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Telegraph

Join the fray: embrace country home decor

In smarter pockets of the Home Counties, an arcane protocol used to dictate how you did – and didn't – do up your country home. Marble floors were for Mayfair. Ditto glass coffee tables – and Jacuzzis. No longer. In more meritocratic times, such conventions have been hurled on the scrapheap of history. A hot tub overlooking the ha-ha? A home cinema in the old ballroom? Why not? It's your home. Do what you want. But the fact persists. Rural homes are different from their urban counterparts. It isn't just the materials (honeyed Cotswolds stone, Norfolk flint and brick) but the scale – be it a beam-strewn cottage or Palladian villa – that sets them apart. Then there's the light. Filtered through a canopy of green, it brings the outside inside. All of these elements suggest a more nuanced, gentler approach to interiors. As the US decorator Elsie de Wolfe declared, it's all about 'suitability'. So if you're eyeing up a rural bolthole, or plotting a full-time escape from the city what are some of the essential 'dos' of modern-country decorating? Kitchens First: kitchens. If yours is the size of an apartment in Bow, resist the temptation to go open plan. Instead, think like the Edwardians and put the square footage to work as functional but decorative ancillary rooms. Larders with marble shelves, flower rooms heady with blooms, a scullery with charming plate racks. You won't have a tweenie to do the behind-the-scenes drudgery for you. But at least you can do it in style. In his Somerset kitchen, designer and furniture maker Patrick Williams of Berdoulat installed the 'wibbly' glazed screen which divides the pantry from the rest of the room. 'It masks the clutter without closing off the space,' says Patrick. 'By housing appliances in separate rooms, you can make the kitchen feel less kitcheny – more like a collection of furniture.' Other devices include tables instead of islands, wooden worktops, Welsh slate, or zinc beaten into sinks and worktops for 'a beautiful patina of time'. Designer Emma Hutton 's country-kitchen staples include: terracotta flooring, flatweave rugs (try Home & Found or Edit58) and open shelves with ceramics and plants jostling for space. The layers bring 'comfort and softness: a refuge from city life.' Bathrooms Country bathrooms are invariably bigger, so you won't have to fret about splashes and spills. 'You can be practical and aesthetic,' says designer Octavia Dickinson. Fabric is key: for frilled panels on baths or under vanities to conceal storage. And yes, you can use carpet on the floor although you may want to fling a washable rug (try Jennifer Manners or Weaver Green) on top. Steven Rodel of Guy Goodfellow agrees, citing a recent project where every bathroom was different. A roll-top bath, positioned in front of a window framed by floor-grazing curtains. The walk-in (Drummond's) shower next to a Regency bookcase; the antique chest of drawers converted to a vanity on 'warm, worn' wooden floors. Rooms 'where you can find solace in a bubble bath,' he says. Atmosphere The well-designed country home is comfortable and convivial. Take the sitting room. Tamsyn Mason likes to include perching points: a club fender (try Jamb); a card table and chairs tucked beneath a bay window. Swap coffee tables for a squashy ottoman (Trove, Balmain & Balmain, Max Rollitt) and opt for fabrics with a darker background (Bennison, Robert Kime or Jean Monro are good starting points). 'White can look surprisingly stark in the country,' she says. 'In the country you're always aware of the landscape. That's what inspires me,' says designer Speronella Marsh whose eponymous firm specialises in block-printed furnishings. She reconfigured her Shropshire kitchen to capitalise on the views, installing glazed doors that open on the walled garden. The dresser, painted a punchy tomato red, nods to her vegetable plot. Its glazing bars reference nearby Ironbridge, crucible of the Industrial Revolution. 'Whether you're surrounded by fields or in a village, there's always something to draw on.' But another caveat. A paint shade that sings in London can look dowdy in the country. It's the light of course. For older houses, Kate Guinness favours Atelier Ellis 's natural paints in muted but luminescent tones. Fellow designer Henriette von Stockhausen of VSP Interiors advises clients to be chromatically adventurous. 'Blues, greens or pinks that can be tricky in town take on a different life in the country.' Her rural picks include Edward Bulmer 's Cinnamon, Celadon or Lute for its 'warm glow'. Scale Scale is all. The sofa that swaggers in London can look Lilliputian in a Wiltshire parsonage. This also applies to four-posters sought out by townies chasing the arcadian dream. Antiques can be too small, so Henriette designs her own. 'The mattress has to be in proportion to the posts. Otherwise, it looks strange.' It's the same for panelling. 'It looks charming. We do lots of it. But the scale has to be right.' Above all, putting down rural roots involves a change of mindset. 'When I arrive in the country, I inwardly exhale. And relax,' says Steven. Apply the same outlook to your décor. 'I call it permission to fray.' Speronella concurs. Friends will visit 'leaving a trail of mud and spilt wine.' Dogs will leap onto sofas jeopardising upholstery. 'That's fine. You throw on another blanket,' she says. In the country, there are (almost) no rules.