adult haven. Grant’s lifelong Vogue collection
is displayed on the shelves — “I’m never
giving them up” — and vases and trinkets
from Zara Home, H&M and a local shop,
Everything but the Dog. Grant says of the
pieces: “They aren’t expensive, they’re just
things I’ve found.”
As well as the high street, Grant turned to
social media for more cost-effective ways of
achieving the look she wanted. “I was
desperate for a bouclé sofa but they were
super-expensive,” so she used Instagram to
track down the perfect bouclé wool cloth
and got her felt Hay sofa reupholstered
instead. “It’s a much more affordable way to
achieve the same look, and a little more
sustainable than buying a new sofa. You can’t
always afford what you want, but there’s
always a way around it.”
The large, airy kitchen-diner is her favourite
room, which she calls the heart of the house.
One of her favourite details is the marble
splashback — “It’s special because I chose
the piece of stone myself ” — and the large,
deep-set window seat, which is “amazing
because it makes the wall look really deep.
We sit there for dinner every day.”
After all that work, is this their forever
home? “I could live in this house for ever,
I love it,” Grant says, “but my husband is
trying to drag me kicking and screaming out
of London for a life in the country.” So is she
finished with the renovations? “I don’t know
if you ever feel like you’re entirely done with
a house, there’s always something. I’d quite
like to buy some new lights for the hall,
but if we’re not going to live here for ever,
I probably shouldn’t.” ■binibamba.com
This picture The kitchen features asplashback made from a cut of marble
that Grant selected herself. The dark
green paint on the cupboards is
Cabbage Patch by Benjamin Moore;
the stools came from Newark
Antiques Centre. Above The garden
furniture on the patio is from Ikea.
Right The main bathroom has a
nonslip marble-effect porcelain floorThe Sunday Times Style • 31