BEFORE
BEFORE
The Open House
A FAMILY HOME IN HENLEY-ON-THAMES, REDESIGNED FOR THE LIFE THEY WERE ACTUALLY LIVING
Some homes get stuck. Not through neglect, but through the accumulation of life — the toddler years, the practical compromises, the furniture chosen for then rather than now. By the time this family came to Studio Santos, their house in Henley-on-Thames had exactly that feeling. A closed-off kitchen. A layout that worked against gathering. A home that didn't reflect the people living in it at all.
They are, by nature, generous people. Active, outdoorsy, outgoing — the kind of family whose door is always open, whose kitchen is always full, whose children are old enough now to have their own friends coming and going. They work hard. They entertain well. They just needed a home that knew it.
The brief was clear: make this house match who they are.
OPENING UP
The starting point was structural. The kitchen had been cut off halfway along a long wall by a door to the utility room - a practical interruption that made the entire kitchen feel smaller than it was and prevented the kind of seamless flow the family needed. The solution was a hidden door, disguised as a kitchen unit, that dissolved the interruption entirely. Suddenly, there was a continuous run of kitchen the full length of the wall - and in front of it, a 3-metre island that anchors the whole space.
HENLEY HOUSE
That island is the heart of the house now. Long enough for guests to gather on one side while food is prepared on the other. Wide enough for the children to spread out homework while their parents cook. Generous enough to serve from at a dinner party without anyone feeling in the way.
The kitchen opens directly onto the garden and into the living and dining areas, which in turn open onto a large garden backing onto open fields. That view became the organising principle of the entire design.
THE LANDSCAPE AS BRIEF
When a garden is the most beautiful thing for a room, the interior designer's job is not to compete with it; it's to frame it.
The colour palette here is deliberately restrained: muted, neutral tones that recede into the background, allowing the green of the fields beyond to take the foreground. Nothing shouts.
But restraint is not simplicity. The geometric lines introduced throughout the space, vertical wooden slats behind the television, slatted table legs in the breakfast nook and dining area, provide deliberate contrast to the organic movement of the landscape outside. Rather than mimicking nature's curves, the clean lines frame and direct the eye toward the garden, making the view feel more alive by the contrast they create.
HENLEY HOUSE
Natural wood herringbone flooring runs throughout, chosen not only for its warmth and tactile quality underfoot but for its material honesty. Where synthetic flooring can off-gas VOCs and introduce invisible compromises into the air quality of a home, natural wood contributes to a healthier living environment - in keeping with the Studio Santos principle that a home should feel good in ways you can't always explain. The directional pattern of the herringbone draws the eye naturally toward the garden, gently pulling movement through the space toward the light.
