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- 18th Oct 2024
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Take a look at the décor inside this Northumberland country home, owned by a creative couple
Looking through the keyhole of impressive homes is always fun. But it’s particularly inspiring when those in the creative industry own the home.
Jack Bullen and Lizzie Glendinning moved from Brockley in South East London to a seven-bedroom Georgian home built in the 1750s on the border of Durham and Northumberland.
Now the parents of two young children, they had originally been seeking a cottage as a bolthole from London, until Jack discovered an enchanting historic country house nestled in the Pennines that would lure them to relocate north.
The property’s history
Jack found the house a year before they looked at it seriously – when they discovered baby number one was on the way. The Grade II* listed property, which was extended in the 1750s from a 1500s farmstead, was once lived in by renowned geologist, Thomas Sopwith in the 1800s, and has a notable history of visitors from Methodist leader, John Wesley to writer and art critic, John Ruskin.
An adjoining cottage annexe acted as the head office for the Blackett-Beaumont Lead Mining until the 19th Century, and a separate building, now an art studio, was originally built by a Methodist inhabitant of the house (and Mining Agent) to ‘improve the minds’ of the local miners, as a band room to practise their instruments, then later as a library.
While the Industrial Revolution gathered pace, so too did the expansion of nearby geological societies that were drawn there by unusual discoveries, provided mainly by the miners who would bring Sopwith crystals found underground, some of which remain on the property to this day.
Modernising the home with art
Lizzie had worked on several renovations, including her Brockley home and several interiors’ projects for clients who admired her visual narrative. Lizzie and Jack founded Brocket London in 2014, a contemporary gallery in Kennington specialising in early to mid-career artists with a specialist focus on interpreting historical processes or narratives for contemporary audiences, launching artists from Flora Yuknovich to Liorah Tchiprout.
In addition to showcasing the work of pioneering artists, Brocket offers a combined art and interiors curation service, Living With Art, suggesting colour schemes, sourcing of art, curios and unique pieces for clients that will engage with current collections.
Jack’s parents are antique dealers, so much of their furniture and soft furnishings have been passed down or reappropriated into new and unique pieces.
Meanwhile, their collection of art includes original prints by Tracey Emin, Paula Rego, David Shrigley and Gavin Turk, paintings by a number of coveted contemporary artists, sculptural pieces, limited edition textiles and other discoveries collected on their personal and creative journey, which provide the life and soul of their interior design.
Take a look around…
The kitchen
The kitchen is currently smaller than Lizzie would like, but they are looking to extend it sensitively to meet the property’s listing requirements. The current space, split between the servants’ kitchen, also boasts a dreamy separate pantry and retains the original bread oven.
A display of hand-decorated plates humorously depicting vegetarians through time by contemporary maker Ben Hughes, references the Famous Women Dinner Service by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant on display at Charleston House.
The living and dining room
In the other common spaces, such as the living and dining room, Lizzie wanted to channel a palazzo-type vibe. She explains, “Both Jack and I are big into art history and we love visiting Italy, particularly the Venice Biennale. We installed a frieze that we’d commissioned by Eleanor May Watson during Covid for a separate interiors project in the sitting room.”
The frieze, created for the Woolwich Print Fair creates a show-stopping backdrop, allowing them to really live with the artwork. “There’s no escaping the Roman villa”, Lizzie explains, finishing the room in a combination of contemporary objects, and artworks by Tracey Emin, Flora Yuknovich and Liorah Tchiprout.
Carefully curated antique furnishings bring the design narrative together to create an enveloping space. The unintentional Italian feel extends into the dining room, which has been left noddled and un-wallpapered like a dreamy Venician palazzo.
“The curtains were made from fabrics discovered in an old trunk that Jack’s granny offered us from the 1930s belonging to her mother”, Lizzie explains.
“We found tapestries that were never finished, which reflect the unfinished walls of the space. The silk panels were tacked onto plain linen and repurposed as curtains. There’s a family textile link and they are even more special because they are Jack’s great granny’s”, Lizzie adds.
The centrepiece dining table has been commissioned from a nearby artisan using local materials and embellishments, including an antique card table, retro burl console and tongue in cheek portraits by artists such as Natasha Michaels, accompanying pieces by Paula Rego, Emin and Japanese woodblocks.
The master bedroom
In the master bedroom, Lizzie and Jack wanted to keep their sleeping quarters minimal and loft-like. They decided on a tonal, earthy palette of textured beige, green and greys. The bed is cocooned with a custom-built olive-green bouclé frame, with brass and walnut pendant lights by Tala LED which hang down each side.
A large-scale print on fabric, by rising US-based artist Serge Suarez hangs behind the bed and a restored Danish 1960s day bed sits at the foot. Textiles are by Woolwich Contemporary Studio’s Odilia Suanzes, and friend, Susi Bellamy.
The dressing rooms
As Lizzie is also a fashion curator, they transformed one of the bedrooms into a large dressing room, while Jack repurposed a small staircase linking the main house with the annexe into a levelled closet to house his own clothing while doubling up as a ‘Narnia’ style wardrobe for the children to walk through.
The nursery
In the nursery, Jack has hand-painted an ever-evolving frieze of the surrounding area, inspired by early Persian paintings. The space is accessorised with a collection of vintage pieces and mid-century style beds with Indian fabrics sourced from The Boule-In.
The bamboo chairs were a purchase from a flea market in France and the pale pink drawers were purchased almost 20 years ago while at university from the Aladdin’s Cave salvage emporium in Lewisham.
Lizzie gifted her daughter a David Shrigley print as a present when she was born, which hangs on the wall above the toy kitchen, and they’ve fashioned a miniature dressing room for the children at the entrance. The curtain fabric was sourced in Cumbria from Stead McAlpin, while rugs are made from recycled plastic bottles and a vintage rocking horse from France – both gifted by Jack’s parents at The Boule-In.
Lizzie and Jack’s home illustrates that decorating with art needn’t be limited to framed painting and drawings; there are many different mediums that define an interior, incorporating murals, textiles, ceramics, original print and sculptural pieces. Their home is a living example of how beautiful artwork in a space provides a source of colour, shape, form and inspiration.
Image credit: Emily Bowden Photography
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