ST MAWES, South Cornwall

A wonderful family home overlooking the Carrick Roads in South Cornwall

Entering down a long tree lined drive, you reach this 1920’s family home which sits out on its own peninsula, surrounded by the river on three sides – it’s a truly magical and gentle spot. The Anglo-American owners of this house, firmly have roots and family on both sides of the pond, so this is not a holiday home - this is very much their British home, which is enjoyed by this large and joyful family.

As with many Cornish houses, it started life as a small farmhouse and over the years has had more and more extensions and elements added to it and now it’s a large eight bedroom house with a great open plan kitchen and conservatory; a dining room for family parties; a large formal (but relaxed) sitting room; a library and cosy snug TV room. The house was last renovated in the 1980’s so it was in serious need of a pare back and declutter!
We removed some of the over-elaborate cornicing and coving and replaced all the brass ironmongery and all the light fittings with an simple aged bronze alternatives. We took an enormous deep breath and painted the whole of the glossy wooden staircase to simply calm the whole thing down which, made a massive impact to the Entrance Hall and stairs. Then we set about upgrading all the bathrooms with classic white suites and simple styling, incorporating the modern luxury of underfloor heating under stone floors for cosy feet. Finally we redecorated the whole house with a simple four tone paint scheme running throughout the entire house and fitted a fabulous herringbone sisal also throughout, which added a more modern and clean feel to the property. To enjoy the inside/outside element of this house and the stunning river views, a wonderful oak framed loggia was added to one side of the house, to provide outdoor seating protected from all the variations of Cornish weather!
We had to start from scratch with furnishing the house, which as you can image, produced one huge shopping list. With a global pandemic in full flow and lockdowns across the world, most of the decisions were made via What’s App photos, endless back and forth, multi-coloured emails and an enormous amount of trust. Deliveries were painfully slow during this difficult time, but over the course of a year, we finally got everything in place and the house became their home. On their first visit from the USA, not only did they burst into tears with delight, but they arrived with two enormous family portraits wrapped in brown paper, which have pride of place in the Dining Room.
Over the course of the next year the clients and I would take trips out and source local small vintage pieces, to add the character and depth that every new home needs. Suitcases of personal treasures, books, records and family photos have made it to the UK and these now adorn the house which really does make it their British home to be enjoyed by their ever increasing family.