House Style with Connie Barton
After showing us around her Victorian cottage in south London, graphic designer Connie Barton shares her house style.
You’re happiest at home when…
It’s a warm sunny morning and I’m sitting in the living room looking out at the changes in the garden, sun shining through the trees and reflections from the pond dancing on the wooden ceiling above. With the windows thrown open, the room and garden become one and I hear the sound of running water and wildlife. With the chilly weather, it’s been a slow start this year and the leaves are still to unfurl, but in a couple of weeks the garden will explode with colour and it becomes an urban jungle out there.
How would you describe the interiors of your house?
Tranquil, warm and playful. I think my graphic design eye attempts to keep things pared back and considered, but I have octopus tendencies. I once read that they enjoy decorating their homes with stones, shells and shiny objects. It’s a constant tussle between the two.
If you could only save one thing, what would it be?
Gelert, our oversized Hairy Maclary. Although he’s quicker than me, so I’m sure he would be first out the door. So maybe my violin? It belonged to my Scottish great grandfather, my uncle and then I inherited it and we scaled the grades together back at school. It’s sat in its box ever since, but I’m determined to dust it off and rediscover my roots and get fiddling, one day.
What was the last thing you bought for the house?
A marigold orange Krups clock from the 1970s. It sits above my desk and the noisy tick-tocking is oddly comforting. It’s also eye-catching enough to break the awful habit of checking my phone for the time.
Top three coffee table books?
An impossible question. I think I spend the majority of my earnings on AbeBooks!
Currently in arm’s reach are a 1970s copy of The House Book by Terence Conran, Anni and Josef Albers: Equal and Unequal and Dan Pearson’s Tokachi Millennium Forest.
If money was no object, what changes would you make?
A treetop bedroom. If money and planning were no issue, I’d extend the little spare bedroom which looks out onto the sedum roof and add a huge window so we could wake up each morning looking out over the colourful tree canopy of the mulberry, acers and tree ferns from bed. It gets all the morning sunlight before the rest of the house, and we’re next to Ruskin Park so the trees are always full of chit chat from the songbirds and parakeets.
You’re having people over for dinner: what do you cook?
Tom [Barton, co-founder of Honest Burgers], my husband, is a really great cook, so I hung up my apron long ago. But this is a question that is always given a lot of thought, as we love a full house and friends and family love eating Tom’s food! Scottish langoustines and scallops cooked in the outdoor kitchen, with heaps of salads and Tom’s famous rosemary salted chips sat out under the mulberry tree.
What does a Sunday here look like?
The best day of the week. Sundays are quite sacred to us – we live and work together most days so we try and wrap up the to-do list on Saturday so we can totally switch off. Usually, it’s a slow start with a lap round the park with the dog and a trip to Herne Hill market if Tom’s cooking a feast for friends (or just the two of us) later on.
What are the best things about the neighbourhood?
The community and leafy local parks. We’re dog owners so we spend a good chunk of each day in Ruskin Park – it’s such a gem and has kept us all sane through lockdown. Coffee from Mono, plants from the Camberwell branch of The Nunhead Gardener and lunch at the Platform Cafe, community-run with delicious vegetarian food cooked from produce grown at the Loughborough farm opposite.
When we have the time we love to walk in Sydenham Woods. It’s full of ancient oaks and a towering Lebanese cedar. If you get there at the right time it’s deserted and the wildlife reclaims the woods, and you can also loop across to the Horniman Museum which was one of my favourite outings in the days when we all had guests staying.
How long will you be here for?
No plans to leave. If anything lockdown has made us even more grateful for our home and our wonderful community here. We head up to remote off-grid corners of The Highlands whenever we can to restore factory settings. We love the contrast of the two, and always return to the city grounded, windswept and ready to go.
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