A tour of the VIBRANT & ARTISTIC HOME OF ENGLISH DESIGNER SUSI BELLAMY

A tour of the VIBRANT & ARTISTIC HOME OF ENGLISH DESIGNER SUSI BELLAMY

[Music] [Applause] Well, Hello. Hello, Susie. Hello. Lovely to meet you. And you do come in. Oh, thank you so much for having us. You brought the sunshine with you. Yes. This will be such an incredible house tour. You are in for a treat. So, welcome. Thank you so much. Yes. The uh the house was is um was built in 1900 on the site of a previous hall. So, an Edwardian house. Yes. First of all, a little introduction. Um, we are here in the house of the incredibly talented designer and artist Susie Bellamy, who we’ve been following for quite a while because what she creates, she loves color like us. And I mean, your designs are unique and we are so grateful. Thank you so much for having us and showing us around. Not at all. Not at all. Yes. Color is my passion. It drives me forward. Um it’s definitely the link that that you know joins all the designs together. Yeah. Um but yeah, this this so we live in the main main wing of a large house. So it’s actually called an apartment. It’s just a a lateral apartment with um three floors. But in this main hallway, we’ve got the very high ceiling. M. So, uh, we’ve skipped a floor here. This hallway, I mean, I think you have to come this way to actually see the the columns. Yeah. This we don’t use this space much in the uh in the winter, you can imagine. But in the summer, it’s a great place to sit and have a coffee, read the paper. Yes. Read a book. Um, I think you literally have come on the best day of the year. I know. It’s It’s crazy how lucky we are. Yes. And I mean this is so impressive. It’s a little bit like down a downtown Navy feeling with the columns. I find this I think this was preserved when they uh they they converted this in 1996 to um four apartments. And um if you look up at the molding here um when we have the scaffolding up in order to uh wallpaper the the hallway with with lining paper and to paint it. Yeah, we friend and I painted the back of the molding with a pale blue. Yeah. Well, the green blue from Far and B and like a Wedgewood plate and it brought it all into relief. Yes. So, um we haven’t done anything with the coat of arms. So, the coat of arms um Yeah, the coat of arms are empty. So, if anyone’s got any ideas, we don’t we don’t have we’re not a family with a coat of arms, but it’s it’s ready for something. This is your work. Yes. the fabric just I must tell you I’ve always been a fan of marble paper. I use it for wrapping presents every year. But what Susie does, she uses it as fabrics and wallpaper. So I find that unique. So I well I marbled a piece of paper and then I I scanned the design. Yeah. And then I mirrored it and we came up with this lovely undulating pattern. The actual design is called Plumes and it comes in quite a few colors. In fact, um this is a similar design but not not mirrored. Um yeah, on that cushion. Um but shall I show you the handbag? Oh yes, we got the handbag. Um I met a lovely young woman on Instagram as you do and um Meumi and she makes handbags. She ordered some fabric from me, but she wanted it in linen. So, this is my velvet. Yes. And then we also do our designs in linen, which are quite good for curtains and things. And she made the this handbag. So beautifully made. Um I mean the way she matches up the pattern and um yeah, so I uh I asked if I could buy one. So it’s my that’s my handbag. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I learned to marble when we went to live in Florence. And we went, my husband said, uh, we’ll probably go for about two years with his job. Yeah. Um, and we ended up there for six and a half years. So I, um, I did a couple of marbling courses there. Mhm. Um, and started to just love marbling and gilding and uh, I was inspired by all the Renaissance paintings and the Madonas and the street corner shrines and and all the colors. Even things like the the crumbling plaster of the palazzo walls where maybe the walls painted ochre yellow and then the plaster falls off and you’ve got orange behind or green. And all that informed my artwork. So I started painting in Florence I started marbling. Um, and when I came back to the UK to Newcastle or Northland, um, I did a a fine art degree, but I found that I could go and, um, do more marbling and I went to Westine College in Chicha and I wor with a wonderful woman called Louise Brockman and um, I basically expanded my marbling and I did it intensively for like four days and I really got into it and I’ve been going down there for about maybe five times. Mhm. But by the fifth, you know, the fourth and fifth time, I didn’t need to be taught. I was going there to use the facilities and to have intensive and I could even manipulate designs to make them how I wanted them more. And I could go in with color ideas. And basically, I’ve got a a big portfolio of pattern that will probably last my lifetime. And if I ever was to pass the business on to someone, it probably lost their lifetime as well. The sofas were made for I did a I had a trade stand at the um London Design Week at Chelsea Harbor a couple of years ago and um I work with an amazing uh furniture company called George Smith who are local to me um and they they they made the furniture. They are very I’ve I’ve learned about the brand about three or four years ago. A very luxurious British furniture company. Yeah. And they make their own wooden frames in the traditional method with the um the sort of horsehair and you can have a vegan um alternative koa I think. Oh, really? Yeah. And we chose a very plain sofa. It’s called a Georgian sofa. no cushion pad cuz I felt it was the best way to um show off the the pad. And then um more recently I’ve made this wacky little stool. Um the jewelry out whether the rouch people like the rouch or not, but um I just felt it needed a bit of color at the top. So and these uh these vasees are probably some of my favorite things in the house. Yes. cuz they’re um they’re made in Tuscanyany by a pottery called Eulfi. Mhm. And um these pinch pots I think they’re absolutely beautiful with the luster bit of luster at the end. Really nice. So um my home is full of memories of travels and obviously Italy was 6 and a half years was a big a big trip there. Yes. Um so they’re probably amongst my favorite things in the house. is um you can buy scented candles and they come in this wonderful packaging and this is just my personal view. I think all of this marble looks great in absolutely everything. Foot ends wrapping paper. No, you can’t stop. And yeah, the candles are in there. the uh they’re uh so this one’s called Lanote and I’ve put it in amber colored glass and it’s more exotic. Yes. And this one is called daytime and it’s in got green glass. It’s a fresher more citrusy smell. I see. But um during lockdown, do you remember lockdown? Yes. My photographer James Bolston, his husband Yam uh makes candles. Yeah. So we decided we would design a candle and he asked me what smells I would like fragrances and I said I’d like to channel Tuscany and smells. So he sent all the smell sticks in the post and they were all numbered. Didn’t know what they were and my daughters and I sat on my bedroom floor and we had to sniff them all and then put our favorites in a pile and we ended up and we designed the candle during lockdown. And you’ll see on the tour of the house a lot of boxes. These are by my friend Anne Heer in Florence and she’s um in her late 80s now. Very talented and um she’s made a lot of boxes for me over the years. Um this is with one of my wallpapers one that’s in the cloak room. Um this is marble rose um fabric. So I decided to do a bit of a mashup. I overlaid some marbling over a chintz pattern. Yes. Um just for something different. But the cushion actually is linen and the chair is upholstered in velvet. And um you you do get a slightly different effect, but the velvet’s very good for upholstery. I think it looks incredible. You can see the kitchen, the heart of the home, and my favorite view in the whole house. Yeah. Um so I don’t have an office at home. I have my studio in in in town, but um I do sit at the table a lot. It’s such a relief for me to hear because I always find myself, I don’t know if I’m strange, but I’ve been working on a kitchen table for decades. Kitchen is my favorite place to work in. Absolutely. And Absolutely. And we um we bought a when we left Florence because we lived in Florence between 2003 and 2010. Uh when we left there it was um we were we had a truck coming back so decided I would buy a little bit of furniture. Mhm. So bought a round table because I think they’re just much more sociable. Yes. I mean it’s really worn out now and the chairs but um and then it sits in the bay and we got this wonderful view of the countryside outside. But the kitchen was done um about 15 years ago by a company called Robinson Gay. It’s all made by hand. So timeless. Are they based here in Northland? Yeah, they’re based here in Northland. Um, and uh, and then an architect, American architect I met in Florence called Ike Eisenhower, he designed it. Oh, and all I had to do is sit him down at the table, give him coffee, and he’d sit there sketching, and he came up with this design. Um, you know, things like these little uh, what are they called? Like ballast raids, but Oh, yes. Thought that was quite unusual. Yes. And um so and his suggestion was to paint the ceiling pale blue like the sky. So I’ve used all far and b in here. This is um cornforth white is the walls and then pavilion gray and the ceilings borrowed light which is this very pale blue. But we got this beautiful coving in here. Yes. Um so we’ve painted that the same color. And then the radiators, um, we they’re the old radiators. We had them sprayed. Mhm. Mhm. With a darker color. And the Arga, I thought maybe we’d we put an induction hob over there cuz I thought the Arga would be too hot in the summer. Yes. But we can count on one hand the really hot days where we could do with turning it off. But it’s uh it’s an electric arger, which is not ideal, but I’ve got very used to cooking on. plates are by Xien. They’re Xien plates. I love those because I have I have an obsession with um porcelain porcelain pot. I just love that on the back as well. The description. Um we had this for our wedding and we’ve been married 34 years almost. So, um and how could I resist some marble merangs? I know. I know. And see Sus’s fat bricks here as napkins. Instead of napkin rings, I just bought some ribbon from my favorite shop in Corbridgeidge called Refound Objects. Do you know it? Yes, we know it. All the stripy Oh, different ribbons. See what the curtains are. The cafe curtains are by then. And also Ike suggested that we don’t need super privacy here. But um that’s why we made the cafe curtains so you can still see the the stars and the moon at night. And we got the door open and the sun’s shining. Um, this room is so nice. It used to be dark um, ogene color, which was lovely at the time. So, we have redecorated this one about 5 years ago. This is painted with um, celestial blue by Little Green. Beautiful. And it was my my decorator Alan suggested um he thought it was to look too boring with the coving just painted cream or blue. So, he said, “Why don’t you try black?” Mhm. And that’s called lamp lamp black by little green and and the ceiling is mid clay. Incredible. We we have to mention so the the artwork in here is your work. It’s my work. Yes. And I I think it looks so lovely with the blue walls. I think yes. Some of my favorite colors are being revealed here. Mine. I mean, I haven’t matched up the cushions to the paintings, but as a cushion designer, you can imagine they often change. Yes, this is today’s selection. Um, so the the round cushion was actually made for the John Bishop show. We didn’t quite get it perfectly round, so I have not put them on the website, but um that’s um one of our most popular fabrics called bouquet. Um and again, that’s velvet. Mhm. Um, that one’s called blush bouquet, but the one on the Ottoman is in linen. It’s called peacock bouquet. Well, the thing about the an ottoman is you only need 1 m of fabric. Mhm. Whereas a sofa or a chair, you need a lot more. That’s true. So, you can have a real statement something in the middle of your room with just 1 meter. What I find really fascinating is because you lived in Tuskanyany, you are of course inspired, but the products you are making or then selling on your website, they are made in the UK. Yes. Yes. That’s one of my uh unique selling points is that I wanted to be u I wanted to support British Yes. business and certainly work with local people. Mhm. So all the fabrics printed um in the UK and the wallpaper and some people sometimes say your cushions are rather expensive and I say well we do we we make an at home and if we made in China or India it would be a lot cheaper. Yes. So it’s great to support well I like to think the cushions are going to last for a long time as well. Yes. They’re um they’re also quite almost crush free so they don’t you know you don’t you’re not going to end up with a creased cushion. What I would love to know when you do the mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar mar marble um is it that you just experiment experiment with color that you sometimes come up with color combinations that you haven’t thought of before and just I don’t know I’m interested. It is. You do get the the wow factor because when you’re um in your big vat for marbling, your big tray of of liquid, you um you you put all the color in and then you have to treat your piece of paper with alum um because otherwise I’ve done this before. I’ve put a piece of paper untreated, put it in, got the beautiful pattern, and then you rinse it off and the whole pattern came off. So this makes sure that the pattern stays on. Yes. Um, so I can marble on a piece of red paper. Mhm. And then a bit and then the bits that are left you can the the red paper comes through. Um, but what I do is I do a lot of marbling. I bring all the papers back and then I look at them all and I can manipulate the color uh, you know, on Photoshop as well. Oh, I see. So the same design like this one can be created. I’ve got a blue one and a Yeah, I see. And also maybe I’ll just take a tiny bit of the marbled pattern and make a a design out of it. That’s when I do the editing. Yes. And I think the editing um comes back to my first my my career my my job when I was younger was I was the fashion and beauty editor at Brides magazine which is part of the Vogue group uh Vogue House in London and I was there for almost seven years. And um you do a lot of editing and um yeah organizing photo shoots and all. And I I probably bought those skills with me into the textile business of course. Um but I’m obvious often editing and cropping my own designs including the abstract work. Mhm. Um because when I first came up with the idea of um becoming a textile designer, I’ve been doing a um a degree in fine art, a master’s degree at North Umbre University. And I had a big abstract painting. I painted on wood. Mhm. And I um chopped it down into small little squares cuz I didn’t like it that much. And um I had a like a shelving system in my studio and I put all these identical squares on the shelf and I looked at them and I thought, well, that could be a cushion. Mhm. And um that’s when the idea of art for the sofa came about. Yes. And that’s how the whole business started. So it was the abstract work. I started with the marbled I added the marbled designs afterwards. This design Yes. is um you can see all the brush marks and it’s a crop of one of the paintings. I see a small area. It doesn’t exactly relate to this one, but you can imagine I would say, “Oh, I think that would make a nice cushion.” Yes. Um and that’s what I did. Um obviously it’s got to be quite a high resolution scan or or photograph, which um I collaborated with Bovamp Lighting. Yes. Alice Molen. And um yes, I’ve seen her. Was it in an English home or English country living. I saw it’s made beautifully. Looks I think it looks like a mushroom underneath. It does. And it’s all made by hand. Yes. Uh in Darbasha. Mhm. So that was a very happy collaboration. And she hadn’t really used pattern before on her on her shades. So um that was a first for her. Really old school. I Yes. It’s a Tiff. It’s called the Tiffany Tiffany shade. I just had to touch this lamp shade. This is you said the the fabric it’s a the the it’s silk cotton. Silk cotton. Yeah. Beautiful. And these are more of Ann’s boxes, but these are this is Venetian paper. Does she sell these boxes? Can you buy them as well? There’s a shop called Choosing and Keeping in in London. I know. I know. She’s she’s had some there. I see. But she doesn’t make many now. Yeah. She’s lovely. Love obelisks. Um, you don’t you don’t see many of them about. These are so heavy. Be a weapon. Um, where did you get those? I got them from an antique shop in Newcastle called Fern Antiques. My mother bought them for me for my birthday a few years ago. They’re really nice. But I think again with the having high ceilings, sometimes it’s difficult to find things with scale. Yes. Yes. Goodness knows when we downsize one day, what we’re going to do with, you know, things that are bigger. So, this painting at the end of the corridor, Yes. of a the girl with a pearl earring is by Michael Chippendale. It’s a very talented artist. And it’s all painted by hand. Mhm. Um with I believe it’s with gouache paint. Mhm. Um, and each dot he’s mixed the paint, lovingly mixed the paint to get the the right tone. And as you go closer and closer to the painting Mhm. U, it just becomes that abstract series of dots. Yes. And I mean, obviously, we’re lucky enough to have this long corridor. Yes. is perfect for this. But it’s nice. And there’s something about her that reminds me of a family member. Really? [Music] Yes. The nose and the eyes. It’s like she’s like one she I feel that she’s one of the family. I see. Having spoken about cloak rooms, would you like to see the cloak room? Of course. It’s small. Um um we just talked about a lot of color. Yes, this has it all. My only regret is that I didn’t wallpaper the ceiling. I should have wallpapered the ceiling, but this is my gray stucker pebbles design which is inspired by the natural history museum cuz I love collections of geodess and shells and rocks the way they’re displayed. So that’s what this is echoing. And it looks great with that. Yeah, that’s another Faren ball color called Charlotte’s locks. Oh, my daughter’s called Charlotte. So, it appealed to me. Yeah. Really nice. Yeah. Would you like to come and um seeing the cloak room? Yes. So, the the uh the Modern Collage series came about when I was in um Italy. Mhm. We were in the Academia in Venice. Yes. and it floods in Venice a couple of times a year and we were stuck there for 6 hours and uh I ended up coming up with this idea. I broke down the Renaissance painting into components like a jigsaw and I came back to my studio and I reput it all together with wrapping paper and doilies and beads. Um the actual faces come from like tourist posters. I didn’t paint them. I see. But then I wor with the framer to encase them in like a a shrine in in the frame. So that was a whole series I did. And uh I was a young mother at the time. So it was the motherhood element that appealed to me more than anything. Yes. I’ve got a bit of a coat fetish. So I um I’ve uh that one I picked up in a in a vintage shop. I think was £10. It’s so light. Likewise the red one as well. Yes. I’ve got a friend who sells vintage clothing called Trend Listister. her her business and uh they made them so beautifully then. Yes, that one is not vintage, but it’s sort of vintage. I bought I did buy that in Italy. It’s Prada. Yeah, that was that was a big splash out. It was on sale, but um it’s one of one of my favorite coats. Doesn’t this look great with all of the with wallpaper? It’s great. Yeah. So, I I’ve got hanger space for one more. Right, Kirsten, you ready for a bit of a climb up? Always. get a good view here of the uh Yes. of the downstairs. I mean, we were going to put a dining room table there for like formal dining. Who does formal dining nowadays? Not really. I know. So, Ike, who who worked on the house with us, said, “No, put the put the round table in the kitchen. You’re not going to want to be here in the middle of winter, you know. I mean I don’t know but but wherever we are no matter which country people always end up in the kitchen. Yes. So the se the ceiling here is pitch pine. Um the floor was pitch is pitch pine. Um but we it had a lot of like polyurethane. It was quite um shiny. So we had it all stripped back to bare wood. We stained it with um a graphite color by Osmo Oil. I think it’s a German company. Yes. Um and then the gray and the orange mixed together I thought to make a really pleasing color. That’s the floor. But the um we had big thick curtains here and again Ike, who was helping us with the house said, “Well, you’re not overlooked.” So no, let the light come in and take the curtains away. Exactly. Um and also um he said, “Why don’t you do a low hang?” Which is a term for hanging artwork like this way. I hadn’t really thought about putting artwork on, you know, so low and the plints are from the installation. It was looking at color as a commodity. And so when pink is the new black, everyone wants the pink coat. Um I made the pink plints bigger that year. And then from it I created this uh this series of work including um these uh geometric artworks up the which are obviously a bit different to uh some of my other artwork but it’s all part of my journey so I promise I did them. This um artwork is incredible, isn’t it? Yes. So, I bought that at the Sunderland Degree Show. Um, and it’s by um a chap called David Denhome. Um, but I bought it about 20 Yeah. about 25 years ago. Mhm. And the um another idea that Ike had was to um Mhm. take the banister out here. Yes. and build the bookcases for this space but screwed obviously screwed into the into the floor. Yes. So these are part of the fabric of the house now. This used to have my desk in it. Mhm. But now I use the kitchen table, but it’s somewhere where I go through my archive of designs or um or play dolls houses. Would you like to to see the doll’s house? Yes. Um, it was lovingly decorated by my friend Sabina. My wallpaper on the And we miniaturized my wallpaper. If we had space for something like that, I would still get one. Most definitely. I mean, the uh the bed here is um this is superized me there. And then we uh we upholstered this little chair. It is so lovely. Yeah. And Sabina even made little mini artworks here. Um, she took my painting designs and made little artworks. So, thank you Sabina for that. See the wallpaper here. Mhm. Again, bit of upycling. I’d say upycling. Upcycling is something I do a lot and I believe in. You know, not buying new things. Yes. Wallpaper we have. We decided to make some um box files. Yes. Because again, when I was in Florence, um I I loved the box piles I got there and I was it was always something I dreamt of doing was making my own. Um which can be for filing or as a as a memory box, but they look amazing when they’re up on the shelf. They do. They do together. Glamorous glamorous filing. Yes. For for the for the woman who has everything, but it’s um it’s a wallpaper book. Oh, yes. I think this might be an older one, but um Yeah. So that’s um showcasing some of the wallpaper. Um some of them I don’t do anymore. So this is this book’s a little bit older and that’s how it happens. Um but this this is um slightly well, you’re going to see some of these papers later on, but um some of these are slightly dated, but um that one you’re going to see. Yes. And I’ll show you I’ll show that to you on the wall. Mhm. So this way to uh the guest room. Mhm. I have tidied it up for you, Kirsten. That’s so It’s possibly not always this tidy, but um we haven’t got anyone staying here, so um you are so kind. I love the yellow. I think it’s it’s such a cheerful color. It is. It’s sunny when it’s for when it’s not sunny. This is called Babouch by Faren Ball. Mhm. And again, it’s not been decorated in 15 years. Um, it would be tricky because the cupboards are the cupboards are sort of floating. They’re they’re Oh, I see. They’re attached to the wall. I see. We’d have to take them off. They were made by a company called Rascal and they’re It’s actually leather fronted. And this has been etched on to look like stitching. So, we wanted to stitch it, but it it didn’t work. So, it got etched. I see. Laser etched on instead. Mhm. Um, this mirror is from Next from years ago. Really? Yep. But it’s light as a feather. And these are some of the original marble boxes. I was just going to that, my friend Anne made. Oh, I see. And um I see. So that’s what inspired me to make my own marble boxes. Uh this is um a recent acquisition. a friend of mine, Ursula, had an art show and um showcased quite a few of his works and uh I’ve always loved the dot paintings and it’s been difficult to find an artwork for this yellow wall and I to me with the minute I put that painting on there, it just the colors just sang. Yes. Um and I really think it goes well with my bench. It does. Um and also the that orange um that flash of orange with the candlestick. Yeah. So wonderful. That’s called teal bouquet. It’s it’s probably my bestselling fabric. Yeah. Um I don’t know what it is about blue, but um of all the designs I’ve done, that’s the one I’ve um I’ve sold the most for uh mainly for upholstery uses. How would you how would you say um for people who are unsure about color combinations um and they maybe want to get out of their com comfort zone uh would you what tip would you give them? Well, you could have a very plain room u which this room in fact is plain. It just happens to be bright yellow and um something like a ottoman or ends of bed bench. Yes. Also doesn’t take much fabric. I mean that is again less than one meter. I mean even even me being a designer in this room I I like to think I haven’t overdone it. This fabric of mine um called Malbury veneer is a bit more of a self pattern. Mhm. Um so it’s quite nice to um to have the odd wow factor um pattern becomes the star of the show. Yes. Without overdoing it. Mhm. But um I’ll be completely contradicting myself by the time you get up to the top floor. Um there’s always a room or two where maybe no one really sees it and you could be a bit bold. Mhm. Like the cloak room. Yes. Like a maybe a small guest room or or a box room. And um maybe just try it. Yes. Life’s too short to be Gree. I I know. So the first um well apart from the cloak room this is the first room with the wallpaper in to show you which was in my book or Petra Gregia um which means gray stone. Yes. Um so it’s um it’s a marble design that looks like it looks like um sort of pebbles and stones. Um again it’s it’s a design that’s been mirrored. Um and for me that’s quite a neutral color. It’s got It’s got the veins of orange in it, but it’s better to be neutral. The other thing you could do is have plain walls and just put that on the ceiling. Mhm. Mhm. The ceiling, which we call the what is called the fifth wall. Yes. Um you get a bit of the cyine chapel in your bathroom if you do the ceiling. Yeah. Um maybe I should have done the ceiling in here, but um even I’m getting more bold as I get older cuz I’m thinking, well, why not? Life’s too short. So, is that the master bedroom? Yes. Look, it’s it’s a painting outside the window. It is. What a lovely room. I’ve never seen a light quite like this in here. Really? No. Never. I mean this fabric just that’s my peacock bouquet and linen and uh and then the the matching cushion with a a bigger scale often play with scale. Yes. Um the bed cover is reversible. Mhm. By Caravan. And again a mixed hang of paintings that have meaning to me of course. Um the middle one is one of mine. It’s a Northlandscape. M um but uh I did all that by sight. A friend of mine came to help me and said, “Aren’t you going to measure?” But no. And again, the one above the mantle piece was by my uncle who I painted with age five and onwards. One of the first cushions I bought um from Fortuni in Venice u before I became a cushion designer. Um it would be very sad if I never had anyone else’s cushions in my house. So that’s one of my favorites. And these shaws here were from um India and I was there last November. So the walls are painted nettle gray by the British color standard paints works really well mahogany which I think it has done. Yes. And then the um the the beige pink ceiling. Uh again I love to highlight a ceiling. I I I love this combination so so much. We have more lovely coats. Yes. So, you also wear them? I wear them. Yes, I wear them. You should. You should. I I bought this recently uh also from my friend um was that from Madame Vintage, I think it was. Um but the I love poochie. Yes. Poochie designs. I think that’s poochiesque. Yes. But I like them as It’s almost like pieces of art. Yeah. Why not hang up your clothes and look at them? Why hide it in a wardrobe? The top floor, there was no major architectural. There was no coving or anything like that. And so when my decorator Alan and I discussed putting this gray stuckco wallpaper up, he said, “Well, where shall I put the bat on?” And then you want the ceiling white. Yes. And I said, “Well, why would you want the ceiling white? Why would you? It’s a curved ceiling.” Well, I mean, there’s no obvious place to stop the wallpaper. Exactly. So, bless him. Um, he um he wallpapered the whole thing. It’s great. So, when I said earlier that um uh I was inspired by the crumbling plaster of the Palazzo walls in Sienna and Florence, uh again, this has been mirrored, but the original design uh was literally um scrape uh paint layered over with revealing colors underneath. Mhm. So, um that’s where the color palette came from. Yes. I’ve tried to link the colors. So, I picked one of the colors in the gray stucker wallpaper. Yes. And um I’ve put it here. Mhm. So, there’s a link. I like to link somehow between rooms. But it was such a long, boring space that um my friend Helen Morris from the stencil library um we uh decided that she would stencil it for me with this um lovely jumbo floral pattern. Um which is called the Margarite. Yes. Because it’s named after Lon Van, the fashion designer’s daughter, Margarite. Um she designed it for her bedroom. It’s quite subtle. Yes. Yeah, I think it’s um it’s gorgeous. I think it’s pretty. And then coming down to the bathroom, we did the same put the same pattern, but on a um and I the same pattern on a cream wall. This is Charlotte’s bedroom. Charlotte’s grown up now, but uh she still comes home. And uh this uh Charlotte, when when I decided I was going to wallpaper these rooms, Charlotte said, “I’d prefer it if we didn’t have the wallpaper everywhere.” We did indeed paint the sidewalls white, but we will paper the rest of it. Um, again, no particular coving or architectural detail in here. Slightly wonky line. So, I decided that the wallpaper going up and over would um would be the best thing for this space. And again, the the sloping ceiling. And I think the fact when you say slightly wonky, I think the wallpaper hides that. Yes. The mid-century chair is by Gooby and I um I did a collection a few years ago which was based on um park and wood veneer. I was lucky enough on Instagram again early days of Instagram for me anyway, not for Sarah. I met a wonderful um uh artist, designer, upcycler called Sarah Palanteer. Yes. From Manchester and uh we decided we would collaborate. So, she found an old chest of drawers. I didn’t think it cost very much. I think it was under 100. Yes. And um I sent her a roll of wallpaper and she made that. It looks incredible. So, this was um again a very early wallpaper. It’s called Khaki Fantasy. The design is called Fantasy. Yes. So, I just gave it a color name. Um and again, it’s mirrored. And it um it was funny. I was about to drop it and then there was a lot of interest in it. Porter Romano used it for um for for lamp shade and um it also this room originally was my son’s room and it had a more mid-century vibe down my daughter’s room and she’s added in her quirk of the of the Stafford dogs lamps and the and the leopard skin um headboard so far. It’s the last room I’ve done in the house. I have to say basically we’re done. I’m not one for completely redoing things constantly. This was my daughter’s room and it has very awkward sliding doors. Um so we’ve changed them to opening doors and um very clever little bit of beading inside there which is a bamb I love bamboo. Yes. And it’s a bamboo uh it’s from a company called Deckwood and um yeah it’s just a trim that you put in there and the the handles are from M Matilda Go. Oh yeah. And I’ve used one of my latest wallpapers which is a matte one. It’s called Maze Maze Plumes and we’ve lined the the shelves with it. Uh so yeah, it’s um I love marble paper behind bookshelves and behind books. I think my husband thinks I’m a bit mad cuz I I’ve color color coded the books for fun. And then this day bed we’ve had for years and years and years. It’s got a spare mattress underneath when people come to stay. So, we’ve made a frilly a frilly balance for it to hide the mattress. It’s really nice. Mhm. And also, this is your fabric as well. Yes. Yeah. Yes. That’s called cobalt strata. Um and uh I it comes in a few colorways. The original design is Malikite. It’s a green one. And then I we’ve I’ve changed the color. Mhm. So, it’s it’s my equivalent of a plane because it’s sort of color. It’s more or less the same color together. Very special um pair of chairs here. They came from a um antique spare in Palmer in Italy and they’re sort of mid-century and they’re plasticized. They are absolutely great. Kirsten, that’s that’s the end of the house tour. Um beautiful. I really enjoyed it. I think Y did as well. Although just behind the camera, a beautiful house. So special. Keeps keeps the spit anyway down the stairs. Thank you so much for taking the time and showing us around. It’s a pleasure. Really loved it. Thank you for coming and looking looking at everything. No, I enjoyed this so much. I I just when I saw your designs, it I felt drawn to this straight away and seeing this in person is a real treat, honestly. So, and also um of course we will link Suz’s website and her Instagram because I think you you will absolutely love it. So, thank you. Thank you for helping us. Thank you. I said to you because he was basically behind the camera all the time. We should end this video together. Yeah. So that you still see I’m existing. We absolutely adored Sus’s house. Her style is special, so incredible, unique, and I ah it’s just wonderful designs. I I must say I said to you also to Susie because I’ve been loving marbled paper for so long, but she is the first person that we came across who brought this pattern onto or uses it on a large scale. Yeah. on fabrics, on wallpapers. Yeah. And that’s just amazing to me. Susie and I said because we use this microphone and I totally agree. She said it’s it’s just a black box. This will look beautiful marbled. Yeah, we can do that. We honestly we can’t thank Susie enough. It was amazing. We enjoyed every second. So, we hope you enjoy you will enjoy the tour as well. Thank you so much for watching. Let us know what you think and yeah, until next time. See you again very soon. Bye bye bye.

A tour of the VIBRANT & ARTISTIC HOME OF ENGLISH DESIGNER SUSI BELLAMY// Join us as we take you on a tour of artist and designer Susi Bellamy’s home in Northumberland. Susi’s beautiful house is Italian-inspired because she used to live in Tuscany with her friends where she learned the art of marbling. Her marbled fabrics and wallpaper are incredibly beautiful and her entire home is filled with original art by her and many other artists. Get ready to be inspired by the perfect blend of modern luxury and classic Italian charm. Whether you’re an architecture enthusiast, a design lover, or simply looking for ideas to renovate your own home, this tour is sure to leave you in awe. So sit back, relax, and let’s explore this incredible dream home together!

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*THIS VIDEO IS NOT SPONSORED*

SUSI BELLAMY: https://www.susi-bellamy.com

SUSI BELLAMY INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/susibellamy/

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CONTENTS OF THIS VIDEO:

0:00 – Intro
1:33 – Tour of the Great Hall & Susi Bellamy’s background
9:53 – The kitchen
13:19 – The living room
20:45 – The long corridor
21:42 – The cloakroom
24:02 – The view into the hall from the first floor & the landing
28:48 – The guest bedroom & ensuite
33:10 – The master bedroom
35:27 – The colourful and patterned top floor
41:01 – Outro

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The music in our videos is from Epidemic Sound, Artlist & Musicbed, royalty free music sharing sites which you have to pay a monthly fee to be able to access: https://www.epidemicsound.com/, https://artlist.io/ & https://www.musicbed.com

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