When Jo and Gavin Acheson decided to convert the 70s-style barn adjoining their home into a master bedroom, they thought it would be relatively straightforward – especially Jo, who organises large-scale events for a living and is accustomed to mess and chaos on a daily basis.

However, with the house being listed and the barn in a much more precarious state than the couple first realised, it proved a long and often challenging process, during which Jo gave birth to their first child.

“The main problem when renovating an old building like this is that you end up in a stand off between the environmental bodies and planners,” remarks Jo. “For example, we wanted to replace the window near the bed with some doors so we could access the pool and garden, but the planning restrictions made it too difficult, so we opted for leaded windows but weren’t allowed to do that either.

“What’s more, the surveyor informed us the entire barn was structurally unsound and that we were going to have to start from scratch,” she continues. “Although, this did give us greater flexibility with what we could do and allowed us to bring the barn down to the same level as the rest of the house.”

Originally home to an old bedroom and garage, the converted barn now encompasses a capacious open-plan bedroom and ensuite, with nothing but the bed head and a small partition behind the WC, dividing the two areas. Jo and Gavin had encountered a similar design while travelling through South Africa and, thinking it fabulous, were inspired to create the same back home.

“It’s a lot more open plan than most people are used to in this country, so our initial drawings incorporated a much higher bed head to act as a partition,” recalls Angel and Blume’s interior designer Cate Burren, who worked alongside the couple. “However, they had their heart set on a totally open-plan design, so we took it back down, and the finished result actually works very well.”

Although the couple craved something “different and modern”, they also wanted the design to remain sympathetic to its barn origins in some way to ensure continuity with the main house – a traditional thatched cottage, inside and out. Thus, while the layout is very contemporary and hotel-like, many of the fixtures and fittings, such as the towel rail and taps, have a more traditional feel. Plus, in the bedroom area, oak flooring and furniture have been used to complement the dominant wooden beams. “We were very careful when choosing a colour palette to keep it tonal and avoid the usual cream you would expect to find in a country home,” notes Cate.

Keeping the flooring all on one level and in varying shades of the same colour ensures a seamless transition between bedroom, bathroom and wetroom – yet, the different materials also provide an interesting contrast and clearly define the boundaries of each zone.

“The couple opted for a wetroom as opposed to a traditional shower space because it was more open and modern, and it blends effortlessly with the rest of the space,” explains Cate. “In fact, you don’t even realise it is shower until you get quite close to it; from the bedroom, it looks more like a decorative mosaic.”

Having opted for such an open layout, it was essential that key pieces in the bathroom were not only beautiful, but also worked with the surrounding space. And the bright copper bath executes this notion perfectly; its generous proportions and gleaming finish imbue the room with a sense of drama, while its colouring sits beautifully within the surrounding hues of caramel and chocolate.

Ensuring this one element remains the star attraction, the rest of the space is sleek and simple, with just a pair of elegant ‘his and hers’ basins behind the bed and a simple WC positioned alongside.

The only storage consists of recessed shelving discreetly built into the side of the bed head and the partition behind the WC.

Another design element dictated by the room’s open-plan layout was the lighting. Jo and Gavin often work different hours and so it was crucial that certain areas could be lit while others, such as the bed, remained as dark as possible. Thus, the barn has been fitted with an intelligent lighting scheme offering various settings for morning, bathing, watching TV and so on.

“As well as accommodating the Acheson’s lifestyle, this also helps further define the room’s various zones, which is important given its vast space and lack of physical divisions,” observes Cate. “What’s more, some of the settings are visually quite striking and really add to the drama and ambience of the room.” The column uplighters, for example, cast light up the back of the wooden pillars to give them a soft glow while another setting turns on just the low-level wall lights in the bathroom to create a soft relaxing mood perfect for bathing.

“It wasn’t cheap to put in such a complex system but it was definitely worth it,” remarks Jo, “I know from my line of work that lighting can really make or break a space and, like the rest of the interior design, this works beautifully.”

Original article featured in Kitchens, Bedrooms and Bathrooms March 2009.
Image credits: Mark Box www.markboxphoto.co.uk