News — London

 Relocating from Ireland to Scotland has given Claire Johnston the perfect opportunity to create a new home and business venture in one.  House-hunting while living in another country can be challenging, as Claire Johnston discovered when she moved from Ireland to Scotland in 2017. Her husband, Alistair, had already returned to his home city of Glasgow for work, while Claire stayed in Dublin. However, unsurprisingly, the couple wanted to be together full time. ‘We’d just finished renovating our beautiful Dublin house, so I was quite sad to leave,’ says Belfast-born Claire, who was able to continue her old job remotely....

 Marie Engberg’s home reflects her belief that sustainable design and timeless interiors go hand in hand.  Danish-born Marie Engberg is not a woman to do things by halves. Her belief in caring for the planet, both socially and via the designworld, has resulted in a diverse career that has seen her work for several interiors brands and, leading up to 2012, on Barack Obama’s re-election campaign. When Marie and her husband Niels Grove Jensen decided to return home from America to start a family,which now includesWilfred, five, and Nora, three, they found a characterful townhouse in a vibrant district of...

 A wealth of original features keeps the character and charm of Bernie Rix’s converted barn alive.  Original stone walls, wooden beams and an inglenook fireplace all contribute to the rustic charm that led Bernie Rix and her husband Dave to fall head over heels for this characterful family home. ‘Before we’d even stepped inside, the beautiful features had won us over’, recalls Bernie. ‘The gable end windows, the waney-edge cladding and Blue Lias stone gave the barn that rural appeal we were looking for; something very different to the townhouse we were living in.’ Originally built around 1850, the barn...

 A unexpected sign pointed designers Poppy Treffry and Justin Duance in the welcome direction of a striking and individual home.  When Poppy Treffry and Justine Duance decided to move, it was the call of the surf that lured them. The couple had been living in Penzance in Cornwall but looking out for properties in a nearby village for three years. Anything that caught their eye was usually above their budget. But a chance sighting on a coastal path walk led to an unexpected purchase. ‘It was a simple handpainted sign that read “barn for sale”,’ says Poppy. ‘When we tracked...

 With her heart set on leaving the city, Melissa Jones took on more than she’d bargained for when she fell for a beautiful but run down Georgian house.  Following her dream of living in the countryside, Melissa Jones was convinced there had been a typing error on the estate agent details about the amount of land that came with the Georgian house she’d fallen in love with. ‘It said 60 acres, but I thought they meant six, so we drove out to see it, only to discover that it was correct,’ she says. ‘And the property included two areas of...