Although the house is largely finished, she still looks for items to add to her collections at local auctions and is often guided by colour – a vase, a rug, a painting that could add another decorative layer to a room or an element of intrigue. Recently she made a bid on some old books. ‘I thought the spines were so beautiful and the colours would look lovely on the shelves in the sitting room,’ she says.

Mixing Old and New

Over the years, the couple have gradually found and bought the furniture they needed at auctions and antiques markets, though Melanie was careful not to turn her home into a museum. She took inspiration from local designer Ben Pentreath, who has a talent for blending antiques with vintage and contemporary pieces in a natural, layered effect.

The key to making disparate pieces work together is about choosing similar materials or looking for things with a shared quality of design and workmanship, she explains, whether it’s a new linen cushion or an old antique rug. ‘For me, that commonality creates the harmony to combining different periods,’ she says.