Seaside Chic
Ashton House Design redecorated and refurnished Poplar Cottage in Budleigh Salterton
13 February 2023
The talented team from Ashburton-based interior design company Ashton House Design was asked to redecorate this charming coastal cottage. The brief was to create a practical, stylish interior for the homeowner and paying guests, as the property is also available to let. “This is a really pretty quintessential Georgian seaside cottage,” says Caroline Palk, the owner of Ashton House Design. “It’s balanced from the outside and has a lovely front, but it didn’t work or feel right internally.”
So, how did the team transform the interior into a soft and comfortable sanctuary? Caroline had to rethink the layout downstairs to include a library/quiet space at one end of the living area, with the sofa and TV at the other. “We decided to alter the circulation space and create a cosy corner seating arrangement, to make the space easier to work with,” she explains.
Add carefully positioned LED lighting and warm linen colours in the furnishings and soft furnishings and the area was transformed. “The curtain fabric is consistent throughout, and being natural linen, has a certain weight and texture. This creates a lovely flow of style throughout the cottage,” Caroline says.
The property’s three bedrooms can accommodate six, offering versatile sleeping configurations. “The en suite master bedroom is decorated in soft sage and lichen-green tones, the details and trimmings on the curtains also pick up on this colour scheme. We added full-length headboards to avoid the need for pictures on the walls, so the beds can be configured as twins or as a super king. We softened the tones further by using bone china shades on the wall lights.”
“One of the two other bedrooms is furnished in ochre yellow and the other is a soft, dusky pink. All very natural.”
The south-west facing walled courtyard garden is a suntrap. “We supplied the garden furniture – it’s powder-coated aluminium which is perfect for coastal locations,” adds Caroline.
“I’m so pleased it all worked out and I think the results are fantastic,” enthuses the owner.
Poplar Cottage is available to let through Luxury Coastal: luxurycoastal.co.uk
