At Home With Lydia Millen

When selecting tiles for a home project, whether it’s upgrading a room or two or renovating an entire property, it’s the materials that matter. Focusing on what the tiles are crafted from influences the quality, the aesthetic and the overall mood created, and this was certainly true for digital creator and author Lydia Millen (@lydia), who has carefully and thoughtfully given her whole home a purposeful and practical redesign, achieving effortless elegance throughout.

“Home means comfort and calmness,” explains Lydia. “It’s a place where I cultivate my real life – the life that brings me the most joy. And I think the things that you practice in your home showcase outside of your home in how you live your life.”

Lydia describes her own design style as English country but with a modern twist and a lived-in feel. She takes inspiration from nature, bringing nature’s mood into her home with natural materials providing the perfect base palette. “I think natural materials really anchor a home,” she adds. “There’s a permanence, especially to stone, and stone adds this feeling of longevity and permanence that I wanted to introduce to this house because it wasn’t here before. Everything felt very added and not particularly intentional and I wanted things to feel like they’d been here for a lot longer than they had because everything here is so historical.”

The entire basement, which comprises a large, laid-back lounge/bar area with pool table, a home office, hallway and a bathroom with freestanding tin bath and dark wood panelled walls, has been renovated using our Marlborough Terracotta Brick tiles. Their handmade finish creates subtle earthy variations throughout while their strength and durability make them ideal for hardworking areas of the home.

Rooms within this basement redesign feel cosy, cocooning and incredibly warm and welcoming though terracotta was a material that Lydia didn’t expect to fall in love with. “I think terracotta was the most unexpected texture,” she says. “Especially because the house is red brick and unless it’s softened by greenery, it felt quite in your face. But the terracotta tiles felt so different and they were actually the perfect addition to the space downstairs. Whenever anyone walks downstairs, they say the floor is a triumph and I always give myself a big pat on the back because that was the first thing I chose.”

Layering different textures throughout this downstairs space, from rustic terracotta and wood panelled walls to cosy woollen blankets and sisal rugs for chilly evenings, has created a busyness and intrigue that Lydia has found truly captivating. “Emotionally, I think it echoes that feeling of permanence,” she explains. “It feels like we’ve created something more than just a style. It’s a home. It’s something that feels like it’s going to outlive us and I hope it does. It just feels like everything should be here.”

Elsewhere, the ensuite bathrooms embrace the timelessness of natural materials with a combination of our Long Island Marble Herringbone Mosaic for shower walls and Buscot Limestone Cobble in a tumbled and etched finish for the flooring. This rustic limestone enhances a heritage feel with its gently aged appearance and softened edges and was also the perfect fit for Lydia’s greenhouse flooring.

The open-plan kitchen, garden room, cloakroom and hallway are all laid with our Buscot Limestone in a tumbled and etched finish. Lydia’s garden with its patio, outdoor kitchen and relaxed, laid-back living area features our Trusloe Limestone in a seasoned finish. The muted grey tones and natural riven surface bring both tactility and depth to this much-loved space.

“This entire home is built around bringing the outside in,” adds Lydia. “It’s quite an interesting home. The front almost looks like a little cottage whereas the back is almost entirely glass so it really does blur the line between inside and outside living. I didn’t think that changing the terrace was going to make as much of an impact as it has but we feel like we get this entirely new element of living when spring/summer comes around, as we open up the doors, walk around and I think that’s my favourite thing to do, walking barefoot on the terrace in the morning with a cup of tea – I wish I could bottle that feeling.”

The use of natural stone has had a huge influence on the ambience and feeling that permeates throughout Lydia’s home. “I hope people feel like it’s almost another home to them,” she says. “I don’t like people coming in feeling like they have to remove their shoes or worry about plumping cushions. I just want people to really relax and enjoy their time here.”