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Style file: six beautiful houses by interior designer Anna Haines
Interior designer Anna Haines has been on the House & Garden radar firmly for the last half decade, ever since we first featured a snippet of her own London house and saw the calm, colourful interiors she is so adept at creating. Anna runs a boutique design studio, working only with a handful of clients at a time so that she can dedicate her time and attention to each one individually. Whether working on a country cottage or a city apartment, Anna always respects a building's heritage and works with it to create a scheme that can soothe and delight in equal measure, without jarring with its surroundings at all.
Anna favours a pastel or pared-back colour palette, with Farrow & Ball's ‘Lichen’ and ‘Cuisse de Nymphe Emue’ from Edward Bulmer regularly cropping up in her projects. Antiques are a must and one area where Anna has a real signature look is in the bathroom – she is masterful at designing rooms that are functional of course, but feel more like a sitting room than a bathroom. This exemplifies one of her main characteristics: balancing practicality with a very pleasing aesthetic. Below, we've rounded up some rooms from the projects featured across House & Garden, to give you a sense of what Anna does best.
Sophia Spring1/17In her own London house, the bathroom walls are painted in Edward Bulmer Natural Paint’s ‘Cuisse de Nymphe Emue’ and the bath is from English Salvage. It's a calm, lovely scheme that creates a bathroom that feels almost more like a sitting room.
Boz Gagovski2/17This joyful Hampstead house has been imbued with warmth and colour by Anna. In the kitchen, the walls are painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Stirabout’. The tiled splashback is from Balineum, while
the pendant light hanging over the island is from deVOL. The island itself is painted in Francesca’s Paints ‘Mullumbimbi Mud’.
Boz Gagovski3/17In the sitting room, the walls are painted in Edward Bulmer's ‘Lute’ at 60% strength. The mirror is from Trove by Studio Duggan. The inside of the shelves is painted in ‘De Nimes’ by Farrow & Ball. The mid century armchair is covered in Susan Deliss’ ‘Trebizond’. The small two tier table is from Lascombe Hill. The ottoman is covered in an antique crewelwork fabric, sourced by Anna from Petworth.
4/17In the bunk room, the bespoke beds are painted in ‘Lichen’ from Farrow & Ball. The blankets are Caravane’s ‘Chiara Throw’, wall lights are Rose Uniacke. The walls are papered in Cathy Nordstrom’s ‘Barbro Wallpaper’ in ‘Spruce’.
Boz Gagovski5/17The bathroom is a welcoming, calm space, softened by antique pieces from Desired Effect Antiques and Susan Deliss. This is the look Anna is known for. The walls are painted in Paint and Paper Library's ‘Slate II’, while the window frame and bespoke vanity are painted in Atelier Ellis' ‘Phia Green’. Window treatment is a combination of Claremont and Beata Heuman fabrics. The wall lights are Vaughan.
Mark Anthony Fox6/17This former vicarage near Bath has characterful, layered interiors. In the sitting room, deconstructed antique armchairs upholstered in Claremont’s plain oyster ‘Toile Chenonceau’ and Bennison Fabrics’ ‘Benjelloun’ linen complement a vintage Tabriz rug sourced from Farnham Antique Carpets.
Mark Anthony Fox7/17Dark Crittall windows, finished in a burnished deep brown, give views onto the back garden on two sides, and provide a stylish contrast with the pale limestone flagstone floor. A ‘Christie Rise & Fall’ ceramic pendant light from Original BTC hangs above the oak dining table with an oak and patinated steel bench, both by North Lane Works, teamed with a set of ‘Wishbone’ chairs by Hans J Wegner belonging to the owners. A bespoke water-reed rug from Tim Page Carpets completes the textured scheme.
Mark Anthony Fox8/17Patrick Williams of Berdoulat was commissioned to plan the kitchen and has used many pieces that he designed, including the plate rack and a stand for the sink, plus a drawer unit in ‘Berdoulat Green’ – a paint colour he created with Farrow & Ball. The antique housekeeper’s cupboard was sourced from Adam Lloyd Interiors.
Mark Anthony Fox9/17In the pantry, a runner from Howe London picks up on the colours of the cupboards in Edward Bulmer Natural Paint’s ‘Etruscan Brown’ and the seat cushions in RAF blue ‘Natural Maroc’ leather from 36 Bourne Street.
Mark Anthony Fox10/17In the spare room, Woodwork in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Lichen’ frames a custom version of Tess Newall’s ‘Herbarium’ wallpaper. The bespoke four poster is by Titchmarsh & Goodwin.
Mark Anthony Fox11/17On the grounds of the same house, she also turned a dilapidated stable into a tiny, charming guest house. ‘We really wanted to respect the fabric of the building and give it a very lived-in feel,’ explains Anna. Along the back wall, Anna added an unfitted kitchen, created through a combination of an oiled oak sink unit with Merchant & Mills curtains, an antique shelf unit and a wall unit from Berdoulat, the Bath-based design studio headed up by Patrick Williams, who designed the kitchen for the main house. An Aga, originally in the main house, was reconditioned and slotted next to the sink unit, while an antique dining table and modern chairs, also from the main house, were positioned in the centre of the room. ‘We wanted this room to feel like it might have always been this way,’ explains Anna, gesturing to walls that are finished in a textural parchment-toned limewash.
Paul Whitbread12/17Anna renovated this central London pied-a-terre for a couple from Edinburgh, bringing her signature softness and warmth to a three-storey Georgian flat. ‘They wanted it to feel classic, without it being a museum,’ explains Anna. ‘Their brief to us was ‘Georgian-light’, so we’ve tried to strike a balance between heavier antique pieces of furniture and fresher elements,’ she adds. The living area flows onto the dining area, which features a table and chairs that the client sourced. Anna had the chairs upholstered in Claremont's ‘Sibton’ in the forest colourway. The blinds are made from Soane Britain's ‘Qajari Stripe’.
Paul Whitbread13/17The streamlined kitchen is deVol's ‘Sebastian Cox Kitchen’ and provides a foil to the more Georgian elements in this three-floor flat. The walls are painted in Atelier Ellis's ‘Bright Star’.
Paul Whitbread14/17In the main bedroom, walls in Paint & Paper Library's ‘Desert Rose’ provide an elegant backdrop to a bespoke headboard in Vanderhurd's ‘Matelas de Laine’ in aubergine. The marble table lamp already belonged to the client, while the green lampshade is Rosi de Ruig's card shade.
© Rachael Smith Photography Ltd15/17In bringing together two 18th-century Norfolk cottages with a modern extension to join them together, Anna successfully married old and new. In the snug, a sofa in Tinsmiths’ ‘Checker’ fabric in dawn grey picks up on walls in Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Porcelain V’, while an ottoman in Robert Kime’s ‘Caspian’ cotton, a kilim from London House Rugs and slipper chairs in Rose Uniacke cotton velvet in cedar introduce warmer tones that echo the original fireplace.
© Rachael Smith Photography Ltd16/17Together with the Crittall windows and larch ceiling, the polished concrete floor and walls painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Strong White’ create a stylish industrial look in the kitchen. Oak units in a custom dark blue stain are complemented by Carrara marble worktops, with three antique pendant lights from Nick Jones above. The oak-topped island is partnered by DeVol bar stools.
© Rachael Smith Photography Ltd17/17A headboard in Le Manach’s ‘Indhira’ cotton from Pierre Frey and a bedside table from Chelsea Textiles, with a Rosi de Ruig lamp and lampshade, are showcased by walls in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Mizzle’.
