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Pippa | Life at Church Farm

@lifeatchurchfarm

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Georgian farmhouse
Slowly creating a colourful & collected home
Interiors • antiques • garden

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The biggest change we’ve made to Church Farm…

When we moved in, our kitchen was in the oldest part of the house. It had plenty of character, but it was also dark and damp, with very low ceilings, and it never really worked for us as a family.

At the other end of the house was this room, which we used as our sitting and dining room. With its old beams, vaulted ceiling and doors opening onto the garden, it had so many of the things the old kitchen was missing — not least space and light.

For years we talked about moving the kitchen in here, but it was such a big decision (and an even bigger job!) that it took us eight years to finally do it.

Once we started, there was rather more involved than simply putting in a new kitchen. We replaced the roof, added more rooflights, insulated and rewired the whole room, replaced the Gothic oak doors with painted glazed ones, laid a new floor and created a pantry.

We kept the original beams, which were one of the things I loved most about the room, and tried to make sure that despite everything being new, it still felt right for an old house.

Looking back through the photos now, I’d almost forgotten quite how much work went into it — and quite how much of a building site it became!

But it was absolutely worth it. The kitchen now opens straight onto the garden and has become the room we spend most of our time in.

Definitely worth the eight-year wait 🤍 taken in Buckingham Palace, London by @lifeatchurchfarm

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2 months ago

A few of my favourite corners of home

#englishcountryinteriors #colourfulinteriors #interiorinspirations countryhouseinteriors #periodhome by @lifeatchurchfarm

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14 days ago

Sitting room transformation…

When we decided to move the kitchen, we had a big dilemma over what to use this room for as not only does it have very low ceilings it also doesn’t get a huge amount of natural light.

After much deliberation, we decided on a sitting room so we could embrace the low ceilings and make it a really cosy space — and I honestly couldn’t love it more. It has turned out far better than I ever expected!

There was quite a lot of work involved and it was definitely not just redecoration 😬 — the old kitchen came out, the quarry tiles were lifted and we discovered there was just earth underneath, so the floor had to be dug up, reinforced, damp-proofed and levelled. Wiring and plumbing were altered, the windows were replaced and an old fireplace was uncovered and brought back to life.

Wallpapering the whole room in GP&J Baker Seedpod, painting the woodwork in Farrow & Ball Hague Blue and adding a wood burner have all helped create a really warm and cosy space (well that’s what I think anyway 😂)!

We still have a few finishing touches to do (although I’m not sure I ever truly ‘finish’ a room!) — there’s more artwork to put up and I need a lampshade for a lamp that will eventually sit on the console underneath the TV. I’m also planning to have the two armchairs reupholstered in Ian Sanderson Patolli stripe in indigo — a gorgeous fabric @katherinetaylorinteriors helped me choose during a guided interior design session at Chelsea Design Centre.

This has become my favourite room in the house — roll on autumn when we can finally light the fire.

#lifeatchurchfarm #englishcountryinteriors #georgianfarmhouse #oldhouserenovation #cosyinteriors taken in Buckinghamshire by @lifeatchurchfarm

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2 months ago

There’s a reason the same few rooms keep appearing on here… 😂

I’ve realised I’m very good at showing you the bits of our house we’ve finished and love, but not quite so good at showing you everything else!

And believe me, there’s plenty of everything else! Cracks in walls, mouldy bathrooms, windows that need replacing, an entrance hall still showing water marks from a leaking pipe eight years ago… and a Belfast sink that’s been sitting in the garden for six months because I still haven’t got round to selling it! 🙈

I’m very good at choosing a pretty lampshade, but not quite so good at tackling the jobs I just can’t face!

So here’s a little glimpse of the less-than-perfect side of our house. There’s plenty more where that came from! 😂

#englishcountryinteriors #renovationrealities #workinprogress #periodhomerenovation by @lifeatchurchfarm

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2 days ago

Who doesn’t love a bit of leopard print?! 🐆

Anyone who knows me knows I love a bit of leopard print (probably a bit too much 😂).

So when Katherine Taylor Interiors showed me this Colefax & Fowler fabric, I knew I had to find somewhere to use it!

Reupholstering our antique dining chairs in it was one of the best decisions I made. I love how it’s given these traditional chairs a slightly more playful feel without taking away from their character.

They honestly put a smile on my face every time I walk past!

#englishcountryinteriors #leopardprintfabrics #diningroomdecor #diningroominspiration by @lifeatchurchfarm

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3 days ago

When we first started thinking about these two rooms, I’d originally planned on wallpapering the dining room in a grasscloth and painting the sitting room a dark blue.

The dining room is a big, walk-through space with high ceilings, and I wanted to make sure it felt inviting and cosy.

Hundreds of samples later, I quickly realised that grasscloth is expensive and wallpapering such a huge space (ceiling and all!) was going to cost a small fortune. Meanwhile, I was struggling to find the right blue paint for our sitting room, which has low ceilings and is naturally quite dark.

So we did a complete 180 and switched the schemes around!

We chose GP&J Baker’s Seedpod wallpaper in blue for the sitting room and colour drenched the dining room in Farrow & Ball’s Light Blue.

And I’m so glad we did. I absolutely love how both rooms have turned out. The wallpaper has made the sitting room feel cosy, while colour drenching the dining room has given it a slightly more contemporary feel, which I love.

Not quite what we’d originally planned, but sometimes changing your mind really does work out for the best!

#englishcountryinteriors #sittingroominspiration #diningroominspiration #periodproperty #georgianfarmhouse by @lifeatchurchfarm

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5 days ago

Possibly one of the most practical transformations we’ve made to the house.

When we moved in this room was dark, uninsulated and had a radiator that didn’t work so it quickly became somewhere we just stored everything we didn’t know what to do with!

Moving the kitchen gave us the chance to finally turn it into a boot room & utility, which we desperately needed.

We insulated it, added underfloor heating and a roof light, replaced the little window with a stable door out to the garden and divided the space into two — because muddy dogs and clean washing aren’t the best combination!

We deliberately stopped the dividing wall short of the ceiling so the light from the roof light could reach both spaces. I’d still love to find some old reclaimed beams to go above it and make it look as though it’s always been there.

We reused some of the cupboards from our old kitchen in the utility, along with our old fridge/freezer for drinks and extra freezer space.

We even built a space especially for the dog’s bed… only for him to get so used to sleeping in the playroom during the building work that he now refuses to sleep in here. So naturally, it’s become welly storage instead. 😂

And he did at least make himself useful during the build when he sniffed out a hedgehog happily asleep under the insulation. 🦔

A very different room from the one we started with and finally the proper boot room and utility the house was missing.

#englishcountryinteriors #countryliving #bootroomdesign #bootroominspiration by @lifeatchurchfarm

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10 days ago

We finally got round to picking our apples at the weekend 🍎

I don’t know what’s happened this year but it’s been a really disappointing harvest. We normally have bucket loads of both eating and cooking apples and take them to be turned into the most delicious (if not ridiculously expensive 😬) apple juice!

This year, however, we have one bucket of cookers and not a single eating apple.

It looks like there are going to be a lot of apple crumbles filling my freezer… unless anyone has any other recipes I should try?

#englishcountryhome #countrygarden #countryliving #periodhome by @lifeatchurchfarm

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12 days ago

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17 days ago

Hardest working room in the house — our boot room, with the utility tucked around the corner.

It’s definitely not always this tidy!

#bootroomdesign #bootroom #englishcountryinteriors #countryhouseinteriors #colourfulinteriors by @lifeatchurchfarm

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18 days ago

Lots has changed but there’s still more to do.

The house we bought vs the home we are creating.

#lifeatchurchfarm #interiortransformation #beforeandafterhome #englishcountryinteriors #periodhome by @lifeatchurchfarm

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20 days ago

It turns out changing ten tiny lampshades can make quite a difference…

I’ve been wanting to replace these candle clip shades for ages, but finding ones I actually liked, with the right fitting and at a sensible price, has been harder than expected. Especially when I need TEN of them 😬

I thought I’d cracked it with the gorgeous olive ruffle shades from Dunelm, but annoyingly the fitting didn’t work with our existing Jim Lawrence wall lights.

Then I found these olive striped ones at John Lewis and I think we finally have a winner. They’ve brought some much-needed colour into what is basically the boys’ TV room and have made the whole room feel so much more alive.

Next up: cushions and replacing the TV stand that has somehow survived since my husband’s bachelor-pad days 😬!

#lifeatchurchfarm #periodproperty #englishcountryinteriors #homestyling #smallchangebigdifference by @lifeatchurchfarm

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24 days ago