A propeller, a stuffed fish and a transformation by Françoise Murat

Françoise Murat‘s client moved from London to the countryside and bought an Edwardian House that had not been touched in over 50 years. Dating back to 1907, the house still had the old wiring, a flower room, a pantry, a water room and a tiny kitchen space. This needed to be changed into one space, a large sociable kitchen with a spacious dining area as the client entertains a lot and dual ovens with 8 burner cooker as he also likes a spot of cooking.

Not only  is the client an enthusiastic entertainer and cook, he is also an Industrial Designer who loves anything old and engineer-like. He certainly  did not want to have a pastiche of Edwardian interiors.

Françoise Murat runs a very interesting interior design and landscape garden design company with evident belief in ecology, the environment, sustainability and organic principles. Throughout the house they retained the architectural elements such as the extensive cornicing, the old floors, the dados, high skirting boards, window furniture as well as door furniture dating form that period. The kitchen was built from re-configured Mahogany shop display cupboards dating back to the early 19th Century which they found in an antique centre. Other details such as a cupboard with drawers of various depth make this a very modern and functional kitchen whilst retaining an elegant but simple look.

Good reasons to click continue include pictures of the dining area with iconic seating from Eames and Panton alongside a modern oak table, a remarkably impressive stuffed pike, a Cafetiere collection and a propeller taking up a large expanse of wall. Françoise tells us that orange and lime green colour touches were used to relieve the wood and  give a sense of fun. Well there’s definitely no shortage of fun here!