How to style a medieval house

Medieval houses are by their very nature designed for living in another age. Low light, low ceilings, not a straight line in sight - homes and buildings of such age are often incredibly characterful and charming, but pose a set of design challenges which need careful consideration in order to do them justice. In Devon, we are blessed with many beautiful and historic homes, and at Studio Yarner we always love to work on projects which bring old houses and buildings back to life. 

For the interior design of our 'Dartington Medieval' project in South Devon, our brief was to take a collection of dark, cold and uninviting rooms and create a beautiful family home which was warm, inviting and timeless. See our approach to styling an old house below.
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Embrace the Light & go Natural

With a 600 year old, grade II listed building, the bones and structure of the building are not something which can be altered - the challenge with this project and any like it is to design creatively within the confines of the architectural features and listed components, without the options of being able to add windows or knock down walls to bring more light into a room. 

As such, when designing a room in an old house or building, embracing and understanding light and how it fills a space is incredibly important. For our 'Dartington Medieval' project, we focused on using natural tones which complimented rather than competed with the various natural finishes that were part of the fabric of the building. With almost-black slate floors, granite walls, dark oak beams pinched centuries ago from the hull of a eight hundred year old ship, we had to choose a wall colour able to harmonise with these various tones & finishes, whilst embracing the low light levels which come with such an ancient building. 

In the Entrance Hall we chose to use Edward Bulmer’s ‘Sang de Boeuf’ - a warm terracotta colour, as a reference to the deep red mud that is unique to South Devon. This ancient pigment would have been used at the time this building was first lived in. A useful tip is to try and think about how light changes with the seasons and how that will affect the colour you choose. In the Family Living Room, which benefits from more natural light - especially in the summer - we designed a cosy space painted in 'Lilac pink' - a light, subtle and warm tone, also by Edward Bulmer. 

Entrance Hall with 17th century oak sideboard & ‘Matador’ portrait.

Create an Oasis

In older houses where light comes at a premium, we always try to create one lighter space which acts as a wow moment for guests and a refreshing oasis of brightness for our clients to enjoy everyday. In our ‘Dartington Medieval’ project, we designed the kitchen space to be just that - a light drenched space with double height ceilings which maximises the use of large french doors opening to an external courtyard & garden beyond. 

Starting with the wall treatments, not any old white treatment would do - the colour has to be soft and natural in tone, in order to compliments the existing features. For this space, we chose 'Plain white' by Edward Bulmer, which is a deep, rich white packed with natural pigments. This was complemented by a light Carrara marble counter top, balancing out the darker granite throughout the space, as well as a soft white on the kitchen joinery, harmonising all those lighter tones together. For the floors, we chose a natural oak in wide planks to work with the more aged oak beams in the room, whilst also ensuring a lighter feel was retained. 

Our clients were keen art collectors, but were unable to hang many larger, more vibrant pieces throughout the rest of the house due to the low ceiling heights - in this taller, more open, kitchen space we saw an opportunity to bring in bigger and bolder artwork pieces, including a 1950s Swedish impressionist beach scene, wall plates by Luke Edward Hall, and a huge BOS Whisky print from Northumberland. We paired these with a tablecloth and cushions with splashes of yellow to create a really uplifting & bright feel throughout the kitchen space.

The corner dining area in the kitchen, with vibrant accents of yellow, warm white & red ochre

Design a home, not a museum

Our final tip, and an important one. The temptation with old houses, especially medieval homes, is to lean too heavily into furniture and pieces which reflect the specific era of the house. Our design approach was to mix old with new, carefully curating selected antiques with pieces from more contemporary designers to ensure the spaces feel like a house that can be lived in, rather than an overly curated museum space. 

We selected pieces which have a timeless feel rather than leaning into the latest trends - this helps to keep the furniture in-keeping with the house, making it feel like a collection of pieces acquired naturally over time. We love to use artwork, be it contemporary, folk, impressionist, to create a point of difference. A great example of this was the living room space : it is dissected by a 600 year old original Plank and Muntin screen made of solid oak panels, which acted as the perfect backdrop to hang more contemporary, eye-catching art pieces whilst enabling us to layer in fabrics, lampshades & accessories from more contemporary designers throughout the rest of the room.  

With Devon's trendiest Antiques town of Ashburton only a 15 minutes drive away, we were lucky to be able to source some beautiful pieces from a variety of dealers with a variety of styles. Don’t be afraid to integrate different eras, shapes & styles in a period house: this can bring a contemporary feel to an older space - it will take a bit of time to curate a selection of pieces which work together, but it helps create layers and more depth in the overall design.