At Home with @half_a_hall in their 17th Century home
In this series Hutch join the people from behind some of our favourite Instagram accounts, discussing their own homes, design inspirations, and tips for sourcing sustainable homeware.
The third home in our series is Hannah of @half_a_hall and her seventeenth century home on the English/Welsh border.
Hannah, tells us a bit about your home...
Our home resides on the west side of a very old and rather special seventeenth century hall on the English/Welsh border. It is made up of fabulous features, showcasing aristocracy at its finest to the pared back living of the servants’ quarters. When we saw the listing on Rightmove, we knew the house was odd; zero curb appeal, bizarre layout and dodgy DIY throughout. It had project, challenge and potential written all over it so we had to see it!
We were completely drawn in by its mesmerising mix of styles throughout the centuries as well as its unique and endearing history. Think residence to extreme fascist Oswald Mosley through to an abode to the American Army during WWII.
The hall itself was divided into East and West in the '50s, but the west side was then split into flats which turned everything on its head for the hall. The previous owners then attempted to turn the west wing back into one family home. So you can only imagine the renovation challenges we faced! It is also grade II listed.
We purchased the hall in September 2019, spent a month converting the top floor into a liveable state that we could then camp in until the rest of the house was ready. Throughout lockdown 2020, I spent the whole of my time in the house; pregnant, entertaining a toddler, working from home and project managing the renovation works. It. Was. Hard. But a mammoth achievement to complete the renovation in a six month period and also just two days before our little lady entered the world in November 2020 ~ madness!
What is your favourite piece of vintage homeware of furniture you have in your house?
Just one? Eek! Okay, probably our kitchen island. This, for me, is a special design combo involving many fabulous elements.
In essence, it is an old shop haberdashery counter which has been reconsidered and designed to create my dream kitchen island. The counter itself was an eBay find from a lady who couldn’t get planning permission on her dinky cottage to extend and so ultimately didn’t have the space for it, so she reluctantly had to sell it ~ lucky for me!
The island top was a unbelievably kind donation from our kitchen worktop fabricator. He had salvaged this old science lab counter top many years ago with every intention to turn it into something fabulous, but he just never had the time. He told me that the teak itself is very very old and is no longer grown, so naturally its rare and unique properties just completely resonated with me. When I told him about my vision for our kitchen, he asked me if I wanted it as he knew it would be perfectly placed and well looked after. And it totally is!
To add a little extravagance, we carefully routed out part of the teak to enable us to sink a piece of our beloved quartzite worktop into in order to create a super luxe chopping board ~ I love it and can’t wait for it to ‘wear’ to reveal real rawness from the stone.
Who are your interiors inspirations?
I wouldn’t say I have a ‘who’, I am more a ‘what’. My mum has always said since I was a little girl that I am a creative sponge; inspired by everything I see! I have oodles of interiors book and magazines. But my main source of inspiration is travel; Seeing, touching, feeling, smelling ~ Enlightening all the senses. But I am very careful not to absorb the bad. Only the good!
Where do you find pieces for your home?
Antiques fairs, networking, Instagram, marketplace, eBay etc. It’s really quite fascinating how the world has adapted to the challenges of lockdown with their inventive ways to sell. My favourite place to source at the moment is via Insta-sellers.
What are your top tips for people wanting to renovate or do up a house?
It will always look worse before it gets better. But don’t be scared. If you have the vision or need assistance with the vision then there are people (like myself) who are out there to help. As cliche as it sounds, if you keep believing and driving it forward, you will achieve.
What is your favourite thing about your home?
It’s so unexpected. As I said earlier, there really is no curb appeal to our home, so when people step foot inside, I love to watch the surprise on people’s faces!
How do you ensure that you incorporate sustainable principles into your home design?
"One of the big things for me is teaching our kids that not everything has to be new and, actually, most of the best things are from something pre-loved. Embracing the old, reusing the recycled and salvaging the good stuff is all too important."
I really dislike the ‘plastic-fantastic’ world of children’s toys so we try to avoid as much as possible. One of my top tips, without sounding ridiculously ungrateful, is I keep a cardboard box in the house where I place plastic children’s gifts into, and when the box is full, I donate it to charity or the local nursery.
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