The barn

The Barn

After 15 years of living in the cottage, we were able to buy the neighbouring barn. It wasn't initially joined to the cottage, but we chose to integrate it as part of our home.

• When we bought the barn, it was completely derelict; it had lost its roof, and a lot of the brickwork had crumbled away.
• We were able to integrate the barn with the cottage by turning the old kitchen in the cottage into a hallway and extending it to join the two buildings.
• By using repurposed materials, such as the original beam, we retained integrity and character in what is essentially a new build section of the house.
• Texture is hugely important within a design scheme, so we were keen to expose some of the beautiful Cotswold stone on a few of the internal walls.
• Opting for lime plaster on the walls and rounding all of the corners helps the new section of the building to feel in keeping with the rest of the house. We do this by adding a timber beading to all the sharp edges, which is then plastered over to create the rounded edge.
• The barn was going to be our main living space, but we wanted to zone it into different areas - and we created different levels to achieve that. The kitchen is the lowest zone, with four steps up into the living room and then a full staircase up to a bedroom upstairs.
• Rough boarding is a real signature material of Sims Hilditch, and we use it in many of our clients' homes. In the barn, we have used it to clad the ceiling. It is a rough-sawn, softwood boarding, painted in a water and off-white emulsion mix of 50:50 ratio.
• Scale and proportion are incredibly important, and if you're faced with a large space, you need to go big with whatever you put in it. It's incredibly useful to have scaled elevations drawn up so you can see the real proportions within your space.
• The large bookcase sunk into the wall above the kitchen is a brilliant use of space and helps with the proportions of the room.