The designer's room: The large country home with relaxed and easy to maintain interiors
Arabella Youens talks to Nicola Harding about her decision to juxtapose an imposing piece of furniture with utilitarian fabric.
With two young children and busy careers, the owners of this house, which stands on the edge of farmland above the Somerset Levels, wanted interiors that were sympathetic to the architecture, yet also relaxed and easy to maintain.
The centrepiece in the main bedroom is the four-poster bed that is part of the designer Nicola Harding’s furniture collection, NiX.
Nicola's oiled oak console table and ceramic lamps with pleated shades.
The simple frame, made from timber and bronze railing rods, can be dressed up or down. Nicola has added drapery made from her Checkmate cotton fabric with ticking stripe bedlinen. ‘The curtains have basic slot headings that anyone with a sewing machine can run up,’ she explains. ‘Here, the canopy is open, but you can, of course, cover it with fabric to create that room-within-a-room, cosy sleeping chamber. The proportions also work well in a small room when you don’t want to fill up the space too much.’
The Nix by Nicola Harding Idler sofa upholstered in similarly utilitarian fabrics and used to great effect in a shallow bay window.
She feels that juxtaposing a bed style that is often seen as the preserve of large country houses with a utilitarian fabric, such as a check, gives the room a more relaxed feel. ‘It looks as if it has evolved organically, rather than being overly laboured. I liken it to wearing a pair of trainers rather than heels with a summer dress, it knocks back the look and makes it more accessible. As the designs aren’t based on motifs, your mind doesn’t get tied up reading the pattern.’
A Georgian-era chest of drawers and a vintage wicker chest, found in a flea market, add visual interest and help counter-balance the new elements in the room.
