Get the look: Mouse Martin on turning a Cotswolds cottage into an artists’ retreat

Mouse Martin pictured at Inkwell Cottage in the Cotswolds
Artist Mouse Martin pictured at Inkwell Cottage within the Cotswolds

There are lots of causes to purchase a dream dwelling, however a bottle of milk just isn't an on a regular basis supply of property inspiration.

However for Mouse Martin, her transfer to a good looking Cotswolds Inkwell Cottage, with chocolate field mullion home windows and climbing roses framing the entrance door, all began when her pal ran out of milk.

‘I used to be going to get a pint of milk for a girlfriend and took a detour the place I noticed somewhat cottage down a nation lane,’ she explains.

‘I rang the brokers and managed to view it the identical day. I had an epiphany [and even though there were 17 people who had viewed it that day] I rang the brokers afterwards and put in a suggestion, not pondering in 1,000,000 years they might settle for, they usually rang ten minutes later and stated you gained’t consider it however they've accepted their supply.’

Months later Mouse spoke to the earlier homeowners they usually revealed why she was profitable. Mouse, who wished Inkwell Cottage to dwell in and lease out on Distinctive Homestays, had one other property Filly Cottage marketed on the vacation let specialists, and the distributors had recognised her title and realised their beloved dwelling could be in secure fingers.

As a ceramicist and artist, Mouse set about turning the honeyed stone constructing into an artists retreat, full with studio in an previous goat shed, and native work all around the partitions. Caran d’Ache colored pencils sit in vintage jars and squidged tubes of oil paints are prepared for the following art work.

‘I fell head over heels in love with the cottage,’ says Mouse. ‘I slept on the ground for the primary two months as there was nothing in it.’

Completed throughout lockdown of 2020, all the pieces was initially sourced on-line, each new and vintage from locations like eBay, then later added to, from a repurposed Champagne riddling rack to lights from a WW2 officer’s mess. Wood panels within the kitchen are from the Cutty Sark – and nobody actually is aware of how, a long time and even centuries in the past, they arrived there. A gnarly nailed beamed ceiling sits overhead and a mini Aga offers heat to the flagstone floored room and entrance is by way of a Tudor door.

The kitchen has a extra impartial Portland Stone paint, in distinction to the deep inky blue of the studio, and is extra of a comfortable hub to the miniscule 46 sq m property.

‘Every little thing within the kitchen could be very cosy,’ says Mouse. ‘The color just isn't intrusive and modifications color with the sunshine. It may be gray, inexperienced or off-white. The kitchen could be very a lot the kitchen, has pretty gentle that comes into it. It’s a one-up, one-down Hansel and Gretel home as you'd dream a tiny little cottage to be within the cotswolds.’

Mouse now makes use of the cottage as her private getaway in addition to letting others take pleasure in it via UniqueHomeStays. ‘It makes me completely satisfied. I like to set the scene in the home, give it a theme and make it cosy. You get an interior feeling of when one thing is completely proper – and it's a pretty feeling.’

Crimson teapot

Tea time (Picture: John Lewis)
Tea time (Image: John Lewis)

‘This most likely got here from eBay. It’s my favorite teapot.’

Different: Purchase this London Pottery farmhouse filter 2 cup teapot for £25.49 from John Lewis.

Inexperienced lamp

Into the light (Picture: Wayfair)
Into the sunshine (Image: Wayfair)

‘It’s a classic lamp that comes from one other antiques market known as The Outdated Flight Home. I really like its historical past, it will most likely have come from a WW2 officers mess.’

Different: Purchase this Lucide desk lamp for £75.99 from Wayfair.

Shelf

Not too shabby (Picture: Goose Home and Garden)
Not too shabby (Image: Goose Residence and Backyard)

‘It got here from a farmhouse in France, by way of an organization known as Goose Residence and Backyard – my favorite for shabby stylish model.’

Different: Buythisfabulous rustic french blue shelf for £265 from Goose Residence and Backyard.

Paint: Portland Stone by Little Greene

Warm hue (Picture: Little Greene)
Heat hue (Image: Little Greene)

‘It simply has such a comfortable really feel.’

Purchase this absolute matt emulsion for £26 for 1l from Little Greene.

Mugs

Rick Stein Coves of Cornwall mug daymer bay set
Mugged off (Image: Rick Stein)

‘They got here from Rick Stein. The costliest mugs I’ve ever purchased.’

Different: Purchase Rick Stein Coves of Cornwall mug daymer bay set, £48, from John Lewis.

Parisian cafe chairs

We've got your back (Picture: Wayfair)
We’ve obtained your again (Image: Wayfair)

‘They have been purchased on eBay and shipped down from Scotland, however actually go along with the home.’

Different: Purchase these Slat Again Stacking Eating Chairs (set of 4) for £255.99 from Wayfair.

Seventeenth-century cricket desk

A good innings (Picture: Vinterior)
A very good innings (Image: Vinterior)

‘This got here from an antiques market in Chipping Norton.’

Different: Purchase this Welsh cricket desk for £950 from Vinterior.

The chocolate cake

A local treat
A neighborhood deal with

‘From Lynwood and Co Cafe, a implausible native café.’

Purchase it from Lynwood & Co Cafe.

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