{"id":15900,"date":"2022-10-15T09:30:41","date_gmt":"2022-10-15T07:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=36491"},"modified":"2022-10-15T09:52:10","modified_gmt":"2022-10-15T07:52:10","slug":"a-cornish-farmhouse-filled-with-mid-century-design","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/a-cornish-farmhouse-filled-with-mid-century-design\/","title":{"rendered":"A Cornish farmhouse filled with mid-century design"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Jo Leevers\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 15 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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\u2018The most interesting interiors are the ones that have come together naturally, using pieces from different periods,\u2019 says Christen Pears. \u2018To me, a home that develops organically is far more interesting than one where everything has been bought to match an existing look.\u2019 The farmhouse that Christen shares with her husband, Chris Blake, demonstrates her ethos beautifully, with pieces by Arne Jacobsen, B\u00f8rge Mogensen and Ernest Race<\/a> working in their rural Cornish home.<\/p>\n

Christen was already an admirer of mid-century and Scandinavian furniture when she and Chris took on the renovation of this beautiful farmhouse and its outbuildings. Now, its pared-back spaces work as a suitable backdrop to her favourite designs. \u2018If a piece is well-designed, its shape, colour or material will endure and work in different settings,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

The building dates from the 1700s, but 20th-century alterations had gutted parts of its original character. At the back, there was a tacked-on extension with a corrugated plastic roof and duct tape at the windows. On the plus side, a previous owner had also opened up the ground floor, creating an open-plan feel that is unusual for a farmhouse of this age.<\/p>\n

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It was this layout \u2013 along with the set of outbuildings \u2013 that attracted the couple to the property. \u2018In a way, the fact that the house wasn\u2019t perfectly preserved was a bonus,\u2019 says Christen. \u2018I felt freer to do what I wanted, which was to restore the features that had survived, but then add my own style.\u2019<\/p>\n

Pale Dinesen flooring now runs through the entire house, replacing the old floorboards that were too far gone to rescue. Boards that were salvageable have been re-used as cabinet fronts in the scullery, a space that replaced the old extension. \u2018It\u2019s the newest bit of the house, but it feels much older and functions just like a traditional scullery,\u2019 says Christen. \u2018It\u2019s where we store food, do laundry and I make jams and chutneys with the fruit and vegetables we grow.\u2019<\/p>\n

Before moving to Cornwall, the couple had lived in Bermuda and Western Australia, places where Chris was based as a captain of tall ships and Christen worked as a journalist and then a pilates instructor. Some items dotted around their home date from their time in Australia, including immaculate vintage glassware, a Victorian chandelier and a Japanese antique<\/a> chest. \u2018I love how these objects once graced very different homes, but look fresh all over again in their new setting,\u2019 says Christen.<\/p>\n

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More recently, Christen has bought key pieces of mid-century furniture<\/a> on eBay, specialist site Pamono and at local auctions and vintage shops<\/a>. A trip to Stockholm reignited her love of Josef Frank textiles, which add vibrancy to the dining room and conservatory. \u2018One of my rare concessions to bright colours,\u2019 she smiles.<\/p>\n

Christen particularly admires the designs of B\u00f8rge Mogensen, but also added Arne Jacobsen\u2019s Grand Prix chairs to the dining room and a vintage DA1 armchair by Ernest Race, recovered in emerald green wool, to their living room. It sits alongside a wall of Penguin paperbacks, a collection to which Christen is steadily adding. \u2018My aim is to read all of them \u2013 the obscure ones, as well as the classics.\u2019<\/p>\n

These are the trimmings, though \u2013 after a complicated renovation that lasted for five years and included three holiday cottages near the farmhouse, collectively known as Middle Colenso. Two further barns were also renovated: one is now a sleek pilates studio where Christen holds classes, and the other is a library, where elegant chairs by B\u00f8rge Mogensen and Hans J Wegner are placed around an open fireplace \u2013 an arrangement that perfectly sums up how Christen balances Scandi simplicity and Cornish rustic.<\/p>\n

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\u2018I like Josef Frank\u2019s theory of Accidentism \u2013 that the objects in our homes should look as if they have been accumulated by chance,\u2019 she says. \u2018Bringing together pieces that come from different eras but share a common thread is what makes a home feel natural.\u2019<\/p>\n