An 18th-century Somerset barn transformed into a warm, comfortable home

One of the most wonderful ironies about house-hunting is that all too often, what we set out to unearth, confidently armed with our meticulously mapped-out list of requirements, and what we actually end up falling in love with, are not one and the same. Perhaps this is because of a common delusion that we are the ones who find that elusive house, when in many cases, it is in fact the house that finds us. This was certainly the case with Joe Levin, who after many years living in London, newly divorced and retired from the hospitality business, was ready to start his next chapter in the English countryside alongside his dog, Winnie.

‘What I was looking for was a chocolate box cottage with roses around the front door,’ he recalls. Joe’s new home, it turned out, was not the quaint, thatched house he had envisaged but a five-bedroom barn conversion in south Somerset. ‘I had no intention of buying a barn or any real connection with the area,’ he says. ‘But I just walked in and thought, “this is home”.’

The 18th-century farmstead building, which had been converted around 20 years previously, was an easy draw with its vaulted ceilings and local stone, but the decoration, which largely consisted of rooms painted in a yellowing magnolia, was not. Recognising the barn’s potential but acknowledging it was a major undertaking, Joe sought help, and through friends was introduced to interior designer Polly Ashman, founder of her eponymous London-based studio.

‘We were quite lucky that the house was in good condition,’ she says. ‘We didn't have to do things like rip the plumbing out, which meant we could really focus on the interiors.’

Polly, whose style is rooted in a traditional English sensibility, wanted to create an interior that spoke to the history of the building while serving as a backdrop that facilitates modern day life. ‘Joe has a real appreciation for antiques and we were both keen to use as many as possible. We didn't want the house to look too ‘put together’ and antiques really help with that,’ she says. Fortunately, the local area is awash with antique shops and auctions which allowed them to pick up many pieces for a song including 19th-century chairs and desks, chest of drawers, as well as a kitchen table.

It was also a lesson in using local makers and artisans. Joe met the curtain maker on a dog walk, and her best friend subsequently did all the upholstery. And Polly discovered the stone supplier during a visit to a local yard she spotted on a side road. Polly dialled back the heaviness of the hall's central staircase, painting the stairs and the balustrades ‘Olive Colour’ by Little Greene, combined with a geometric-edged stair runner and a large abstract by artist Mary West.