London designer Sarah Brown brought British style to this quintessentially 19th-century American house in Saratoga Springs, New York
ENTRANCE HALL
Sarah’s brief was to turn the former bed and breakfast into a cheerful and sociable home for family and guests who visit during the summer racing season.
DRINKS PARLOUR
A fantastical mural, customised to include pets and members of family, wraps around the walls of this room.
GAMES ROOM
Here and everywhere there is a mix of colour, pattern and antiques that creates an aesthetic that looks like it has been put together lovingly over time.
GAMES ROOM
This sociable space was designed with seating that can be moved to accommodate parties.
DINING ROOM
The decor throughout was about evoking an atmosphere of ‘nothing too perfect, everything comfortable,’ says owner Kathryn.
In 1946, Winston Churchill came up with a phrase to describe the particular symbiosis between the US and Britain. He called it the ‘special relationship’. It is a description that applies to Kathryn Sharp and Justin Nicholson’s house in Saratoga Springs, a city in New York State and the heartland of US horse racing. With its pastel-painted timber frontage, deep, lacy-edged veranda and neat picket fence, the 1880s house looks quintessentially American. The interior tells a different story. Designed by Londoner Sarah Brown, the interiors are a millefeuille of pattern, colour and antiques that radiate the gently settled, always-there appeal of modern British decorating.
In search of a designer who could pull off ‘a comfortable balance between boldness and function,’ as she puts it, Kathryn discovered Sarah’s work online. ‘As Americans, we understand British style to mean “collected”: rooms that gathered their character over a long period rather than in one fell swoop,’ says Kathryn, who has two young children. ‘Often, designs in the US start with a blank slate and are filled in all at once with whatever is stylish at the present moment. It can feel very trend-driven. British style strikes me as being more sentimental and considered.’
A watering hole for the beau monde in the 19th century, Saratoga plays host to world-famous racing events in the s
