Houzz TV: Step Inside a Modern-day Home With Medieval Roots
Watch and read how a designer updated the style and function of an 18th century home while honouring its history
Mitchell Parker
6 May 2022
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative trends, breaking news, industry analysis and humor.
Houzz Editorial Staff. Home design journalist writing about cool spaces, innovative... More
When designer Katherine Briggs had to relocate with her family to Warwickshire, she wanted to find a period house rich with history and design potential. What she got was more than she could have hoped for.
The property sits in King’s Newnham village and dates back to the Middle Ages, well before William Shakespeare was born in 1564 an hour away in Stratford-upon-Avon. At least one house was built and demolished on the land before King’s Newnham Hall was built in the 18th century, Katherine says. In 1923, a local farming family bought it, and they owned it until the Briggs family bought it in 2020.
Since then, Katherine has embarked on a careful restoration of the home, bringing it up to modern-day standards while honouring its deep history. She didn’t knock down any walls, but did convert some of the 10 bedrooms into bathrooms – there was only one before – and added original cast-iron baths originally from the Savoy hotel in London. In the kitchen, marble-look quartz worktops provide a durable work surface while nodding to the traditional white marbles often used in Georgian times. A wooden plate rack and Aga range also honour the past with style.
The property sits in King’s Newnham village and dates back to the Middle Ages, well before William Shakespeare was born in 1564 an hour away in Stratford-upon-Avon. At least one house was built and demolished on the land before King’s Newnham Hall was built in the 18th century, Katherine says. In 1923, a local farming family bought it, and they owned it until the Briggs family bought it in 2020.
Since then, Katherine has embarked on a careful restoration of the home, bringing it up to modern-day standards while honouring its deep history. She didn’t knock down any walls, but did convert some of the 10 bedrooms into bathrooms – there was only one before – and added original cast-iron baths originally from the Savoy hotel in London. In the kitchen, marble-look quartz worktops provide a durable work surface while nodding to the traditional white marbles often used in Georgian times. A wooden plate rack and Aga range also honour the past with style.
Katherine knew she had to make the kitchen functional for her family of five. “When I’m looking at any family house, whether it’s for a client or myself, it’s such an important hub of the home – you spend a lot of time in your kitchen,” Katherine says. “You’re in there making a lot of meals every day. It’s where the family congregates … So it was important to make that core space function for our family.”
A hardworking island features seating and lots of storage and prep surface.
Katherine looked at key Georgian features and worked her designs around those. In Georgian times, white marble was commonly used for worktops. However, with a busy kitchen, Katherine wanted something more forgiving than marble, which is vulnerable to staining and etching. So she went with a white, marble-look quartz.
“That created a little bit more of an original feature for a Georgian house,” she says. “And that’s really integral when you’re looking at traditional, period properties, being able to create that modern-day living but also to ensure you’re bringing the characteristics of the property out.”
Watch now: Go inside this restored Georgian home on Houzz TV.
A hardworking island features seating and lots of storage and prep surface.
Katherine looked at key Georgian features and worked her designs around those. In Georgian times, white marble was commonly used for worktops. However, with a busy kitchen, Katherine wanted something more forgiving than marble, which is vulnerable to staining and etching. So she went with a white, marble-look quartz.
“That created a little bit more of an original feature for a Georgian house,” she says. “And that’s really integral when you’re looking at traditional, period properties, being able to create that modern-day living but also to ensure you’re bringing the characteristics of the property out.”
Watch now: Go inside this restored Georgian home on Houzz TV.
Before Photo
The previous kitchen had last been updated in the 1950s. “I started off with very little,” Katherine says. She stripped back all the vinyl and Formica and started afresh.
Now, wood cabinets painted in a pale neutral tone have a furniture-style look to them that recalls traditional cabinet designs.
The black Aga adds to the style while giving Katherine, who loves baking, lots of functionality.
To the right, just out of view, are two large larder cupboards flanking the fridge-freezer. “It’s important not just for the kitchen to look fantastic at the end,” Katherine says, “it’s also important that the function works for that family. What do you need in your kitchen? And what are your functions? Do you like to have lots of things on show? Do you want it all put away? How much dry food do you have? How much fresh food do you have? All of that will basically build your kitchen.
“For us, we have a lot of cereals, a lot of pasta – I have three sons,” she says. “So there are lots of dry elements to my cooking. I cook from scratch, so I have lots of jars and spices and herbs. It was important for one side of the kitchen to have two very big larders to store all of that.”
Katherine installed wood-look porcelain tile flooring in a herringbone pattern to create the appearance of more width in the room. The material is also a good conductor of heat, which radiates up from an electric underfloor heating system. “Just to get a little more warmth in those cold winter months,” Katherine says. “You can literally walk barefoot.”
Find a kitchen designer near you.
The black Aga adds to the style while giving Katherine, who loves baking, lots of functionality.
To the right, just out of view, are two large larder cupboards flanking the fridge-freezer. “It’s important not just for the kitchen to look fantastic at the end,” Katherine says, “it’s also important that the function works for that family. What do you need in your kitchen? And what are your functions? Do you like to have lots of things on show? Do you want it all put away? How much dry food do you have? How much fresh food do you have? All of that will basically build your kitchen.
“For us, we have a lot of cereals, a lot of pasta – I have three sons,” she says. “So there are lots of dry elements to my cooking. I cook from scratch, so I have lots of jars and spices and herbs. It was important for one side of the kitchen to have two very big larders to store all of that.”
Katherine installed wood-look porcelain tile flooring in a herringbone pattern to create the appearance of more width in the room. The material is also a good conductor of heat, which radiates up from an electric underfloor heating system. “Just to get a little more warmth in those cold winter months,” Katherine says. “You can literally walk barefoot.”
Find a kitchen designer near you.
A wall-mounted plate rack hangs near the sink. “That’s something that’s quite traditional,” Katherine says. “The plate rack gives it a furniture-like look that’s more traditional to Georgian times. It’s quite nice to bring a little bit of texture and difference into the kitchen and not just have a row of cabinets.”
Watch now: See more of this kitchen in the latest episode of Houzz TV.
Watch now: See more of this kitchen in the latest episode of Houzz TV.
Before Photo
Here’s a look at the living room before the renovation.
After: This view of the updated living room from another angle shows how Katherine restored the white, half-dome plasterwork flanking the fireplace.
The mantel and surround is a reclaimed piece that Katherine installed. The grate is cast iron.
Katherine kept the interior rooms in their existing locations. “We didn’t knock down any walls to have huge open-space living,” she says. “That’s not something you would usually be allowed to do in a traditional building. And in our case, I didn’t want to do that with King’s Newnham Hall. It was important to keep the symmetry and the origins of the actual rooms and how they were used in the olden days.”
That left the living room with a relatively small footprint, which suited Katherine and her family. “Being it’s such a large house, the sitting room’s not so large, but I quite like that, because it’s a very warm and comforting, cosy space,” she says.
The walls are painted in grey-green Mizzle by Farrow & Ball. A French rug anchors the scheme and was a jumping-off point for the colours Katherine used for the curtains and cushions.
The mantel and surround is a reclaimed piece that Katherine installed. The grate is cast iron.
Katherine kept the interior rooms in their existing locations. “We didn’t knock down any walls to have huge open-space living,” she says. “That’s not something you would usually be allowed to do in a traditional building. And in our case, I didn’t want to do that with King’s Newnham Hall. It was important to keep the symmetry and the origins of the actual rooms and how they were used in the olden days.”
That left the living room with a relatively small footprint, which suited Katherine and her family. “Being it’s such a large house, the sitting room’s not so large, but I quite like that, because it’s a very warm and comforting, cosy space,” she says.
The walls are painted in grey-green Mizzle by Farrow & Ball. A French rug anchors the scheme and was a jumping-off point for the colours Katherine used for the curtains and cushions.
As mentioned earlier, the home started off with 10 bedrooms and just one bathroom. Katherine converted some of the bedrooms to bathrooms, but kept the same dimensions, resulting in spacious layouts.
She liked the morning view in another bedroom so much, that she chose that as the new primary bedroom and converted the old one into the main bathroom, shown here. “It’s an incredibly big bathroom,” she says.
Watch now: Visit this home in the Warwickshire countryside.
She liked the morning view in another bedroom so much, that she chose that as the new primary bedroom and converted the old one into the main bathroom, shown here. “It’s an incredibly big bathroom,” she says.
Watch now: Visit this home in the Warwickshire countryside.
Katherine found three cast-iron roll-top baths, originally from the Savoy hotel in London, and installed them in the new bathrooms. She had them painted to complement the wall colours.
To create storage, Katherine bought a few French-designed wardrobes. Here’s an example in one of the other bathrooms.
Before Photo
In the former dining room, the original wood elements were in good shape, but needed some restoring.
The updated dining room has become Katherine’s favourite room – “For lots of reasons, but mainly because of the original Georgian features,” she says.
The arched wood door on the right conceals a bar cabinet. The one on the left leads to the kitchen.
Trompe l’oeil wallpaper (Old Gloucester Street by Little Greene) mimics the look of wooden panels, which were common in Georgian times. “It’s one of my favourite collections,” Katherine says. “And I’ve always wanted to integrate it into one of my houses.”
Watch now: Step inside this historic home updated for modern-day living.
Tell us…
What do you like about the way Katherine has updated this house? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
The arched wood door on the right conceals a bar cabinet. The one on the left leads to the kitchen.
Trompe l’oeil wallpaper (Old Gloucester Street by Little Greene) mimics the look of wooden panels, which were common in Georgian times. “It’s one of my favourite collections,” Katherine says. “And I’ve always wanted to integrate it into one of my houses.”
Watch now: Step inside this historic home updated for modern-day living.
Tell us…
What do you like about the way Katherine has updated this house? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
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Lovely modernization while being true to the house. I love that the original walls were respected.
Just watched the video tour and my personal favourite room is the sitting room. A truly tranquil space
You had really great vision. I love it.:)