Rachel Crow

3 weeks ago | idealhome.co.uk | Karen Darlow |Rachel Crow

A love of colour and pattern is evident as soon as you walk through the door of this pretty cottage down a quiet rural road on the outskirts of Farnham, in Surrey. ‘Ten years ago I loved pale pastels, shabby chic and toile de Jouy,’ says owner Flora Rigg. ‘But now ikat and paisley Indian block prints are more my style, along with bolder colours.’When Flora and her husband, Chris, bought the simple three-bedroom cottage it turned out to be the perfect choice.

1 month ago | idealhome.co.uk | Alice Roberton |Rachel Crow

Finding their perfect new home just across the road from their old house, in an area they loved, was more luck than Lola and Mike had dared dream of. The couple had just had their third child and their 1930s semi was feeling snug. So they plucked up the courage to ask their neighbours if they would consider selling privately. ‘To our delight, they said yes and we moved in at the end of 2010,’ says Lola.

1 month ago | idealhome.co.uk | Karen Darlow |Rachel Crow

Patience and caution are key when you are tackling a big renovation. ‘Take your time, do it well and do it once. If you wait longer, you will get a better result,’ says Becky Rossetto, who took her time renovating her family's Victorian home. ‘This is the slowest renovation we’ve ever done,’ says Becky. ‘We started in 2019 and there’s one more room to do, but I’m so happy with what we’ve achieved.’Her patience has been rewarded with the home of her dreams, filled with some stunning wallpaper ideas.

2 months ago | idealhome.co.uk | Marisha Taylor |Rachel Crow

Nestled in the rolling hills of Devon’s South Hams, just a stone’s throw from the wooded banks of the beautiful river Dart, sits a quiet hamlet. It's a setting that Rebecca Walker instantly fell in love with when viewing her cottage for the first time in 2020. ‘We have lived in our rented farmhouse in West Berkshire, running our landscaping and tree surgery business from there for more than 15 years,’ explains Rebecca.

2 months ago | idealhome.co.uk | Pippa Blenkinsop |Rachel Crow

When they decided to relocate to the Cotswolds from a Victorian home in Lincolnshire, seasoned renovators Nichola and Richard Keeble decided they wanted a project. They didn't, however, anticipate some of the discoveries they’d make peeling back the layers of this home’s 400 years of history. They found their perfect property in the small town of Painswick. The exterior had all the charm of classic Cotswold architecture – gables, a slate roof and stone mullioned windows.