TRÈS BELLE

Sharon and Tony Dallas have turned their dilapidated Grade II-listed house in Essex into an enchanting home with a considered colour palette and French treasures galore

- ALICE ROBERTON

GARDEN ROOM This space in the extension at one end of the house is furnished with antiques and offers wonderful views of the countryside. For a vintage-style pendant light, try Artifact. Sienna armchair, Feather & Black, would give a similar look

Back in the 18th century, the Dallas family's Grade II-listed cottage, which they moved into in 2020, was part of one larger house that was split into two in the 1960s. Their plan was to take it from outdated to updated by restoring original features, using salvaged materials, and indulging in their penchant for French-style interiors.

Sharon and her husband Tony were hands-on with the renovation, although the house's listed status meant navigating red tape and gently steering work around period features. Respecting the protected original layout, extensions were carefully added to either end of the house to create a living room and a garden room, and the barn and stables were fully rebuilt.

"The combination of Grade II listing and it being a large project meant money was tight, so we were forced to take our time,' says Sharon. The couple camped in the house through it all, going without a kitchen for a year and climbing to the first floor via a ladder for several months. Using tradespeople where needed but doing most of the work themselves, they took ceilings back to beams, replaced plumbing, rewired the house, retiled the roof and returned the staircase to its original position. Brick by brick, the outbuildings were reconstructed under the watchful eye of the local building conservation team.

'Everything had to be removed, labelled and replaced in the same position once the walls had been rebuilt and a new roof added,' explains Sharon. Their hard work paid off when this part of the renovation was given an award by the conservation officers. 'It made our painstaking work even more worth it,' she smiles.