French Dressing

Interior designer Sophie Rowell has fashioned a neglected Georgian townhouse, with views across the Channel, into a family home that blends English charm with continental chic

FEATURE SARA EMSLIE | PHOTOGRAPHS RACHEL WHITING

It was originally built to house the captains coming up from the ships in the harbour below,’ says Sophie Rowell of her pastel-coloured home, set within a row of elegant townhouses in the quaint old-town area of Folkestone. ‘You can see over to France from the top floor,’ she adds. And, right on cue, as the mist clears, the coastline of northern France appears on the far horizon, across the Strait of Dover.

It seems only fitting, therefore, that interior designer Sophie has chosen to furnish her home with antique and vintage finds from home and the continent. The house is filled with signs of her travels across the Channel to France and beyond, where she visits brocantes and flea markets, sourcing items for her interiors consultancy, Côte de Folk. ‘I love how this is a space filled to the rafters with all my finds from my travels,’ she says. ‘Everywhere I look reminds me of somewhere I’ve travelled to, or an antiques fair I’ve visited.’

Sophie loved the texture and colour of the skimmed plaster, so she asked the builders to seal it and then mixed her own pink for the woodwork. Vintage rattan furniture and curtains made from antique linen bed sheets combined with the stripped floorboards create a rustic, elegant living space.

Decorative pieces are displayed on a trestle table from one of Sophie’s favourite shops, Will and Yates in Deal. The ceramic plate painted with a face pattern is from Sisterhood Store in Ampthill; rather than placing the sofa up against the main wall, it is pulled forward towards the fireplace, creating a sense of intimacy. Sophie rescued the sofa from a house clearance in London and paired it with a giant upholstered footstool from Anthropologie;
the print is by Polly Fern, while the blue lamp came from Ikea many years ago, paired with an oversized pleated shade found in a junk shop. A basket makes a rustic alternative to a drinks tray; the stairs and hallway are painted in Caddie from Paint & Paper Library –a warm caramel that complements the natural tones of the exposed brick and original wooden floorboards.

In the open-plan kitchen and dining room there is a distinctly French country feel, with antique wooden cabinets, a wall of vintage French plates, frilled glass pendant lights and a ruffled cafe-style curtain, all nicely paired with an antique Swedish bench seat. Similarly, on the floor above, the living room boasts a palette of warm Provençal hues, with chalky pink plaster walls, earthy terraco a, natural wicker, accents of French blue and pots of early summer lavender. One of the original Georgian sash windows also conveniently frames the shapely canopy of some French umbrella pine trees outside. ‘It’s a really relaxing and calming space, particularly being up on the first floor,’ she says. ‘It really is like living in amongst those trees!’

The mahogany chest of drawers was found on Facebook Marketplace. A curated assortment of objects on top creates an interesting little display at the top of the stairs.

It was the traditional Georgian layout – ‘lots of stairs, tall and skinny, with double-fronted original windows all the way up’ – that attracted Sophie to the house in the first place. ‘And it was a project,’ she adds. ‘We’d just sold our at in east London and decided to make the permanent move down here.’ The London at had been a wreck, but ended up being the highest-selling at in the borough after Sophie had worked her magic. It was while working on the at that she caught the renovation bug, she says, ‘and I wanted a bigger project’. Any interesting property that comes up in Folkestone’s Old Town is hotly contested, Sophie explains, and this house was nearly snapped up by several other buyers. ‘Luckily, they all pulled out after realising the house needed a whole new roo !’

The shelf beside the cooker is from one of Sophie’s favourite local shops, Workshop Number 29, and is perfect for displaying kitchen bits and pieces alongside decorative artwork. The small painting of roses came from The Three French Hens; Sophie used a collection of cream, white and pink vintage plates to create a striking display. The detail on the plates is echoed in the hanging frill lights, which were repurposed from a larger ceiling light and rehung as individual shades with jute cord;
the kitchen space is bright, light and airy, with contemporary white gloss Metod units from Ikea. For a splash of sunshine, Sophie painted the back door in Sudbury Yellow by Farrow & Ball; Sophie’s collection of vintage chopping boards and a bowl for storing eggs, were found in a little shop in Rye.

Sophie took an apartment on the seafront so that she and her son had somewhere to live whilst work began on the renovation. The building was stripped back to bare brick, every wall, floor and ceiling was replaced, and a whole new roof was added. ‘I did it with two men, a separate plumber and electrician, and all in 16 weeks – quite a feat! They also knocked out a partition wall to create the open kitchen/dining area on the ground level. ‘The kitchen is the hub of the house and I really wanted it to be a social space, as I love cooking and having people over. It was never going to be huge, but I have managed 16 around the table before.’

The dining area, with its mix of chairs, worn table and parquet floor has the relaxed feel of a French bistro. Most of the furniture, including the Swedish bench, was picked up cheaply in junk shops and at antiques fairs.

‘It’s a really relaxing and calming space, particularly being up on the firstfloor – it really is like living in amongst those trees’

Sophie replaced the old tiles with reclaimed floorboards. A lace-detail antique sheet has been transformed into a shower curtain. For a similar traditional bath and sink try CP Hart.

Sophie’s advice to anyone taking on a similar project is: ‘be open minded about how it will evolve. All renovations have losses and gains.’ In this instance she ‘gained’ two beautiful brick replaces in the bedrooms, previously boarded up, and even found an old newspaper buried in the landing wall, dated 3rd August 1899: ‘I took a photo then popped it back.’ But the biggest change was in the master bedroom. As the entire roof had to come o anyway, Sophie chose to open the ceiling up to the rafters. ‘While I lost half my lo space as a result, it was worth it, as I now have a huge, light-filled space – and those views across to France really are quite special!’ cotedefolk.com

The wardrobe, painted in Calke Green by Farrow & Ball, provides a splash of colour against the all-white scheme in the bedroom. The storage baskets are from Ardingly antiques fair and the rug is left over from when Sophie had her own homewares shop
the entire roof had to be replaced, which led Sophie to take the internal bedroom ceiling up to the rafters which adds to the sense of light and space. The bed is from Loaf and Sophie reupholstered the headboard in classic ticking and dressed it with a mix of antique French linen and pieces from H&M Home
Kyd’s bedroom has a lovely school dormitory feel. The bed came from Facebook Marketplace and the task light is from Hoxton Store. Artworks by Duncan Weston, available from Whistleblower Gallery, hang above the bed.
interior designer Sophie Rowell

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