country | 25bh
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riginally bought as a design studio for Esther
Patterson’s bespoke lighting company Curiousa
& Curiousa, this former malthouse in a Derbyshire
village has, in a few years, gone from practical
workplace to stylish home. Built in the 1800s, the property has been
through various guises, but the unique style of the interior struck a
chord with the couple. ‘My husband Paul and I were living across
the road, but our studio space in this building gave us lots of
options,’ says Esther. ‘Firstly, we had the idea of creating a smallindependent cinema, The Northern Lights Cinema. Then we
realised that as our company grew, we would need another base
for our lighting company, so the seed was sown to create a home for
us and our son Gabriel, here above the cinema,’ says Esther.
The couple were confident about making changes to the
upstairs apartment. Despite being in a conservation area, the
property wasn’t listed so the interior design was open to options.
‘The brick walls and beams were a beautiful feature to showcase,’
says Esther. ‘And we wanted to be able to stand at one end of thebest buy ‘The large shelving unit works really well in
here – it was once used to store thread in an old textile mill’25bh AuguST 2019 | 61