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Injecting colour, pattern and character into a once-plain sitting room
Books, art and textiles transformed a once-characterless space into a warm, inviting sitting room.
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A Suffolk sitting room that's a perfect example of how to bring joy and warmth
Interior designer Sean Symington was asked to add character to the sitting room of this Tudor farmhouse in Suffolk.
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Five country houses with glorious open fires to warm up your winter, from £375k to £3.6 million
In chilly, dark January, few things are more cheering than a roaring log fire. Here are Arabella Youens’s favourite examples from houses currently on the market.
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A spare room so pretty and charming that you'll wonder why yours isn't as perfect
Interior designer Rita Konig infused this spare bedroom with a lively freshness. She explained the process to Arabella Youens.
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An oasis of peace in the maelstrom of Covent Garden
This Eadie and Crole designed drawing room is cool, calm and timeless.
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Striking wallpaper that makes this Parisian sitting room sing
Bright colours and bold patterns bring this space to life.
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The Designer's Room: A sitting room splashed with colour, space and style
The sitting room of an Arts-and-Crafts house in the Surrey Hills has been brought to life with a palette of lively colours.
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A London townhouse kitchen created for work, rest and play
The owners of this elegant London house asked the team at De Rosee Sa to create a light, modern kitchen for their large family..
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From siege engines to Passivhaus: How oak holds its own
Strong, sustainable and flexible, oak-frame buildings have their roots in prehistory. Yet this time-honoured method of building continues to thrive in the 21st century.
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Why your spare room should be an exciting treat — and more fun than being at home
You might not have a pair of four-poster beds hanging around, unused — but if you do, fireworks can happen as this room transformation shows: Penny Morrison brought a spare room to life with this pair of four-poster beds and liberal use of graphic pattern.
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The best places to live south of London, from charming rural villages to picture-perfect spots beside the sea
With more and more of us commuting two or three days a week, taking on a one or two-hour commute is no longer the blocker that it used to be — and that's opened up a wealth of new areas for those who want to live in the country but work in the metropolis. Many of those are charming villages and coastal areas to the south of London; Arabella Youens selects some of the best.
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From shed to 'shoffice': How a rustic lambing barn became a spectacular rural workspace
A humble lambing shed has been transformed into a tranquil home office using both antiques and pieces repurposed from past projects, finds Arabella Youens. Photographs by Noah Russell for Ian Adam-Smith.
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A townhouse drawing room as warm and sunny as the personality of its owner
Bright colours, together with contemporary art and furniture, were key to injecting warmth into the drawing room of this west London townhouse by Studio Vero.
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A fresh, bright kitchen created to fit in to a 17th century manor house
When reconfiguring a 17th-century manor house, Nicola Harding converted the drawing room into a bright, light-filled kitchen. Arabella Youens spoke to her about the project.
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An oak-timbered home in a picture-perfect Surrey village with pub, church and village hall, and under an hour from central London
Tumbledown Farm in Brockham is exactly the sort of place you're probably thinking of when you think of moving out to the country.
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A stunning house on the Surrey/Sussex border 'that's more like being in the Scottish Highlands' than the commuter belt
Marley House on Marley Common boasts nine bedrooms and some of the finest views in southern England.
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A gorgeous Victorian country house with its own private gate on to Windsor Great Park
A vast expanse of parkland is literally on your doorstep at this charming house, with five bedrooms, a study and a wonderful library.
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The ancient decorative painting technique enjoying a revival 2,000 years after being the talk of Pompeii
The infinite possibilities of decorative painting brought life to villas in Pompeii, Florentine palaces and Charleston in East Sussex. Today, a revival of interest in the artform is once again precipitating a highly distinctive new look in interiors. By Arabella Youens, with photography by Simon Brown.
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A musician's paradise at a Georgian rectory in one of Dorset's most beautiful (and most unfortunately named) valleys
Nine-bedroom Plush Manor was once the home of Alfred Brendel and sits in one of Dorset's most desirable locations.
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A surfer's ideal home? The Cornwall seaside haven just yards from the beach in the village of Polzeath
Arabella Youens takes a look at the aptly-named Beach Haven, in the heart of one of North Cornwall's most popular spots.
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A glorious medieval hall in Norfolk with England's largest brick-built Tudor barn, a moat, and nine acres
At Hales Hall near Norwich, you can live a fairytale life in this seven bedroom home that's positively bursting with history.
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What to collect when you're collecting
Some of the nation's top dealers and collectors reveal how they choose their wares, and what they collect themselves.
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A recently refurbished Jacobean hall with 100 acres, a clocktower, lake, gardens and events business
Grade I-listed Dorfold Hall in Cheshire was supposedly built for a visit by James I and is one of the finest country homes on the market today.
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A £6.5m super-prime home in Devon: The 'best of both worlds' seaside home right across the water from Devon's most expensive town
Thalassa is a home that enjoys glorious sunsets, delightful beaches, privacy and seclusion — yet is close enough to the action to keep anyone happy. Arabella Youens takes a look.
