Step Inside a Modern-Day English Home With Medieval Roots
Watch and read how a designer updated an 18th-century home with current style and function while honoring its history
Mitchell Parker
March 29, 2022
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative... More
When English designer Katherine Briggs had to relocate with her family to Warwickshire county in the English countryside, she wanted to find a period property rich with history and design potential. What she got was more than she could have hoped for.
The property sits in King’s Newnham village and dates to the Middle Ages, well before William Shakespeare was born in 1564 an hour away in Stratford-upon-Avon. At least one house was built and demolished on the land before King’s Newnham Hall was built in the 18th century, Briggs says. In 1923, a local farming family bought it, and they owned it until Briggs and her family bought it in 2020.
Since then, Briggs has embarked on a careful restoration of the home, bringing it up to modern-day standards while honoring its deep history. She didn’t knock down any walls but did convert some of the 10 bedrooms into bathrooms — there was only one before — and added original cast-iron tubs from the Savoy hotel in London. In the kitchen, white marble-look quartz countertops provide a durable work surface while nodding to traditional white marbles often used in Georgian times. A furniture-style plate rack and Aga range also honor the past with style.
The property sits in King’s Newnham village and dates to the Middle Ages, well before William Shakespeare was born in 1564 an hour away in Stratford-upon-Avon. At least one house was built and demolished on the land before King’s Newnham Hall was built in the 18th century, Briggs says. In 1923, a local farming family bought it, and they owned it until Briggs and her family bought it in 2020.
Since then, Briggs has embarked on a careful restoration of the home, bringing it up to modern-day standards while honoring its deep history. She didn’t knock down any walls but did convert some of the 10 bedrooms into bathrooms — there was only one before — and added original cast-iron tubs from the Savoy hotel in London. In the kitchen, white marble-look quartz countertops provide a durable work surface while nodding to traditional white marbles often used in Georgian times. A furniture-style plate rack and Aga range also honor the past with style.
Briggs knew she had to make the kitchen functional for her family of five. “When I’m looking at any family house, whether it’s for a client or myself, it’s such an important hub of the house — you spend a lot of time in your kitchen,” Briggs says. “You’re in there making a lot of meals every day. It’s where the family congregates.… So it was important to make that core space function for our family.”
A hardworking island features seating and lots of storage and prep surface.
Briggs looked at key Georgian features and worked her designs around those. In Georgian times, white marble was commonly used for countertops. But with a busy kitchen, Briggs wanted something more forgiving than marble, which is vulnerable to staining and etching. So she went with a white marble-look quartz. “That created a little bit more of an original feature for a Georgian house,” she says. “And that’s really integral when you’re looking at traditional period properties, being able to create that modern-day living but also to ensure that you’re bringing the characteristics of the property out.”
Watch now: Go inside this restored Georgian-style home on Houzz TV
A hardworking island features seating and lots of storage and prep surface.
Briggs looked at key Georgian features and worked her designs around those. In Georgian times, white marble was commonly used for countertops. But with a busy kitchen, Briggs wanted something more forgiving than marble, which is vulnerable to staining and etching. So she went with a white marble-look quartz. “That created a little bit more of an original feature for a Georgian house,” she says. “And that’s really integral when you’re looking at traditional period properties, being able to create that modern-day living but also to ensure that you’re bringing the characteristics of the property out.”
Watch now: Go inside this restored Georgian-style home on Houzz TV
Before: The previous kitchen had last been updated in the 1950s. “I started off with very little,” Briggs says. She stripped back all the vinyl and Formica and started fresh.
After: Wood cabinets painted a pale neutral tone have a furniture-style look to them that recalls traditional cabinet designs.
The black Aga range adds to the style while giving Briggs, who loves baking, lots of functionality.
To the right, just out of view, are two large pantry cabinets, or larders, flanking the refrigerator. “It’s important not just for the kitchen to look fantastic at the end,” Briggs says, “it’s also important that the function works for that family. What do you need in your kitchen? And what are your functions? Do you like to have lots of things on show? Do you want it all put away? How much dry food do you have? How much fresh food do you have? All of that will basically build your kitchen.
“For us, we have a lot of cereals, a lot of pasta — I have three sons. So there are a lot of dry elements to my cooking. I cook from scratch, so I have lots of jars and spices and herbs. It was important for one side of the kitchen to have two very big larders to store all of that.”
Briggs installed wood-look porcelain tile flooring in a herringbone pattern to create the appearance of more width in the room. The material is also a good conductor of heat, which radiates up from an electric underfloor heating system. “Just to get a little more warmth in those cold winter months,” Briggs says. “You can literally walk barefoot.”
Find a kitchen designer near you
The black Aga range adds to the style while giving Briggs, who loves baking, lots of functionality.
To the right, just out of view, are two large pantry cabinets, or larders, flanking the refrigerator. “It’s important not just for the kitchen to look fantastic at the end,” Briggs says, “it’s also important that the function works for that family. What do you need in your kitchen? And what are your functions? Do you like to have lots of things on show? Do you want it all put away? How much dry food do you have? How much fresh food do you have? All of that will basically build your kitchen.
“For us, we have a lot of cereals, a lot of pasta — I have three sons. So there are a lot of dry elements to my cooking. I cook from scratch, so I have lots of jars and spices and herbs. It was important for one side of the kitchen to have two very big larders to store all of that.”
Briggs installed wood-look porcelain tile flooring in a herringbone pattern to create the appearance of more width in the room. The material is also a good conductor of heat, which radiates up from an electric underfloor heating system. “Just to get a little more warmth in those cold winter months,” Briggs says. “You can literally walk barefoot.”
Find a kitchen designer near you
A wall-mounted plate rack hangs near the sink. “That’s something that’s quite traditional,” Briggs says. “The plate rack gives it a furniture-like look that’s more traditional to Georgian times. It’s quite nice to bring a little bit of texture and difference into the kitchen and not just have a row of cabinets.”
Watch now: See more of this kitchen in the latest episode of Houzz TV
Watch now: See more of this kitchen in the latest episode of Houzz TV
After: This view of the updated living room from another angle shows how Briggs restored the white half-dome plasterwork flanking the fireplace.
The mantel and surround is a reclaimed piece that Briggs installed. The grate is cast iron.
Briggs kept the interior rooms in their existing locations. “We didn’t knock down any walls to have huge open-space living,” she says. “That’s not something you would usually be allowed to do in a traditional building. And in our case, I didn’t want to do that with King’s Newnham Hall. It was important to keep the symmetry and the origins of the actual rooms and how they were used in the olden days.”
That left the living room with a relatively small footprint, which suited Briggs and her family. “Being such a large house, the sitting room’s not such a large space, but I quite like that because it’s a very warm and comforting, cozy space,” she says.
The walls are painted Mizzle by Farrow & Ball, a gray-green. A French rug anchors the room and was a jumping-off point for the colors Briggs used for the curtains and pillows.
Browse a curated collection of furniture in earthy and moody colors
The mantel and surround is a reclaimed piece that Briggs installed. The grate is cast iron.
Briggs kept the interior rooms in their existing locations. “We didn’t knock down any walls to have huge open-space living,” she says. “That’s not something you would usually be allowed to do in a traditional building. And in our case, I didn’t want to do that with King’s Newnham Hall. It was important to keep the symmetry and the origins of the actual rooms and how they were used in the olden days.”
That left the living room with a relatively small footprint, which suited Briggs and her family. “Being such a large house, the sitting room’s not such a large space, but I quite like that because it’s a very warm and comforting, cozy space,” she says.
The walls are painted Mizzle by Farrow & Ball, a gray-green. A French rug anchors the room and was a jumping-off point for the colors Briggs used for the curtains and pillows.
Browse a curated collection of furniture in earthy and moody colors
As mentioned earlier, the home started off with 10 bedrooms and just one bathroom. Briggs converted some of the bedrooms to bathrooms but kept the same dimensions, resulting in spacious layouts. She liked the morning view in another bedroom so much that she chose that as the new primary bedroom and converted the old one into the main bathroom, shown here. “It is an incredibly big bathroom,” she says.
Watch now: Visit this home in the English countryside
Watch now: Visit this home in the English countryside
Briggs found three cast-iron rolltop bathtubs originally from the Savoy hotel in London and installed them in the new bathrooms. She had them painted to blend in with and complement the wall colors.
To create storage, Briggs bought a few French-designed wardrobes. Here’s an example in one of the other bathrooms.
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
Before: Original wood elements in the former dining room were in good shape but needed some restoring.
After: The updated dining room has become Briggs’ favorite space. “For lots of reasons but mainly because of the original Georgian features,” she says.
The arched wood door on the right opens to a converted bar cabinet. The one on the left leads to the kitchen.
Trompe l’oeil wallpaper (Old Gloucester Street by Little Greene) mimics the look of wooden panels, which were common in Georgian times. “It’s one of my favorite collections,” Briggs says. “And I’ve always wanted to integrate it into one of my houses.”
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The arched wood door on the right opens to a converted bar cabinet. The one on the left leads to the kitchen.
Trompe l’oeil wallpaper (Old Gloucester Street by Little Greene) mimics the look of wooden panels, which were common in Georgian times. “It’s one of my favorite collections,” Briggs says. “And I’ve always wanted to integrate it into one of my houses.”
Watch now: Step inside this historic home updated for modern-day living
More on Houzz
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Lovely modernization while being true to the house. I love that the original walls were respected.
Just watched the video tour and my personal favourite room is the sitting room. A truly tranquil space
You had really great vision. I love it.:)