Open House - Inside a Weybridge home

Above: A seaside feel in the bathroom

Above: Tasteful distressing gives the kitchen a French farmhouse feel

Above: This Victorian house has been restored to its former glory

Words and pictures by Andrew Lopez-Calvete

I have to confess that I have a well-honed dislike of clutter. Trinkets, knick-knacks and items stored in full view tend to make me feel uneasy. The sole exception to this is my office, which admittedly looks like a crudely ransacked photographic retailer that has had the contents of a paper recycling station emptied into it via the window. So my visit to the home of Chris and Hayley Lee was undertaken with a degree of trepidation, as Hayley is by reputation the queen of shabby chic and impeccably stylish clutter.

“Previously, we had a house in Weybridge, which was being rented out on a long term let as we were living in France,” explains Hayley over coffee in her comprehensively extended kitchen, notable for its shelves and cupboards extensively stocked with the clutter I had been dreading. “At the time, Chris was a stockbroker and had been commuting between Paris and Weybridge for 18 months, so we decided to move. Ten months later, Chris’s company was bought out, so we found ourselves back in the UK with three children where once there were two. As we couldn’t get into our house, we had to find something else to buy or rent. We ended up in Windsor Walk by default as some of our friends lived there and informed us that this house was available for rent.

“During our 18 months as tenants, we recognised its potential and made the owner an offer. The house is in an ideal location and its age and size was perfect for us.

However, the décor was awful and had at some point been at the mercy of a DIY enthusiast - hideously decorated with brown and orange wallpaper to match the curtains.

There were washbasins in the bedrooms and built-in wardrobes around the beds and over doorways. The kitchen was falling apart and had an island, which came up to mid-thigh making it too short to work at…”

The first pivotal decision the couple made regarding the project was to move out before getting started. “The building work took six months,” continues Hayley. “We were lucky enough to be able to move out and rent so that we didn’t have to live with either the builders or their dust.

The back of the house was completely opened up and the builders were able to work on all floors at the same time. The back of the house consisted of three separate rooms, a utility and conservatory, and we knew immediately that we wanted to blast open the space to create one big living, cooking and dining area. We knocked through the three rooms and extended by another ten feet, ripped out two avocado bathrooms, and lost a bedroom to make a master suite with en suite shower room and a dressing room.”

The décor that I had dreaded passing judgment on actually suits the property and its inhabitants extremely well. Being the chic-est of shabby and exhibiting the strange oxymoron of ‘carefully arranged randomness’, it isn’t just a visual static - a white noise of disparate objects that disorientates and prevents the eye settling on any one thing. Instead, key objects grab your attention, which then encourages your gaze to explore nearby items.

“In terms of style, it evolved,” says Hayley. “Much as I like the idea of living with minimalism, with three sports-mad boys, a messy husband, and me not being able to resist a bargain, it just wouldn’t work. We loved the fact that the house was Victorian but wanted to add a more contemporary feel. The kitchen in particular works especially well, with plenty of space to have dining and TV areas - as a family, this is where we spend most time.”

Flushed with her own success and having drawn the attention of friends and neighbours, Hayley’s efforts were to lead her to more than just a change of environment. “Working to a budget meant having to source a lot of the products myself,” she says. “But having worked for Country Living magazine for several years, I’d always had an interest in interiors, and had an idea of which styles I liked and where to go for the best bargains.”

Indeed, the disadvantage of being ‘in the know’ is that it can often endanger your budget when you develop expensive tastes. “The biggest problem was the kitchen, having fallen in love with ‘Chalon’ years before, and never thinking it was affordable!” says Hayley. “I felt that freestanding units would make the kitchen more integral to the whole space and the artfully distressed look ended up working brilliantly. So much so that my business is now selling painted French country furniture.

“After all the compliments about the style from friends and visitors, and requests to source furniture for them, I realised that maybe I could make a living from furniture that I had transformed from an ugly old piece into something extremely pretty. Turning up on the school runs covered in paint soon got people asking what we were doing, so we decided to have an open house. The house lends itself perfectly to showcasing French country furniture, and enabled people to see a piece being used in a completely different way. As a result, furniture is constantly being moved in and out, or existing pieces being repainted. I think when people come round they are quite surprised to see antique furniture being used alongside contemporary details. However, we can’t afford to be precious; this is a family home not a show house, and furniture is there to be used. The beauty of distressed furniture is that it gets better with more use and age.”

As is often the case, this much-loved property has been outgrown by the family and the couple are excited about sourcing their next project - which will doubtlessly become another artfully distressed masterpiece.

GET THE LOOK

• Get familiar with paint finishesand distressing
• Use furniture that has a natural patina of age
• Create displays of disparate objects - don’t be scared to put delicate porcelain next to an ancient piece of kitchenalia
• Accentuate period features already in situ
• Don’t hide away technology - juxtapose it with rustic touches

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