Bedrooms

A twin guest bedroom was created by Sarah for the original mill room of a converted village olive mill using a mixture of English pine bedside tables and chest of drawers, bed bases in ’moucharabi’ carved wood from Tangiers, antique kelim rugs from Turkey and Morocco and decorative items from local antique shops. The walls were colour washed yellow and the ceiling soft terracotta to lighten the effect of the dark beams and concealed lighting installed above the new masonry and brick shelving to give more light and bookshelf space.

This elegant bedroom is part of the Master Bedroom Suite ,including bathroom and dressing room, for a ’cortijo’ in Andalucia. It was designed by Sarah to include Arabic touches, typical of the 13th century Mudejar/Al Andalus era of Andalucia, such as the brick surround to the bathroom. The bedhead was originally an antique wooden carving that Sarah found in a junk shop in England and had made up into a bedhead by her upholsterer in Spain who made a padded headboard covered with cream Indian crewel-work material. Cream muslin curtains tied onto metal curtain rods together with cushions and embroidered quilt from India co-ordinate with it to create a light and romantic bedroom.

A light and high-ceilinged bedroom with french windows leading onto a south-facing balcony was created by Sarah for an Andalucian country house, using neutral colours to set off the family antique furniture such as the painted Florentine desk and ’bergere’ cane and painted carved wood armchair. Plain seagrass matting finishes off this tranquil haven cooled by a ceiling fan in summer.

The main bedroom of an old village house in Gaucin was built into the first floor space where Serrano hams and strings of peppers used to hang to dry. The original old oak beams were re-used for the steeply pitched ceiling and door lintels to create an authentic feeling. Cool grey-blue paintwork and decorative touches in blue, together with antique walnut Spanish country furniture were bought in Ronda by Sarah to complete the rustic look. The brick arch over the shelving niche with Moroccan decorated jars echoes the Hispano-Moorish past of the village.

The lime-washed terracotta walls and beamed ceiling enhance the rich effect of this exotic bedroom newly built by Sarah above an converted village olive mill. The four poster bed was created by Sarah from antique wooden carvings collected over the years - the carved twisted vine -leaf design poles, originally from a church came from an architectural salvage suppliers and the gilt ribbed curtain cornicing from a house auction. All were assembled and the gilding restored by Michael and Liz Bayer and finished off with swathes of cream muslin and a silk Indian bedcover. The 18th century Portuguese leather- studded trunk at the foot of the bed, George 1 lowboy oak table with a carved gilt 19th century mirror above it - all family items, complete this eclectic and original mix of furniture.

This attic bedroom with the Turkish kelim laid over rough old terracotta tiles, Indian cutwork bedspread with matching cushions and the intricately curved Spanish metal headboard together with the subdued tile wall corner lights are a relaxing hideaway retreat for its owner.

The yellow-ochre limewashed walls and stripped local chestnut beams of the guest bedroom of a country house Sarah designed near Gaucin, offset the King-size bed with its padded bedhead made to order by a local upholsterer and covered with an old flat -weave kelim rug. This and the cream, rough- woven woollen Berber blanket and kelim cushions were all found by Sarah during a buying trip in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The furniture is a mixture of English Victorian and Edwardian pieces brought from England.