#personal decor

The kitchen is papered with Harlequin’s Brighton design which features pen and ink drawings of Brighton houses, both Regency and modern, accentuated with splashes of red and blue.

In the corner, by the door to the garden, stands a Rock-Ola Princess Deluxe jukebox.

The study, painted in two shades of muted grey; the room has a serene feel, with armchairs covered with vintage linen and Mandy’s embroidered cushions and blankets.

The stairs are covered with a smart red and cream runner.

On the landing, quilts hang on the walls and over the banister.

In Mandy and Phil’s room the ornate brass bed is covered with an English ‘wholecloth.’

Mandy made the curtains from a bright Laura Ashley print, but didn’t have quite enough fabric, so she lined and edged them with a red and white polka dot fabric and added frilled pelmets.

Daughter Harriet’s bedroom holds a double bed covered with vintage and homemade quilts. There is a child-sized Welsh dresser, one of four that Phil made for all the children.

The family bathroom is decorated with tiny star patterned wallpaper and duck egg blue painted matchboard panels.

Union Jack bunting is above the open French doors to the garden. Just in front of the doors stands a dapple-grey rocking horse. “Phil made that for the children and put a time capsule in it, and he made the wooden Noah’s Ark and the train on the shelf above too,” says Mandy.

Mandy’s studio. Almost every patch of wall is covered in shelving full of books, fabrics, patterns, cotton reels, completed and unfinished quilts, soft toys and baskets of ribbons and trimmings.

The ground floor below Mandy’s studio is home to carpenter Phil’s weatherboarded workshop.

The garden features some of Mandy’s father’s woodcarvings and is home to an unruly trio of chickens.