Escape to this rural retreat

With a resourceful and dedicated view on using salvage and an eye for pared-back simplicity, Susan and Robert Mears have restored their Suffolk cottage, filling it with a harmonious mix of history-rich materials, furniture and objects

This rural Suffolk retreat is testament to a passion for originality and a love of all things salvaged. Couple Susan and Robert Mears have peeled back the 200-year-old cottage’s fabricated layers to reveal, and celebrate, its authentic and natural beauty. Stepping inside you are instantly wowed by its gentle architectural character honoured by the carefully sourced salvaged materials and objects the pair have used to restore, furnish and decorate it.

Part of the appeal of buying the cottage was having the chance to bring its bygone aesthetic back to life. Personal and charming layers of history which is respectful to the cottage and unique to the couple have been added. ‘Stripping the place back was the first thing we did: exposing beams, installing reclaimed floors, opening up the inglenook fireplace and removing the tired 1980s kitchen. The bricks used to block up the fireplace, which we discovered had been made in the village brick foundry which closed down 150 years earlier, were used to lay new hearths in both fireplaces as well as a garden path. We replaced a rather unsightly 1970s stair rail with some ancient beams bought from auction and had the stairs clad in reclaimed wood,’ explains Susan.

The renovation allowed Susan and Robert to see the space in a different light and, although the cottage isn’t big, once stripped back they were inspired to source large, almost oversized, pieces like the shop counters and haberdashery drawers in the kitchen, the handsome housekeeper’s cupboard in the sitting room, industrial metal lockers in the snug and grand French beds. ‘A piece of furniture will often lead and influence the look of the room and we always put aesthetics before practicality!’ says Susan.

Creating and curating the space has been a joint venture between Susan and Robert, and the pair have done much of the DIY themselves. ‘We’ve had to get trades people in for things like electrics and plumbing, but we’ve devoted much of our time here to getting hands-on restoring wood, stripping and painting furniture, and decorating,’ says Susan. Whilst Robert has put a lot of energy into transforming the garden from a hotchpotch of sheds and unlevel ground into an orderly haven, Susan has put hours into sewing and embroidery, making cushion covers – the perfect accessories for the cottage’s pared-back aesthetic.

The bones of the cottage are made of wood, so it was natural that this was echoed in the interior: wooden furniture and carefully chosen objects have been added to harmonious effect. ‘We’ve both always loved natural wood and most of the furniture in our London and Suffolk homes is made from old pine. It was very important to us to have original wooden floors throughout to give a comfortable and authentic feel, and those that weren’t already here were bought at salvage yards and installed. We’ve purposefully brought a natural element into the cottage and have even taken the inside out by making our woodstore from leftover beams from the hallway,’ says Susan.