We are at the home of Rebecca Middleton and it has now been a year since Rebecca gave up her career in events management and officially came out as the interior designer she always knew she was. As we step over the threshold of her period cottage she makes it clear that this is not the interior of a show house, but her own lovingly curated and characterful home – dear to her heart and very different in style to the interiors she designs for her business, Rebecca Middleton Refined Luxe.

“The style of this house is not at all the style of my clients or even my partner’s house – there it is more neutral, with greys, navy and marble tiles.” Rebecca stresses that this is not a prescriptive look; she is flexible in her approach and tries to reflect her clients’ tastes within her designs. “I’m not like Kelly Hoppen or Abigail Ahern, where you either like their style or not and you know what you are getting before you approach them. Homes are personal. People have to go through a process and have to bring their own personality into it.” 

Rebecca has lived in her house for 10 years, auspiciously, she says with a smile, moving in on Friday 13 August 2010. Since that fateful day, she has lovingly modified and updated the whole house, building a kitchen extension, relocating the bathroom and reinstating some of the period features to the cottage. “The bathroom was downstairs,” she explains. “There was an outhouse for the washer-drier and the people who lived here were using gas heaters.” The ground floor needed some serious updating and a priority was to move the bathroom upstairs. “I didn’t want to traipse up and down the stairs,” she says, “the bathroom should be near to the bedrooms.” Rebecca also felt that the ground floor needed to be expanded to balance the house. “The downstairs was too small and didn’t reflect the three bedroom home, so we opened it up and extended the kitchen to make it all more suitable for a family.” As a result there is now a spacious kitchen diner and separate sitting room on the ground floor.

The property is part of a terrace that was built to house mill workers and their families. The original mill looms quietly at the end of the street, transformed from a place of industry and toil into luxury apartments, overlooking the now tranquil mill pond. The line of terraced houses was built all at once – for economy and ease of construction, and the original floorboards run right through all the houses. “You can see them continue upstairs, through the wall into next door,” Rebecca explains. Each front door opens straight into what would have been the parlour and the stairs are tucked into the middle of the building. At first glance, it’s as if there are no stairs, just a small cupboard in the wall. “People always think the door to the stairs is just a cupboard,” she laughs, opening the narrow louvred door to reveal an unusually steep, but space efficient staircase that teeters (unnervingly for those with vertigo) up two flights to the very top of the house.

Rebecca’s instinctive and long held love of interiors came to the fore as she began to renovate the cottage. “I did most of it on my own – with help from my dad,”  an electrician – and all round handy person it turns out. “There was carpet in the bathroom and the kitchen,” she grimaces, “the decor was very dated – there was even horsehair in the plasterwork on the walls.” They stripped out the interior, installed central heating and replaced the original fireplaces, finding the surrounds from various places, often in the north of England, as this is where Rebecca’s family are from. “One came from a skip,” she remembers. “My dad retrieved it – he asked the owners first, then other items came from places like Hornsea Pottery up north – it’s a real treasure-trove.” The hearth in the sitting room is from Wright Stone and she sourced the reclaimed radiators from Bygones in Canterbury.

Rebecca decorated the whole house herself, even painting the reclaimed radiators and incorporating them into her colour scheme. “I try to use good paint,” she says. “The furniture is painted with Annie Sloan and I use Little Greene, as their range has less toxins.”

The colours on the ground floor are dusky pastels, mainly pink and pale blue and underpinned by the amazing pink tiled floor by Bert and May. “I wanted a statement floor with a pop of colour,” she explains. A pink theme was becoming apparent through the house; “I have collected things over a long period of time and pink just seems to run through most of the rooms.” There’s a huge pink lampshade hovering over the dining table by Anthropologie and a whimsical swing chair dangling from the ceiling.

The tiles on the walls in the kitchen, also from Bert & May, miraculously match with the floor tiles, although Rebecca had to paint the tops of them with Valspar masonry paint from B&Q. There is a similar attention to detail in here – even down to the pastel kitchenware from Bloomingville.

“The clear splash back was the thing that made me choose Wren kitchens, as they were the only people who seem to do a clear perspex splash back I didn’t want to hide the exposed brick wall behind.”

Rebecca has been savvy in her choice of oven too. “The Rangemaster cooker came from a friend of my father’s. It was green, but I just changed the panels on the doors – they have a service that enables you to do that, so I chose cream. I try to up-cycle whenever I can.”

The back door was custom made by Sanderson Brothers in Preston. Rebecca has big plans for the garden – which seems to stretch an impossibly long way for a modest cottage. Midway into the space a huge and joyous cherry tree fills the view from the kitchen window, its pale pink blossom drifting prettily into the kitchen’s colour scheme. 

A pair of enormous insulating yellow curtains have been designed to pull right across the front of the house, engulfing the windows and the front door, creating a swathe of comfort on a winter’s night – like wrapping the house in a warm yellow blanket. “I settled on the yellow curtains because they were cheap – the place I got them from was closing down,” smiles Rebecca. The yellow colour now cascades from the curtains as an accent throughout the room. There is a subtle Alice in Wonderland theme in here, highlighted by a neon ‘Follow the White Rabbit’ sign next to the imposing fireplace. A pink occasional table has been hand-painted to match the theme by Cathy McClymont. She also painted the table and the picture in the kitchen diner. 

“I like to source locally and support local businesses,” Rebecca says. “I love the Wealden Times Fairs. Not only is it a great day out, but I’m able to meet up with entrepreneurs and local suppliers, make contacts and source accessories and furniture for clients. My mum comes down for them – and we always go on the Thursday, have a glass of bubbly and go shopping.”

Sustainability is another key theme in Rebecca’s approach. Up-cycling wherever she can, painting her grandmother’s hall table, designing her own lights, made and installed by her father. The set of three hanging lamps in the front room were ingeniously turned into a single piece by simply wiring them into a ceiling rose. Elsewhere there are lamps made from a teapot and a bowler hat. It’s all a bit Alice in Wonderland – which is a part of the theme.

“I wanted the decor to look eclectic, but still in keeping with the stye of the house – this is not a modern house, so I can install an authentic look, but with a twist. It’s all about utilising the space,” Rebecca explains, adding that clever storage can be a key to success. That and the dreaded word de-cluttering. “There is not much storage in this house, so I’ve had to streamline a lot. That can be hard, especially with clients – I have a friend who does wardrobe de-cluttering, which is very useful.”

There’s streamlining from an ease of living point of view too; “flow-through ergonomics” says Rebecca, demonstrating the concept in the kitchen with a handy water tap that’s been plumbed in away from the sink. “Everything needs to be nearby, so that there’s no stretch. I can fill a saucepan near to the cooker while standing in one place,” she says. “I keep the glasses next to the drinks fridge, with a chopping board above it ready on the surface for slicing lemons. I like to make it so that living in the space is as simple as hanging your keys by the front door when you come in; having a place for everything so that you’re not scrabbling around searching for things.”

As we go up those precipitously steep stairs to the first floor bathroom, the cosy up-cycled look becomes one of sleek comfort and luxury. This former bedroom was transformed into a spacious bathroom seven years ago, but has a timeless elegance and a retro, yet contemporary look.

The master bedroom continues the understated theme. One wall – originally a wardrobe, but now re-instated as a wall complete with a handsome period fireplace, makes a statement. “I chose a feature wall, installed the master suite fireplace and wanted it to be an inky blue colour – it came out purple when we first put it on – and my dad said, ‘are you sure?’” Rebecca laughs. “The thing is, if it doesn’t work you can always paint over it and cover it up – don’t be scared. I do use tester pots with my clients, however at home I have more conviction and trust in my instincts. I haven’t had to paint a wall again yet.” The large framed photographs on the walls are scenes and views from Rebecca’s childhood, taken by photographer Christine Middleton (Rebecca’s mum).

Up on the top floor, the space has been radically altered. “It was all one big room with a giant closet in the corner,” she explains. “You had to walk through one room to get to the other, so I opened out the staircase and made two rooms on either side.” One of these has become a guest bedroom, painted a serene and restful blue, eyelash lights winking sleepily under the roof of the house. The other is her home office – handily combined with a walk-in wardrobe and dressing room. A feature wall at the office end is papered with a Laura Ashley design, where the wallpaper birds even have their own tiny birdhouses. 

Rebecca is really enjoying being able to be working from home. “Working for myself is much better. It suits my temperament and gives me more flexibility – inspiration comes at all different times of the day, so you can seize the moment.” It also means that she can hone her practical skills too. “I change things all the time. I enjoy re-styling the interior on a daily basis; pottering around. I love being here, it’s a proper home. And we’re doing the same in my partner’s house in Surrey. I feel at peace – you need to feel safe in a place, you know – relaxed and calm in your own rooms.” 

The process of interior design incorporates an understanding of how people use the spaces they live in and a respect for that environment. “It’s an honour being invited into somebody’s home – to be curating part of their life. For me it’s about how people interact with their interior and what makes it into such a joy.” It is clear that all the practice Rebecca has had helping friends and family – and in transforming this house – is going to pay off.