An 18th-century house by the sea in Devon rejuvenated by HÁM Interiors
Christopher Horwood
Loyalty is surely the mark of any good business, and for HÁM Interiors, set up 40 years ago by Nick and Pam Cox, it’s a thread that runs through everything they do. Some of their clients have been with them for decades, as have the decorators, joiners and other tradesmen they work with. Even their two children, Tom and Kate (both of whose houses have previously featured in House & Garden), have come on board and are helping to bring the studio’s work to new audiences.
Christopher Horwood
The family’s work on this lovely 18th-century house on a Devon estuary is a case in point: having already worked with the clients on their London mews house, they were called in again to make this a stylish and practical weekend retreat for the couple and their young children. “It’s an absolutely spectacular house,” says Pam, “but it was just a little bit sad.” It had been in the previous owners’ hands for around 30 years, and although the rooms were blessed with beautiful proportions and there was little in the way of structural work to do, everything from the wiring to the roof needed a refresh. They also worked on the gardens, with Nick bringing in local stonemasons to restore the walled garden.
Christopher Horwood
Christopher Horwood
The brief from the clients was to create a youthful country house look, something that respected tradition but felt like a suitable backdrop for a young family. “They didn’t want it to feel contemporary,” explains Pam, “but it had to feel like young people lived there.” “Not too mumsy or grandma-y, not too many frills,” agrees Nick. It also had to be practical: although it’s a big house, nobody wanted to have rooms that would languish behind closed doors for lack of a function. The decoration also needed to include relatively hardwearing finishes where that was possible. “We have four kids, we know what it’s like. It doesn’t mean you can’t have lovely things, but we did use things like Unnatural Flooring in the snug, which works well for dogs and can withstand spillages.”
