Antiques and vintage treasures have always fascinated Sarah Reynolds. An eclectic mix of vintage and antiques she has been collecting since the age of seven furnish her home, a four-bedroom red brick terrace house, built in 1903 in a Derby Conservation Area.
Yet one lucky find that is not on display here, despite playing a major part in Sarah’s renovation story.
‘A few years after graduating art college together, my husband Mike and I bought a limited edition Banksy print. We’d forgotten all about it until we moved here,’ says Sarah. ‘But selling that paid for our new kitchen-diner!'
'We can’t help wishing we’d paid the extra £100 to have it signed but we didn’t think he’d become so well known! Besides, there can’t be many people who could claim that Banksy paid for their kitchen.’
Renovation story
Sarah and her husband Mike moved into their home 19 years ago and have been gradually renovating the property ever since. ‘When we first saw the house it was very dated,’ recalls Sarah, who runs her own interior design practice White Rabbit Interiors.
‘There were still some original features, but there was Artex everywhere, which we had to get rid of.’
There was another major decorative issue to overcome, too. ‘Every room had had the skirtings and doors stripped back, but the wood had been given a horrible orange stain,’ she says. ‘Pine was never meant to be exposed like that and it looked so 1980s.' So they set to work painting skirting boards and doors.
Original features were preserved and restored, such as the original Minton ceramic floor tiles in the hallway, which features a gallery wall of vintage mirrors.
As a traditional fireplace idea, period replacement fireplaces have been fitted where the originals had been removed, and the walls are painted in heritage shades, or papered in classic prints with a twist.
Here, a living room feature wall is created with the Mary wallcovering by Blackpop and the striking sea green walls are painted in the Tea with Florence shade from Little Greene.
Eclectic collections
Sarah and Mike met at art college, so it is no surprise that this is a house of many colours, but with Sarah’s love of nostalgia for all things vintage there is a characterful, storied edge to the interiors, too.
At the age of 11, Sarah lugged a Remington typewriter home from a flea market. ‘It was so heavy, but I really wanted it,’ she says. ‘And I’ve still got it in my study.’
Sarah started a collection of vintage glass as a teenager and displays pieces around her home to complement the rooms' colours and themes.
By the time Sarah turned 20, she’d bought a pair of iconic 1950s Sputnik satellite chairs, now very sought after.
These 1950s chairs sit side-by-side with reupholstered Victorian chairs and vintage cabinets in the vintage living room. ‘I love visiting museums and stately homes, and watching old films and period dramas,’ she says. ‘These have all inspired me, but I didn’t want to recreate a museum. Instead, I’ve tried to mix elements of different eras that work together.’
Kitchen redesign
Sarah’s eclectic finds have truly found their place in the reconfigured vintage kitchen-diner, more than in any other room in the house.
She designed the open-plan space herself, around one of her all-time favourite pieces: an English oak haberdasher’s counter – now reimagined as a unique kitchen island.
A local carpenter built the kitchen cabinets in European oak to complement the treasured piece. Topped with a granite worktop, the counter looks the part, with a glazed wall cabinet salvaged from a school science laboratory and a copper sink bringing additional flourishes. All stand out against the walls painted in Ho Ho Green by Little Greene.
‘It was important to me to have natural materials, so the brass splashbacks, granite worktops and copper sink were all conscious choices.’
The beautiful vintage glass ceiling lights were equally carefully selected. ‘They are nearly all French, bought separately from antiques centres or shipped over from France while the kitchen was still in the early planning stages,’ says Sarah.
The effect is dramatic as a kitchen ceiling light idea, and these frilly-edged lamps add a touch of romance and artistry to the finished space, bringing together old and new elements to perfection.
An old farmhouse table bought from an antiques fair for £50 was the starting point for the dining area, mixing in vintage chairs and an old church pew.
Sarah buys all her artwork from car boot sales and charity shops. 'I never pay more than a few pounds for them.'
Characterful bedrooms
The upstairs rooms in the home have as much character as downstairs, with vintage artworks and inherited or flea market find furniture spanning eras gracing the vintage bedrooms.
The result is a boudoir ambience in the main bedroom with its lilac walls, inherited Edwardian chest of drawers and two 1950s-style fringed tub chairs flanking the fireplace.
Salvaged bathroom
Hexagonal floor tiles and metro wall tiles create a fun juxtaposition in the vintage bathroom style.
The bath and two sinks were bought in salvage yards and Sarah painted the sides of the bath in Farrow & Ball’s Arsenic. The top section of the wall is painted in Light Peachblossom by Little Greene – the winning combination of pink and green.
The vintage cabinets and mirrors from car boot sales and antiques fairs are the perfect finishing touches.
The result is a unique home, quite unlike any other.
