Your Home – August 2019

http://www.yourhomemagazine.co.uk August 2019 87

REAL HOME

Feature

Karen Wilson

Photos

Katie Lee

For stockists see page 120

COME ON IN...

WE ARE Lorraine McGill, an operations

director of an IT company and owner of

interior design business Willow & Maine,

husband Paul, a project manager at HMRC,

and daughters Kate, 13, and Emma, 10,

pl us Indie the Bichon dog.

OUR HOME Is a four-bedroom Victorian

detached house in Ryton, Tyne & Wear, where

we’ve lived for almost seven years.

MY STYLE IS Hamptons/New England

with fresh, light colours and touches of wood

and rattan, while Paul is a bit more industrial.

MY ADVICE Is to take into account

other spaces. Rooms needs to complement

rather than jar with each other. You don’t

want to go for dark blue in one room if the

neighbouring space is white.

OUR BIGGEST MISTAKE Was painting

the walls in the living room a putty grey when

I was after a soft grey. I’d got a tester pot but

it looked different when the light hit it.

SHOPS I LOVE ARE The White

Company, plus Dyvols and Nicky Jones

Furniture & Interiors, both in Corbridge.

GROUND

FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR

TOP FLOOR

jarring. Unifying the scheme, linking all
the spaces and creating a cohesive flow
was a high priority for Lorraine, who set
about redecorating throughout in a New
England/Hamptons style. ‘I prefer quite a
minimal colour palette, with the exception
of my daughters’ rooms, and tend to stick

to white, grey and pale blues throughout

the house,’ she says.

The living room has been changed two

or three times, most recently with a new

carpet. ‘As there’s a cellar underneath,

it was always cold, so a cosy flooring has

helped,’ explains Lorraine, who has

Lorraine lightened

up the walls with

Little Vines silver

wallpaper from Laura

Ashley and added a

mix of blue and pink

cushions from M&S.

‘We tend to come in

here after 9pm,’ she

says. ‘The L-shaped

corner sofa from

Barker & Stonehouse

is really comfortable

for watching films’

The window panelling had already been stripped back when the

pair moved in. ‘I considered shutters but thought it would look

too regimented and wouldn’t work against the wood panelling,’

says Lorraine. ‘Instead, we opted for white wooden Venetian blinds

which have really lightened up the room and cost a third of the

price.’ The Aldsworth butler’s tray from Garden Trading is similar to

this one. The Broadway star lamp is from Made

To stop the hall

feeling too dark,

Lorraine re-painted

the pale gold walls

in white along with

the stairs and has

brought in a mirror

to bounce the light

around. The grey

patterned cotton

rug is from H&M

roomSun

Mezza-nine

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 1

Bedroom 3

Walk in

wardrobe

Study

Hall

wc

wc

Lounge

Dining room

Vestibule

Hall

Kitchen