Inside the vibrant coastal bungalow of textile designer Margo Selby
For textile designer Margo Selby, her family home is a place where ideas come to life – not least because the cushion, fabric and rug designs that she creates in her garden studio get their first trial run inside the house. ‘I find it a really useful way to understand what certain colours are like to live with,’ she explains. ‘As soon as I bring pieces into my home, I understand why some might work better than others. It’s all part of the design process.’
As a result, this is a house that embraces materials and textures, from Margo’s woven designs to structural elements such as rough reclaimed bricks, riven slate and milky-smooth timber. Each room has been meticulously planned with display space for the myriad collections that Margo and her husband, rug collector and dealer Peter Auckland, and their children have amassed over the years. ‘All of us are constantly bringing things into our home, whether that’s artworks, shards of ancient pottery and unique weavings, or fossils that we’ve found on the beach.’
With bespoke shelving, display areas and ample storage, this house accommodates – and actively encourages – the family’s creative urges. As Margo explains: ‘When faced with all our “stuff”, I used to think, “What are we going to do with it all?” But the design of the house has helped us group everything into recognisable themes.’
The couple were already familiar with the work of locally based Meme Architects and knew its founders, Sonya Flynn and Mark Baker, as their daughters had been at school together. ‘We’d seen their work around Whitstable and loved what they did,’ Margo says.
She and Peter had moved to the east Kent coast to bring up their family: ‘Because Whitstable was once a small fishing village, houses in the town tend to be small fishermen’s cottages. But on the outskirts lie larger houses that sprang up in the 20th century and these offer the opportunity to create more unique, modern spaces.’
They bought a 1930s house that came with a large garden, which meant there was scope to add a work studio and an additional annexe. Part of their brief to Meme Architects was that the renovation should create a fresh, contemporary home with high ceilings (not least because Peter is tall). The double-height space above the kitchen/diner is integral to the house’s identity, giving a feeling of light, space and fluidity, and the kitchen now functions as the family’s colour-rich hub. Its tall window, set within old London bricks, reflects the owners’ and architects’ shared love of interesting, textural materials.
‘Wherever possible, reclaimed surfaces were used,’ says Margo. ‘The kitchen worktop is made from the old slate bed of a snooker table, which we bought for £50 and had cut, polished and fitted into the space.’ Elsewhere, a painted Indian cupboard forms a partial divider between the living area and hallway, with storage and shelves on both sides that house interesting and esoteric pieces from Margo and Peter’s collections.
Similarly, blocks of colour on the walls play a role in grouping pieces: to the right of the kitchen, yellow provides the backdrop to monochrome artworks, while the nearby red wall is where the couple display work by local artist friends. In the main bedroom, a dark blue wall hosts art and fragments of rare framed antique textiles from Peter’s travels, predominantly in Asia. The couple first met in India, where they were both creating rugs for John Lewis & Partners – Margo designing them and Peter working on the production side.
From a very early age, Margo had grown up with a love and appreciation of fabrics. ‘My grandpa worked in Savile Row as a pattern cutter and my granny taught me how to crochet and do needlepoint,’ she remembers. ‘I have always enjoyed making things.’ Colour and abstract geometric forms have become central to her style, whether creating her own bespoke rugs, fabrics and soft furnishings, or collaborating with the likes of West Elm, Christopher Farr, Case Furniture and Habitat.
‘Personally, I find colour so uplifting,’ Margo adds. ‘It enhances my mood and genuinely brings me joy.’ In fact, she can’t imagine living in a home decorated in bland beige or cold greys. ‘I find that aesthetic quite hard to understand – it’s so far removed from how I work and think.’ Instead, the architecture and style of her warm, colour-filled home continue to inspire. ‘I love my garden studio, which is my creative hideaway, but family life centres around the kitchen,’ she concludes. ‘There’s always a project taking shape here – it’s a very creative space.’
To see more of Margo's work, visit margoselby.com.
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