Is there anything Kate can’t do? The supermodel has just spent six months designing the new Barnhouse at the Lakes by Yoo. The spectacular Cotswolds development has her style fingerprints all over it, and the £2.5 million five-bedroom house is as eccentric as it is luxurious.
Here are 6 tips that we can all take away from the project, to make our own homes a bit more rock’n’roll:
1. Design a rogue’s gallery but make sure you’re the star
Kate lines the staircase of the house with iconic portraits of music legends. Everyone from Elvis and Neil Young, to Bob Dylan and Sid Vicious is represented, but they’re all overshadowed by a topless shot of Moss herself. We might put this in a more private part of the house, you know, just in case we shock the Ocado delivery guy.
2. Commission a handmade four-poster bed
The four-poster in the master suite of Kate’s barn house is more like a mirrored cubist sculpture, and is designed by West Country craftsman David Haddock. She matches it with a mirrored dressing table and even an art deco tumbler and decanter set. We’re unsure whether we would want our groggy faces reflected back at us from every visible surface in the morning.
3. Stick to velvet sofas and antique rugs (and drink your wine over the sink)
Kate’s sofas are in warm jewel tones and upholstered in rich velvet. She made the wise decision to find an alternative to the silk carpets in her own home, by opting for something ‘more durable’ here. Her rugs are sourced from local antique dealers and the price of her silvery, bespoke Jacaranda Carpets are available on request. We’re wondering how anyone has the nerve to drink red wine in this place without a crippling fear of spilling.
4. Choose panoramic windows but keep drapes for privacy
The windows of the barn house stretch from floor to ceiling, but Kate explains that she wanted to keep it cosy. When it was suggested that the master bedroom could be joined to the living room, she argued, ‘I need privacy in the bedroom. Would I want an open space into the living room where people could hear everything? Not necessarily.’ Her compromise of elegant drapes means we can have privacy for our romantic rendezvous and can open up the space for all our raucous parties.
5. Pimp your artwork
For Kate, a vintage William Morris is far too conventional. Instead she picked a House of Hackney print that she describes as ‘ a more trippy version of one of Morris’s.’ Following on with the trippy theme are her artistic collaborations with Jake and Dinos, the Chapman brothers. ‘It was a collaboration called the Story of the Eye,’ she explains. ‘I drew all the eyes and they finished it off. It’s mental isn’t it?’
6. Build a woodland den and relive your childhood fantasies
At the end of the garden behind the barn house is a thatched woodland den made by some local willow workers. Its magical, secretive corners make us want to don fairy costumes and run wild. Looking at the den Kate says, ‘it’s like your dream childhood.’
Words: Radhika Seth
