Garden Design

Inside a Lavish 17th-Century English Country Retreat | Design Notes



Martin Brudnizki & Jonathan Brook welcome us into their country residence in the wilds of Sussex, England. Binderton House was once the country residence of the former Prime Minister Anthony Eden, who owned it between 1941 and 1952. Now divided into seven flats, Brudnizki & Brook have created their very own Arcadian fantasy of English country life.

The core of the house is a handsome two-storey building, dating back to 1677, with a pedimented stone porch and wings of different lengths. The flat Martin and Jonathan viewed is on the ground floor in the oldest and grandest part of the house: a two-bedroom home, which includes the original drawing room of the house. Standing in the dandelion-yellow drawing room, Brudnizki simply explains the decor: “What this now looks like, is John Fowler on acid. Which is really what we wanted to create.” Watch the full episode of ‘Design Notes’ as we tour Martin Brudnizki & Jonathan Brook’s country retreat tucked in the English countryside.

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– One of my clients in America called me the Master of the Grand Fantasy, and I think that’s very apt. [smooth jazz music] What was our approach when we were looking at sort of doing this place up? It was really to create a home of fantasy, and lots of different fantasies,

But the overriding one was, of course, the Arcadian fantasy of a English country life. We entertain a lot, so we have lunches and dinners, we have friends coming to stay for the weekend. It’s sort of fun for us both to plan how to create the best experience for our friends as possible.

– Martin is a great interior designer. He takes most of the decisions, so I just let him do what he does best. And then I was in charge of the art. And I think it was a similar thing, where I would propose paintings, and he would trust me,

And he’d be like, “Yes, go for it.” So that was kind of like the nice split where it was we sort of had our definitive roles where I was art, he was interiors, and it sort of works like that quite well. The curtains represent the sort of divide between

What we call the public and the private spheres of the house. The public bit is the drawing room and the kitchen, and the entrance, and then the private bits are the two guest bedrooms and the bathrooms. This is our sort of sculpture gallery, shall we call it, our John Soane sort of moment,

Where we’ve collected all these plaster reliefs. So there’s a lot of Peter Hone bits, a lot of bits from Brownrigg. This is a trompe l-oeil painting by Michael Murfin from the Henry Miller gallery. These wall brackets are from Benedict Foley, and Guy Tobin as well. All our favorites, basically, here.

– Someone said to us that what this now looks like is John Fowler on acid. Which was sort of really what we wanted to create. Architecturally, this room has the grandeur to take gilding. So it was always in my sort of head that if I’m gonna paint the room yellow,

Then I wanted to gild details, because it’s not like it’s a white painted corners with gilding, which sort of stands out, it sort of blends in with it. So at the firelight at night, or the candles, it will sort of sparkle. Talking about the fireplace that had like, I don’t know,

10 coats of white paint on it. And I thought it was the most disappointing fireplace I had come across ever, until we stripped it of all the paint and suddenly all of this beautiful carving just jumped out at you, and then of course immediately I thought, I have to gild them.

Of course, you know you can never have too much gold. – The art collection was really inspired by the country house, and our London flat has a lot of contemporary art, so we thought this was a nice excuse to purchase like old masters, and more classical feeling pieces.

I found this sort of 18th century painting of a dog and a sort of still life in Rome, that fit the spot perfectly, so we thought, that’s good. And then that sort of expanded into more dogs down the side, which again is a slight homage to Mario Buatta

With the sort of the bow. And then the dogs, favorite being the portrait of Zenon done by James Hayes, who’s wonderful. It’s salon hanging, but it’s all in like mini little collections throughout. It feels organized in my head, at least. – Lampshades for me are like hats, and they’re high couture.

The inside as well as the outside are very important. So, of course, you know you’re sitting on the sofa, and most of the time you will look into the lampshade, and usually it’s very disappointing. So that’s why I put a lot of effort in all our lamp shapes

That we do for all our projects. For our home, actually we sort of went even one step further. [smooth jazz music] The color yellow has sort of continued from the drawing room, because the closer the yellow is to light, the more effective that color is,

So of course, for me, yellow is sunshine in a box. – When it comes to a table, more is more, it’s all about the layers. – On the table, we have plates by Spode. We have napkins and place mats by Maison Margaux. – [Jonathan] And then there’s these Campbell-Rey glasses,

Which are really good, the wine glasses and the water glasses. – [Martin] The cutlery is actually vintage, as well, that we bought, a whole set of 12 we managed to get hold of very luckily. – The flowers are from our neighbor and friend, Milli Proust, who lives locally.

He’s in charge of drinks, I’m in charge of food. I think that’s- – Yes. – That’s the division of labor. [light jazz music] – Well, I have never had a bedroom like this before, and it’s an extravagant joy to sleep here, to spend time in this room.

I wanted to create a sort of heavenly upholstered paradise. So I used Lustmore, which is Jean Monro, which is one of my favorite fabrics, and I always wanted to use it somewhere. And I sort of got my chance to do it here on my own because there was no restrictions.

Since we are using one pattern of fabric throughout, I think it’s very important to use a contrasting tape for the walls, so you can understand each wall, where it begins, where it ends. We’re using these onion tassels by Samuel & Sons on the curtains, and hence as well for the headboard,

We used this pink fabric by Pierre Frey, ruched, just to, as well, separate it from the wall behind. I love these lampshades. They are very interesting, because we found these antique embroidered flowers that was last time used on one of the Guinness girls’ wedding dress from the 1920s.

So we used them on both lampshades. The chandelier in the bedroom is actually Murano. It was custom made for this bedroom. One of my favorite is the painting opposite the bed, which is by Oliver Messel of Mrs. Patricia Plunkett of Barbados. [smooth jazz music] This is sort of that sort of story

That I had about that fantasy of an American heiress coming to England. And what does she need, a fabulous bathroom. So I wanted to create something that sort of had a slight 1920s, ’30s feel to it, but at the same time that worked extremely well.

The stone we used in the master bathroom was Arabescato, which is the white with a black-gray veining, and the Giallo Siena, which is the yellow. And the way I wanted to do it, was to sort of polish the floor so you get reflection and the walls are matte.

Since we’re in the master bathroom and you need to be able to understand what you look like, lighting is very important. So we have these beautiful wall lights by Circa lighting, which is a American company. And then we have these two star chandeliers. I’m fortunate to design a range of tapware

And white goods for Drummonds. And I used all my own designs for here because I wanted masses of hot water, I wanted to have that shower experience that you never can really get in London, where you’re just like getting drenched. [smooth happy jazz]

We are now in the tent, which is our guest bedroom. A vertical stripe fabric makes the room feel taller. It really accentuate the idea of a tall room, and that was sort of part of the reason I sort of wanted to use it, this sort of like just opens it.

But then breaking it up with this other fabric, which is more a square sort of diagonal pattern. All of the fabrics on the wall and the ceiling, I designed myself, and is sold through Christopher Farr. I’ve slept in this room myself, and it is a very different experience when you wake up

Because you really feel enveloped in the fabric, and that’s the beauty of it. All of our friends who come and stay in this room, they think it’s very luxurious and just love spending time here. The kitchen was a challenge. It’s a challenge because you have 3.7 meter ceiling height

And you can’t really design it in the sort of traditional way with a sort of horizontal cabinetry because what do you do above it. So, of course, the solution was to do the four towers. So each corner has a tower with a finial on it. You need always some decorative embellishment,

Super important, and in those four towers, you have one that is fridge/freezer, one that is washer/dryer, and then one that is the crockery and glasses and then one that’s utility. To have a tapestry in a kitchen probably is quite unusual, but actually it’s the motif of a tapestry printed on a canvas

Because if it was a real tapestry hanging in this room, which is a kitchen where you have like your cooking, you have smells, you have steam, that probably wouldn’t be a good thing. But I wanted something soft on the wall, and again, it’s quite dramatic.

It’s from a company based in Oxford called Hines of Oxford. We bought some plates that once hung in Nancy Lancaster’s dining room and we decided we’ll build a theme around that. And then we hung all of these schwazer plates and platters on the walls, and then we added some pewter plates for butchness.

[light jazz music] I am completely thrilled with the result, not only of what this looks like, but of our life down here and the people that we have met. And it’s just so different from London, and it’s sort of personally what I needed when we moved

Is what I needed to be able to just continue working and being creative. The difference between designing for myself and designing for a client is that the home that we do together is about us, and is a conversation between us, so we sort of make this happen.

Normally I had to have in the past, when I’ve done my own flats, sort of been thinking about a little bit like, okay, I’m gonna want to sell this one day, but with this one, Binderton House, we were just like, go full out, create that fantasy.

It’s all about us, how we want to live. [light jazz music]

30 Comments

  1. For me-it is just too much. I like most of the pieces individually–including the colors, fabrics, trims, and art–but, to me, they get lost in the overall composition.

    "More isn't always better. Sometimes it is just more."

  2. "And then we added some pewter plates….for butchness." LOL I know this guy is a good time.

  3. I was not prepared for this — a trip down the rabbit hole, leaving the everyday behind. Stehndahl Syndrome, Hypomania, Liztomania. This will take a long time to process. Happy to say this will live rent-free in my head for a long time. Cecil Beaton is smiling down on this pair and saying Bravo! What a Christmas gift this segment is!🎅🎅🎅🙂🙂💯💯❤️

  4. Wow, what a great early Christmas gift this video was. Martin Brudnizki is a master. Not only is his shared country house paradise but listening to him talk about the design process and execution was so engrossing that I never wanted him to stop talking and walking. Incredible. Thank you so much to all involved. Merry Christmas!

  5. How terrific that they have so much height and wall space with which to work. I love all of the art and artifact displays high on the wall. Tented room is fantastic. Such a creative mix of wonderful things, and bold, but not crazy color. Thanks for sharing this one.

  6. What a fantastic home. I could spend hours looking at all the detail in each space. And the lampshades…gorgeous.

  7. I just want like 10% of what they have put in, keep the 90%. Beautiful exterior, but definitely edit the interior. They lost me at the multicolored velvet curtains. Pompous decor.

  8. Fabulous! Whichever room you are fortunate enough to be in, you could not fail to be affected by the atmosphere, the beauty and the story that begins to unfold, the longer you spend time there!

  9. Anybody could tell me why the double sinks in the bathroom and why the fauteuil in the bathroom? Double-sinks must come from America? The fauteuil in the bathroom is more British, I think?

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