Reflecting back on the day that she and husband Peter purchased their three-storey early 1800s Cotswold stone home, Emma Dellicompagni doesn’t over-romanticise it.
‘This house had been used as a holiday let for years, and the inside was full of 1980s decorating disasters.'
The property occupies a prime spot on the bustling, tree-lined high street of the picturesque Cotswolds village of Broadway, with pretty honey-coloured stone cottages on either side. Millions of tourists who have visited the village will have admired the exterior of the home when the wisteria is blooming around the front portico.
However, the interior was a different story.
‘While the bones of the building were all there, the space didn’t flow very well. There were three small sitting rooms, without any recognisable heart to the interior,' says Emma.
'But we loved the location and I had the vision and passion to restore the property – I couldn’t wait to put it back together again and make it a home.’
Decor vision
Animal print pouffes from Oka
Once she knew the house was theirs, Emma started putting together a huge moodboard with paint swatches, fabrics, photos and sketches, which helped her decide on the décor. As a co-founder of interior design practice Daphne & Daphne, she knew what she was doing.
She has created a layered and cosy space, with occasional elements of quirkiness provided by striking artworks and unexpected combinations of materials or furnishings.
‘The theme came together organically,’ she says. ‘The main thing for me was to create rooms that immediately felt welcoming and cosy. A home should make you feel relaxed as soon as you walk in. And there should always be an element of surprise and fun.’
In the cosy living room, a quirky mix of country house damasks, animal prints and silver accessories brings the space to life.
Knocking through
Kitchen units painted in Skimming Stone by Farrow & Ball
Emma and Peter camped in the loft as the builders worked their way through the rest of the house, pulling up wonky floors, levelling them and replacing rotten floorboards.
They knocked through a wall dividing the kitchen from the dining room to create an open-plan kitchen and replaced the ugly floor tiles with more sympathetic flagstones.
Emma and Peter were happy to keep the existing Aga and cabinets as a budget kitchen idea, adding extra units, replacing the worktops, upgrading the hardware and putting in a new island to make the kitchen a much more sociable place for entertaining.
Converting an oddly placed downstairs cloakroom into a walk-in pantry has created valuable additional storage.
Revealing original features
In the adjoining rustic-style dining room, Peter spent time chipping away at the lilac-painted plaster to reveal some of the original Cotswold stone, while Emma sourced old beams from a local reclamation yard to bring back the period character that had been stripped away some 40 years ago.
The couple also opened up the fireplaces again so they could have real fires in the main rooms.
Mixing antiques and bespoke
Emma is drawn to antiques and vintage pieces. ‘I can’t walk past an antiques shop or junk shop, and I always buy what I love. I never have to think twice, I always find a space,’ she says.
‘If you leave something special behind in an antiques shop, you’ll always regret it. I enjoy curating a room scheme from all the unusual things I’ve found.’
A beautiful antique French chandelier takes pride of place on the landing. The cherub statue was an impulse buy from a reclamation yard.
Emma and Peter had their four-poster bed custom-made to fit the low-ceilinged space. The bed is made from mahogany wood, by Lock Stock & Barrel, to Emma’s design, and could pass for an antique.
Luxurious bathroom
They converted a disjointed sitting room and office into a guest suite and luxurious bathroom.
A copper-sided bath from Indigenous Bathrooms is the focal point of the room, wth a bold pheasant painting above the fireplace by Cornish artist Caroline Walker, perfect for the space.
The round wooden table was an antique shop find.
Courtyard garden
They created an enclosed courtyard garden at the back of the house with outdoor sofas.
'It’s a real sun trap. Peter loves barbecuing and having spent so long living in Portugal, we love to entertain outdoors whenever we can,’ says Emma.
The clever bit was screening off the driveway with a high Cotswold stone wall, which not only keeps the cars out of sight, but also creates a handy windbreak and offers support to climbing plants to add to the sense of a secret garden.
This renovation at the top of Broadway’s busiest street was very visible to neighbours and passers-by. ‘While the builders were at work here, the front door would be wide open and the locals were always so friendly and interested in what we were doing,’ says Emma.
‘We promised the neighbours we’d throw a big party once the build was finished so they could all have a look round. And that’s what we did. It was a great way to get to know everyone, and we’ve made some super friends and are now very much part of village life.’
Get the look
This feature first appeared in Period Living Magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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