steve have redeveloped a number of properties over time, from our homes to our glamping site and onto our holiday cottages. In every space the character and aim of the space has been to celebrate the location and natural environment creating homes to unwind, raise a family and cocoon ourselves in.
Our Homes
In my adult life pretty much all my homes have been period properties. From wings of stately home, to stone cottages, Victorian terraces to farm houses. It is having reworked these homes that taught me the DNA of old homes. They all had wonky walls and ceilings, rippled plaster and stone floors, lacked insulation and had plenty of layout issues. Whilst some needed a complete over haul, opening up and the odd extension, others just needed a little love and imagination to breathe life into them again. From a young age, I always loved searching in the vintage and second had stores for special items, visiting auction houses, reclamation yards and flea markets to source amazing bargains and authentic pieces.
Celebrate the old
When we bought Elsie's cottage, (before images below) she was a maze of little rooms and corridors which made it feel dark and closed in. The natural features were plastered in, and the inglenook fireplace bricked up. The cottage broke every rule of the modern living style, a separate kitchen in the darkest part of the house, a downstairs bathroom and decor that made it feel rather fake. It took a little while for me to get my head around the layout. Once I let go of the modern way, and embraced its cottage heritage, it all became a lot easier.
So there's no upstairs bathroom, there is a bedroom downstairs, the Kitchen runs into the bathroom and sits at the front of the house away from the garden. It breaks all the rules of modern living, and yet for this cottage and those staying here to escape the modern world, it works.
Rather than add layers of clean plastered walls, the decision was made to leave the bones of the cottage on show, including peeling wallpaper, beams, stone walls and the stunning inglenook fireplace we discovered.
The outside space was as important as the inside, a terrace was built up which led from the downstairs bedroom and french doors in the lounge to an outside dining space, and an amazing view. Location is why we bought Elsie's cottage. So it was so important to make access to the space seamless.
Home in your own image
I recognise that homes are a reflection of our personalities, and style, as well as being spaces to retreat from the world and live your private life. As such the things we put in them should reflect our lives, collected and curated over time.
A special painting or a piece of furniture handed down, a decorative item collected on your travels or a fabric you love, made into curtains. It all adds to the story of our homes. Whilst interiors inevitably have fashions and trends, ultimately I have learned that by sticking to timeless, ageless design and accepting life is not perfect, our interiors tend to live longer and feel so much more authentic. We may update the wall pallet or improve the flow of your home to work for the way you live, update the heating or create more light, but interiors do not have to be modern and contemporary to match.
Whilst I like an ordered home, and clutter makes my head messy, I don't subscribe to being a clean freak. Country homes naturally reflect their surroundings. Outdoor gear from walking boots to wellies, raincoats to woolly hats seem to overflow from hallways, boot rooms and utilities.
Even these spaces designed for storage and practical clean up seem to have become aspirational. But lets not forget cottage life and living rurally has a good dose of messy, mud, leaves, cobwebs all seem to be a continual battle. Yet this 'mess' is also what creates some of the patination on surfaces and the wear and tear marks on floors providing history of where people have touched surfaces over the years and part of the beauty of homes. So over cleanliness and the desire for 'perfect' can potentially strip away some of this vintage charm.
Home farm
Our first project outside of our homes was building a glamping site. We moved to our small-holding Brays farm back in 2014. Our old 'new' house to us needed a lot of work. The kitchen was pretty non-functioning, we had no oven, a bedroom we had to walk through a bathroom to access and a very odd split stair arrangement. Everything - including the beams were painted off white, and the laminate floor screamed fake against the old beams. I think our kids thought we were mad buying it, but we love a project and set to work.
Over the years, we have sand blasted beams, built walls, replaced windows with doors and completely changed the layout of our upstairs space to allow for garden views and additional rooms, as well as better and more bathrooms and finally a new oak staircase.
When it came to decoration I approached the colour pallet as a way of pulling together the spaces to create a connection which was missing when we bought it. The oldest part of the house is beamed and low ceilinged, the newer part was a mismatch of doors and weirdly was too open plan. I chose a wall palate of pale grey as it complemented the oak and beams and allowed the introduction of stronger colours in different rooms. I do love colour, but more muted that strong, and in period homes, primary colours can look too stark. The snug is North facing so an inky blue went well with the grey. In the lounge, which was all white, felt more cosy with a dirty browny grey.
Wall lights were replaced for more industrial finishes like copper and steel. Fake wood was replaced with real wood finishes and shiny polyesters swapped out for linens and cottons. The bare bones of the space was fixed, now came the fun stuff - the interiors.
My collection reflects my love of texture nad natural finishes. I also value pieces that have been created by hand or are unique and unusual. Wood, ceramics, glass and metals all add texture to spaces.
The choice of fabrics and finishes hint at cottage and vintage, pulling inspiration from different cultures to provide an eclectic feel, which works well for a cottage vibe.
Finding your style
A home like a garden changes and grows over time. There should be space to add pictures or an ornamount found on our travels. It is telling if a home is created instantly, as it all fits a little too well. Decorative pieces in our home are not all collected at one time, so be brave and allow your self an unfinished home, to which you add things with meaning that refect your life and that collection will be your own inimitable style.
We hope you love the new Bolthole Interiors collection and that you find a little something that you lovethere for your home.