{"id":32832,"date":"2024-04-17T17:45:24","date_gmt":"2024-04-17T15:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/c2238a01-d5b1-4485-a1e3-ebc0fc44c192"},"modified":"2024-04-17T18:37:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T16:37:56","slug":"a-renovated-victorian-house-in-derby-filled-with-intriguing-finds","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/a-renovated-victorian-house-in-derby-filled-with-intriguing-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"A renovated Victorian house in Derby filled with intriguing finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The appeal of antiques goes far beyond the physical for interior designer Sarah Reynolds, and she has filled her home with intriguing pieces that have an emotional connection. Feature Katie Pike. Photographs James French <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 17 April 2024 at 15:45 PM<\/p>

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For most, a love of antiques is instilled during childhood, passed on from a parent or favourite relative. Antiques bring with them a sense of nostalgia \u2013 either for the onlooker\u2019s own childhood, or for a time long in the past, never experienced and only imagined. For interior designer Sarah Reynolds, who treasures items owned by her family, it\u2019s a bit of both.<\/p>

Growing up, she says, she was old before her time. \u2018As a child, I liked visiting stately homes<\/a> and loved watching Upstairs, Downstairs. The behind-the-scenes aspect of grand houses fascinated me.\u2019 So deep-rooted was her curiosity that, when she was eight, she had a recurring dream that she could fly \u2013 and with this superpower she would go and nose around stately homes. <\/p>

\u2018I\u2019m interested in how other people live, past and present. When I was little, we had a neighbour who I thought was the most glamorous person in the world. She had one of the JH Lynch Tina prints, which I now have in my kitchen and, on reflection, her home was actually quite kitschy,\u2019 she says. \u2018I take inspiration from everywhere.\u2019<\/p>

It\u2019s fitting that Sarah\u2019s home now, a renovated Victorian<\/a> house in Derby, which she shares with husband Mike and their two children, Betty (10) and Arthur (16), is the type to illicit this same admiration. Over the past 18 years, the couple have transformed their home and filled it with colour<\/a>, pattern<\/a> and intriguing finds \u2013 all of which are key to Sarah\u2019s characterful design style and her flair for combining all three is evident in each room.<\/p>

The kitchen<\/a>, for instance, was designed around a vintage gentlemen\u2019s outfitters cabinet (which sat awkwardly in the living room for 18 months while the kitchen was being renovated) and also features a display of vintage French glass pendant lights<\/a> and bespoke English oak cabinets \u2013 new but designed to blend with the salvaged furniture<\/a>.<\/p>

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\u2018I wanted the kitchen to resemble part-shop, part-science lab, with a little bit of below-stairs servants\u2019 quarters atmosphere thrown in,\u2019 she says. Sarah doesn\u2019t want her interiors to resemble museums, so mixes pieces from different eras and offsets her furniture and accessories with bold contemporary wallpapers<\/a> (think Blackpop) and textiles (House of Hackney is a favourite). Walls are similarly punchy \u2013 all dark blues, moody greens and muted pinks.<\/p>

Sarah\u2019s parents were into old things, too \u2013 and, like Sarah, had eclectic taste, teaming a treasured 1950s jukebox with Victorian oil paintings. Sarah would go with her mum to flea markets<\/a> and, at the age of seven she bought her first vintage item. \u2018It began with a Jersey cow milk jug,\u2019 she says. \u2018I still have it now and use it every Christmas to pour cream from.\u2019 <\/p>

Other treasured items were passed down from her grandparents. \u2018I like to be surrounded by things that belonged to people I loved,\u2019 she says. \u2018The cabinet in my bedroom used to sit in my grandma\u2019s living room where it displayed a collection of ceramic dogs. I remember sitting there and playing with the dogs for ages. My grandma was my favourite person in the world.\u2019<\/p>

Having a personal connection to an object is a big part of how Sarah chooses antiques. A collection of vintage Pontefract liquorice tins is testament to this. \u2018Liquorice was a massive part of Pontefract, the town that I grew up in.<\/p>

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My aunty Bet, who my daughter is named after, worked at one of the liquorice factories and would hand-stamp each sweet with the company\u2019s castle logo. Pontefract used to be the only place outside of Spain where liquorice was grown \u2013 the town still smells of it today \u2013 so, whenever I catch a smell of liquorice, it takes me home,\u2019 says Sarah.<\/p>

Other collections include bird prints<\/a>, seascapes and coloured glass. \u2018I started buying vintage glass<\/a> when I was 15 and probably have about 25 vases, bowls and bottles now,\u2019 she say. \u2018The first piece I bought was a small bobbly vase that cost 30p from a vintage shop in Leeds. I never spend more than \u00a315 on glassware and tend to go for pieces that date from the 1950s\u201370s, although it\u2019s the shape and colour that I\u2019m drawn to.\u2019<\/p>