Baroque Of Ages

Di Overton used her creative skills to turn a dark and dated cottage into a stylish home filled with vintage finds

- Hazel Dolan

When Di Overton first came across this Northumberland cottage, she was living in a townhouse in Newcastle, and although having a weekend retreat was her partner Harvey Roll’s dream rather than her own, Di was still keen to see the property.

‘As we pulled up outside,’ she recalls, ‘I said, “This is tiny! Shall we even bother looking?” But the owner was standing, waiting. So we went in, saw the views, looked at each other and both said, “Yes!”.’

Reinvention is what Di does best. As the designer-owner of Ghost Furniture, she takes vintage pieces and creates something new. The couple’s cottage, too, has been reworked for each stage of their ownership, from its early days as a weekend bolthole to its most recent – Harvey sadly died three years ago – as Di’s full-time home.