From Leaking Conservatory to Landmark Orangery: Edwardian Interior Design Near Gloucester

At a Glance

The Brief : A Space That Had to Do Everything

The old conservatory was doing nobody any favours. It leaked. The underfloor heating barely worked. The flooring was lifting at the threshold with the kitchen. And because the front entrance was shared with a neighbour, family and friends had fallen into the habit of arriving through the garden, which meant delivery drivers and cold callers ended up at the private rear of the house too.

Our client had lived in this Edwardian house near Gloucester for over fifteen years with no plans to leave. She wanted to fix it properly, once. The new kitchen orangery had to work as a dining room people would actually use (the family had developed the very common habit of eating supper at the kitchen island, despite a dining table a few steps away), a sitting room with a TV, a place for her daughter to practise the piano, storage for drinks, glasses, sheet music and games, a gas stove for atmosphere, and a new front entrance that gave the house back its privacy. It also needed to connect the kitchen and garden, visually and materially, not just physically. And she wanted it fully styled on the day it was finished. She had worked with us on several rooms before. She knew what to expect.

Design Goals and Our Approach: Warmth, Texture and a Nod to Geoffrey Bawa

We had worked with this client enough times to understand her instincts: texture over pattern, muted warmth, dark metal against natural wood, informal sophistication with a hint of glamour and fun. The reference point for the concept was Geoffrey Bawa, the Sri Lankan architect whose homes use natural materials and a deceptively simple palette to create spaces of extraordinary atmosphere.  Our client is well travelled and understood what we were suggesting.

The palette was built to connect with the kitchen without simply repeating it. We moved away from grey entirely, working instead with warm stone, aged oak and deep forest green, the latter a nod to the garden that the new Crittall-style doors would frame. The walls are covered in a textured wallpaper that appear almost like paint in photographs but gives the space a depth that paint alone cannot achieve. The floor is a large-format porcelain tile that reads as limestone without the upkeep that limestone demands in a room used this hard.

The full-height curtains are a quality voile. Curtaining at this scale is expensive, and a beautiful voile gave the right effect at a fraction of the cost, leaving budget where it mattered: the Fritz Fryer pendant lights over the dining table, mouth-blown individually in glass, are among the best things in the room. The live-edge oak dining table was stained to tie in with a set of off-the-shelf chairs. That balance between investment and pragmatism is not a compromise. It is how good rooms get made.

The bespoke joinery, lighting and furniture were designed together so nothing feels added later but equally not all bought at the same time. The storage dresser, painted in Little Greene’s Slaked Lime Deep with Corston brass hardware, houses drinks, glassware, dining linens and games. When the doors are closed it is a beautiful piece of furniture. When they open, the warm-lit interior, mirrored back panel and hanging stemware turn it into something closer to a proper bar.

Design Challenges

The position of the new front entrance door took real time to get right. It sits in the new structure with a fence and gate beside it, so visitors and deliveries now arrive without passing through to the private garden. Its position determined every furniture layout decision that followed, and getting the proportions right in relation to the full-width Crittall-style garden doors opposite required close collaboration with the architects, who were genuinely good at taking our furniture planning into account when finalising the shell.

The piano presented a spatial puzzle. An upright piano beside a full-height dresser creates an uncomfortable height difference. The solution was a false wall with a deep arched alcove built specifically to house the piano. The arch lifts the eye and visually equalises the two elements. The piano was sprayed to match the scheme. The whole arrangement now reads as a deliberate vignette rather than a practical afterthought.

Then there was the lighting. The electricians were unconvinced that the room could work without a ceiling full of downlights. We were equally unconvinced that it could work with them. With 3-metre ceilings and two large rooflights, overhead glare was the last thing this room needed. We specified concealed LEDs around the rooflight frames, a small number of floor uplights, and a layering of pendants, floor lamps and table lamps on independent circuits. The electricians were sceptical until installation day.

Key Features

The bespoke bar and storage dresser — designed by The House Ministry and made by specialist cabinet makers Aperture. Painted in Little Greene’s Slaked Lime Deep with Corston brass hardware, it stores everything from Champagne flutes to sheet music. Open the doors and the warm-lit interior, mirrored back panel and hanging stemware make it the focal point of any gathering.

The arched piano alcove — a false wall that resolved the height difference between piano and dresser, gave the piano its own considered setting, and created a home for the Samsung Frame TV that disappears into the display when not in use.

Fritz Fryer pendant lights — three individually mouth-blown glass pendants over the dining table. Large, sculptural and the first thing visitors notice.

Crittall-style garden doors — bronze-framed and almost full-width, making the garden feel like a continuation of the room rather than a destination.

Lighting design — no downlights. Concealed LEDs, floor uplights, pendants, floor lamps and table lamps on independent circuits. At 7pm on a winter evening this does not feel like an extension. It feels like the best room in the house.

The gas stove — practical, beautiful, and the reason her father has a favourite chair.

Visualising the Design

The Result: From Two to Twenty, Without the stress

On a normal evening the space works in sections. Her daughter does homework at the dining table while supper is on in the kitchen, close enough for conversation without shouting. Her father settles into the armchair by the stove. The sofa faces the TV. The piano gets played. Four people, four activities, one room, no friction.

When twenty adults and children arrive, the furniture arrangement handles it without rearrangement. The bar opens. The Fritz Fryer pendants do what they do.

Before & After – The Transformation

After: the room the whole house revolves around. The dining table gets used daily, for meals, homework and working from home. The stove gets lit on autumn evenings. The bar opens on Friday nights. Visitors arrive at the proper front door. The garden feels like a continuation of the room. Fifteen years into this house, our client finally has the space it always deserved.

Discuss Your Project

If you have a space that is not working as hard as it should, we would love to talk. We are a full-service interior design studio based in Cheltenham, working across the Cotswolds, Gloucester and the surrounding counties. Get in touch here to tell us about your project.