COLOUR EDITION OXFORDSHIRE HOUSE
The story of this brand new house starts in the owner’s past, with the furniture and artwork that moved with her and inspired the palette of her latest home
FEATURE MARY WEAVER STYLING OLIVINE DESIGN
Rich green cabinetry adds an additional layer of formality to a study and library space
This characterful, colourful country home is only –wait for it – 18 months old, yet it has none of the featureless, play-it-safe conformity you might associate with a new build. Rather, it is arich evocation of the owner’s life, filled with artworks, furniture and decorative pieces collected and loved over alifetime.
As with any successful project, its success is due to creative collaboration. As well as architects Technical Design Solutions, owner Samantha commissioned Olivine Design to help her create the interiors. ‘She was looking for a practice that shared her love of colour, pattern and texture, along with mixing contemporary furniture with antiques,’ says co-founder Taline Findlater. ‘She was excited by fresh ideas and was open to going out of her comfort zone –like taking the wallpaper in the guest bedroom and main bathroom up to the vaulted ceilings. She was initially wary but soon understood that if we’d simply painted those ceilings, the flow would have been broken and the rooms would look unfinished.’
During the planning and construction stages, Taline and her Olivine co-founder, Victoria Gray, photographed and logged the owner’s artwork and the items of furniture she wanted to bring from her previous home. Collected over the years, they were much loved and would come to form the cornerstones of the new house. ‘It was alovely way to work,’ says Taline.
‘The colour palette was inspired by picking out shades from the paintings and rooms were designed around her existing furniture.
‘We knew which piece of art would hang above the sitting room fireplace before the house was even built,’ Taline continues. ‘And it’s no exaggeration to say that we moved walls to accommodate Samantha’s dining table, as it had such precious memories for her.’
One of the joys of anew build is that you don’t discover hidden disasters when knocking down awall. ‘In this case, we just had nice surprises as the house evolved and rooms took shape,’ says Taline. The hallway is luxuriously large and the kitchendiner, sitting room and three en-suite bedrooms are also generously sized. ‘However much you study afloorplan, the feeling of scale isn’t there until the walls are up,’ says Taline. ‘And with this house, delightfully, it felt more lavish than anticipated.’
Although completed in October 2022 th
