Existence on Margot and James Gilfillan’s farm couldn’t become more idyllic. Whether or not they are relaxing on sofas before a crackling fire, gathering round the huge marble-capped table in the household kitchen or strolling through sun-dappled orchards, there appears little to split up the inside and outside within this homestead.
Everyday living for that couple as well as their three kids weaves with the home’s many French doorways, framing domestic scenes set against a backdrop of floral patterns that welcome the outside in, as the abundant greenery beckons the household out.
Your kitchen ideas that connect the house with nature include using colored tiles highlight the fireside and terracotta flooring.
There hasn’t been this type of relaxed flow: disconnected rooms, low ceilings, a dark kitchen and small home windows once defined the initial homestead. It’s testimony towards the couple’s renovations and Margot’s thoughtful decorating that existence around the farm now embraces its surroundings so easily.
The household moved in the Elgin Valley – South Africa’s ‘apple country’ – in 2014, and renovating the home started in serious. Margot’s vision ended up being to prioritize comfort and functionality. Plans incorporated generous spaces that ran seamlessly onto a veranda. ‘I desired to take full advantage of the views, getting plenty of light in,’ she states.
The family room ideas are based on their elegance – the faded blues, dusty fawns, loose upholstery and crafted and rustic pieces alllow for a restful space.
Comfort was necessary, so six open fireplaces were built and underfloor heating installed to supply warmth during the cold months. A brand new wing is built to house a primary suite, three en-suite bedrooms for that women, a tv room, and the and hers home offices, all attached to the original structure having a wide, high-ceilinged passageway, filled with skylights.
Margot tasked landscape designer Franchesca Watson with getting her beliefs in an intimate garden to existence. ‘My garden is essential in my experience,’ states Margot, ‘so the home includes a disproportionate quantity of home windows to take full advantage of its views.’
Planting nearest towards the house features a lawn fringed with delicate grasses and flowers. The primary suite leads onto a wilder, grassy field. This wildness intensifies because the garden steps lower to some pool level, and when more to dam level grown with shrubs and agapanthus.
Inside, floral heritage patterns reference the landscape beyond. ‘I’m an enormous fan of Sanderson, Colefax & Fowler and Bennison fabrics, and used my gut-feel when selecting designs,’ she states. ‘These have been in vegetables, pinks, faded blues and soft reds, always against cream backgrounds. I really like floppy, loose covers for chairs and sofas, and so i splurged on fabrics of these.’
Margot’s passion for traditional decorating, along with nostalgia on her maternal grandmother’s British farmhouse, offered as inspiration if this found furnishing the rooms. ‘I just adore old things and furniture that jogs my memory of the past.’
Margot’s passion for collecting is obvious, too. ‘Nothing is much more rewarding than finding unloved gems and restoring them,’ she states from the second-hands cupboards and tables that house her treasures.