Philip Hooper's beautiful, eclectic 16th century cottage
A stone's throw from the coast between Hastings and Rye lies the converted barn that Philip Hooper, one of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler's decorators, regards as home, though he is here only at weekends. Its apparent modesty - one large, soaring room, with a kitchen, a conservatory and two bedrooms leading off it - is beguiling; it is also misleading because, like the very best designed spaces, its true complexity, the masterly way in which diverse components have been put together, reveals itself slowly.
Philip admits to having 'an acquisitive streak', and when his growing collection of pictures and furniture needed more room than his Fifties, modernist beach house nearby could provide, he began to look for something bigger. As soon as he saw it, he realised that this house would 'give me just the space I wanted to play with', and 'because it was in the process of being renovated, I was able to change many of the specifications and get just what I wanted.'
Built as a barn in the 1580s, it was converted into a house 'probably in the Thirties, and then, in the Fifties, it became a private dining club - with a rather racy reputation,' says Philip. Later, it was used as a house again. Luckily, despite all the changes, the main sixteenth-century beams remained intact and unpainted; instead of any radical alterations to the internal space, extra rooms and a large fireplace had been added on. Thus, 'the building retains some of its integrity as a barn,' says Philip, who accentuated this quality by painting the walls and ceiling white and using simple linen blinds at the windows.
As you walk through the main entrance, your eye is immediately drawn to the mise en scene directly ahead. Facing you, on an antique trestle table, are three bronze Buddhist statues from Burma, a Japanese ceramic dish, a scarlet ceramic pumpkin from Thailand, and a modernist Spanish lantern, while on the wall behind, a pair of animal-head masks from Argentina and two Thirties Irish landscapes frame a Rajasthani painting. Arresting, intriguing and quirky, yet perfectly balanced and somehow at home beneath the beams, the tableau speaks volumes. It is evidence not only of Philip's fondness for 'having things around me that are representative of places I've been to', but also of the intuitively skilful way in which he has brought them together.
From here, the dining area, which leads to the kitchen, is on the right. To the left is the sitting 'room', demarcated by a deep-buttoned, pale velvet ottoman, the kind of device -'seating that serves as a divider but which you can look across' -that Philip loves. Although this is the most formal part of the house, it emanates a sense of ease, and it is only when you start to analyse the components that the richness of the mix of styles, periods and countries of origin unfolds. Howard-style armchairs and a sofa combine with two Chinese elm tables and a glass tabletop supported by three Sixties Italian oak spheres; a decorated side table from Marrakesh accompanies one of the French fauteuils, the seats of which are draped in ikat fabric from Indonesia; and the focal point is a pair of majestic 'Lutyens-feel' candlesticks.
MAY WE SUGGEST: A harmonious Regency house in Hampshire with interiors by Philip Hooper
The dining area and the two bedrooms are similarly filled with an eclectic miscellany of furniture, including chairs designed by Lutyens for the Viceroy's House in New Delhi and a Thirties cupboard painted by John Fowler; of twentieth-century pictures, many with local connotations; and of things found abroad, from Budapest to Burma. 'When clients ask me if one object they own will go with another, I tell them that if they really like both, then yes, they will. And then I find a way of making that work,' says Philip. In his own house he has made it work to perfection, and with what seems to have been effortless ease.
Simon Upton1/10In Philip Hooper's converted barn, the expansive open-plan living area with its lofty beamed and vaulted ceiling serves as sitting room, dining room and canvas for his eclectic collection of possessions sourced from his many travels.
Simon Upton2/10In the corridor there is a Chinese table and an Aesthetic Movement chair with a rush seat.
Simon Upton3/10The fireplace was added when the barn was first converted.
Simon Upton4/10On top of a Forties cabinet by Maurice Pre is a collection of Poole and Rye pottery.
Simon Upton5/10The dining chairs, a Lutyens design for the Viceroy's House in New Delhi,
are upholstered in 'Alcantara' by Lelievre.
Simon Upton6/10In the entrance hall, next to a 'Superleggera' chair by Gio Ponti, is a brown and white leather plinth designed by Philip and bearing an Etruscanstyle head, and a turtle shell found in Hastings.
Simon Upton7/10In the main bedroom, the fourposter is hung with Irish linen and the cushions are batik, while the patchwork quilt was a chance find.
Simon Upton8/10Near to the window is a Thirties wardrobe painted by John Fowler and a Howard-style chair covered in old corduroy; the carpet is from lsfahan.
Simon Upton9/10In the spare room, the reproduction Victorian bedstead was painted by Philip, the elephant lamp is from Sri Lanka, and the ladderback chairs next to the Thirties table are 'probably a Lutyens design'.
Simon Upton10/10Philip is seen here with his vintage red Mercedes.
