A coastal house in Cornwall with pure, light-filled interiors by Maron Lichtig

In today’s fast-paced world, many interior designers are taxed with punishingly short deadlines. But when the London-based Marion Lichtig was asked to design her clients’ Cornish holiday home, she was faced with the opposite scenario. “Planning permission was drawn out and, even after the first dig, the project took three years,” she says. As a result, the job evolved organically, which is just how Marion likes to work. Patience was the key.

Today, the stone house stands squarely in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, its quartet of french windows facing south-west across landscaped lawns to the Camel estuary. The clients bought the site in 2000 and originally wanted a state-of-the-art modern house there, but the planners turned that down in favour of the second option, a traditional Cornish structure. Marion was brought in early, so she and the architect, Duncan Mackenzie of Mackenzie Wheeler, were able to collaborate closely. “The aim was for a seaside-meets-country mood, emphasising the wonderful light,” Marion says. The owner concurs: “We wanted pure spaces that wouldn’t fight with the views beyond.”

The drawing room encapsulates the ‘seaside-meets country’ look of the interior, with its nineteenth century scallop-backed chair and rustic fireplace.

Paul Massey

The client and her family are London based, so this was intended as a comfortable holiday retreat. “My husband grew up in Cornwall and this really is home,” she says. “We already had a major commitment to the area.” And that commitment came early on. The minute that planning permission was granted, local stone for the house was quarried from a nearby farm and old Delabole slate, used for the hall floor, was sourced from local reclamation yards. As a result, the house feels genuinely part of the landscape. “I was able to choose all the surfaces, including the amazing Dinesen floor boards,” says Marion. Cut from 20-metre-high Douglas fir trees, the planks are extra long, and have a soft white bloom.

The long build process was a bonus. Early on, Marion commenced furniture shopping with her client. “We were squirrelling things away long before the first dig,” she says. “If you wait until all the decoration is done, it’s too late. It takes time to amass all the perfect things.” Marion and her client had originally met in 2000 and since then Marion had designed the client’s Chelsea home and her chalet in Verbier, so stylistically they were in tune. “She knew my look and she trusted me,” says Marion. So when, on occasion, she emailed her client with a photograph of a particular piece and the words “We have to have it”, the answer, every time, was a “Yes”. The furniture came mostly from London shops and antiques fairs.