Renovating a wreck in the pretty London suburb of Dulwich
Dulwich Village is about as countrified as London gets, with its green spaces, playing fields and tree-lined roads. But even for Dulwich, Julie Hailey’s house is extraordinarily pretty. A late-17th-century former kiln-worker’s cottage built on a private road in this quiet south-east corner of the capital, its weatherboarded exterior is edged by a white picket fence and willow hurdles, and its cool, subdued paint shades are more reminiscent of a traditional beach house than a city suburb.
When Julie and her husband David bought the Grade II-listed house in 2003 from The Dulwich Estate (the charity responsible for protecting the area’s historic character), it had been empty for about a decade, and it took more than a year of working every spare minute for David to make it habitable. They renamed it Ned’s Cottage, but their son Ned was only a baby at the time and doesn’t remember the move. His older brother Harvey, now in his twenties, has clearer memories of the long weekends spent labouring to get it ready.
‘David is a builder and shop fitter – and a perfectionist – so everything had to be done absolutely right, which took time,’ says Julie, an interiors stylist whose online shop supplies vintage furniture and bespoke pieces made by her talented husband. Most of the authentic character had been ripped out, with thin carpets laid on top of concrete floors and original fireplaces fitted with electric bar heaters. ‘Even the weatherboarding was rotten: you could push your fingers through the timber,’ Julie adds. But David changed it strip by strip – each piece planed to fit – had all the windows remade to match the originals and replaced the front door with an exact replica.
The sitting room has a simple cottagey feel that reflects the age of the property, with terracotta tiles underfoot, horizontal boards panelling the chimney breast and painted shutters at the windows. But after this, you discover the building’s real surprise: a contemporary extension that opens up the ground floor into a spacious L-shaped kitchen and dining room.
This was Julie and David’s biggest challenge: how to replace the flimsy 1950s extension built onto the back of the original two-up, two-down cottage with something new but sympathetic. ‘We had to get permission from The Dulwich Estate, Southwark Council and the listings department,’ Julie recalls. But because it’s a single storey and hidden behind the garden fence, the couple were allowed to go for a modern, mostly glazed structure that combines clean lines with traditional elements – and an echo of the building’s industrial past.
With its three large skylights, the kitchen’s boarded ceiling contributes to the beach-house feel. Bright ceramics, old jelly moulds and craftsman-made chopping boards add to the rustic mood, while Julie’s larder supplies are stored in an old painted cupboard, originally bought as a wardrobe for her first flat more than 25 years ago and now fitted with shelves. In contrast, the large dining table was made by David from reclaimed oak building timbers and scaffold-pole legs, the stainless-steel appliances are uncompromisingly modern, and the chunky, square-cut floor units are made from cast concrete, creating a series of open slots and shelves into which drawers and appliances can be fitted as necessary.
‘We made them in the garden,’ says Julie. ‘We drew the design, then David found someone to help him with the casting. We incorporated pea-shingle in the surface – which was incredibly messy to sand but is very pretty when the light catches it.’ Wooden drawer fronts match the dark-toned floorboards and reconditioned cast-iron radiators from Lassco architectural salvage yard in south London have a timeless quality.
Throughout the house, industrial-style fittings unite the old and the new. So, the bathroom, which had to stay downstairs due to listing restrictions, has sleek contemporary fittings against one wall of original exposed brick, while the other is of cool slate tiles. Upstairs in the main bedroom, the brick chimney breast discovered behind crumbling plaster is a reminder of the local kilnworks, and the scaffold-pole bedframe (another of David’s designs) sits beneath joists that have been left exposed so the ceiling space soars into the pitched roof.
Julie’s forays into salvage yards and antique markets, as well as inspiration drawn from favourite shops including Liberty and Baileys Home, have given the cottage its unique character. It’s a house of contrasts: pretty, painted furniture next to functional metal lockers and wall racks, plain woven grain-sack cushions alongside zingy retro prints, soft grey walls and woodwork giving way to unexpected areas of contemporary wallpaper. The simplicity of this traditional timbered building lends itself well to the different styles. More than three centuries on, it’s weathering the changes with style.
For Julie and David’s online furnishings (including scaffold-pole beds and vintage metal cupboards) go to thewoodpigeon.com.
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Sitting room
Kitchen
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