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The key to a beautiful guest room: Bold colours and distinctive patternsThrow away the nice white sheets and washed out, floral wallpaper.
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How a derelict cattle shed became a traditional farmhouse kitchenA transformation on this scale takes time, effort and good materials. Luckily, Helen Parker had all three.
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Inside the designer's home: Birdie Fortescue's picture-perfect house in NorfolkThe designer and antique dealer Birdie Fortescue has decorated her Norfolk house in a highly distinctive style. She spoke to Arabella Youens; photographs by Simon Brown.
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How to transform a shepherd's hut into the perfect, country guest houseIn North Yorkshire, Melanie Phipps has furnished a pair of shepherd’s huts with every creature comfort.
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How to seamlessly blend the old and new when transforming old rooms into country kitchensCharlotte Hughes has created a family kitchen that looks as if it has evolved over time.
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Bathtub in the bedroom: Should you try it at home?Arabella Youens examines the growing trend for baths in bedrooms.
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An antique wallpaper so extraordinary that an entire room was built around it — including raising the ceilingThe Court of Noke in Herefordshire is the home of designer Edward Bulmer, and the antique wallpaper in this bedroom shows some of his thought processes in action.
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A Cornish cottage transformed in a perfect local style by a designer famed for exotic opulenceA look inside this guest cottage on a West Country estate demonstrates the versatility of its interior designer.
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Three ideal homes in the small but perfectly-formed city of WinchesterProperty writer Arabella Youens is naming her favourite small cities in Britain. Today she turns her gaze towards the fine little spot of Winchester.
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Three marvellous homes in the idyllic city of OxfordProperty writer Arabella Youens is naming her favourite small cities in Britain – under the microscope in this piece is Oxford.
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Three gorgeous homes in the delightful city of YorkYork is a city whose restaurant scene ensures that no metropolitan exile will miss the culinary delights of their former home.
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The 50 best places to live near LondonWhere are the best villages, towns and small cities which are a pleasure to live in, but still offer a decent commute to the capital?
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How to transform a dark Victorian kitchen into a charming social space with bespoke joineryCharlotte Crosland redesign project turned into an entire refurbishment when it came to this Victorian house in London, including this stunning kitchen, brightened by the addition of bespoke windows and stunning furnishings.
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A perfectly-formed small bedroom, as designed by Nina CampbellIf you're looking for inspiration on how to make a small bedroom both beautiful and comfortable, take a look at how designer Nina Campbell transformed this guest bedroom with a space-defying scheme.
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How to use pieces from around the world to create a fine English bedroomDesigner Sophie Paterson explains how she used influences from around the world to transform the master bedroom of a town house in Chelsea.
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Country Life Top 10: Luxury dog bedsAs our four-legged friends take over our lives, Arabella Youens charts the unstoppable rise of the luxury dog bed.
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Escape from the city: The Cotswolds v the HamptonsJay Gatsby frequented one, Kate Moss the other, but what makes these rural hotspots so desirable?
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The dovecote which became a delightful country homeA long career at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler was the perfect preparation for Emma Burns’s greatest design challenge yet: the sensitive transformation of the former dovecote and stables in Oxfordshire she inherited.
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The rise of the ‘super cottage’: Underfloor heating, dining table for 12 and claw-foot baths in the bedroomCreaking country piles with drafty corridors and leaky roofs are increasingly a thing of the past - today's homes in the country have a very different list of features, many of which you'd normally associate with top-end hotels. Arabella Youens speaks to a pair of experts who explain the phenomenon of the 'super cottage'.
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The benefits of four-poster beds: 'I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t sleep better in one'Interior designer Veere Grenney tells Arabella Youens why the only bed to have is a four-poster.
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A beautiful townhouse in Deal with a kitchen that mixes modern and GeorgianThis town house on the Kent coast has been restored by its actor owner to create a kitchen that’s sympathetic to its Georgian roots.
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A utility room that demonstrates how style and function can go hand-in-handArabella Youens takes a look at a utility room which shows that practical spaces can also be beautiful.
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The dos and don'ts of designing your own ideal utility roomFrom stone sinks to sturdy, Merlin Wright of Plain English offers advice on creating the perfect utility room.
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The beautifully symmetrical London drawing room of interior designer Douglas MackieSymmetry is regarded as the secret to creating a calm, coherent space, but for many designers, it’s more about creating balance, says Arabella Youens.
