We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs.
Every seven years, designer Beth Dadswell gets the itch to house hunt. “It happens every time,” admits the founder of Imperfect Interiors. In 2015 she transformed a former dairy in South London into her family’s home, then right on cue, come 2022, she was hungry for another project.
The Cotswolds was calling her. Twice a year, she and her family would stay with friends at their Georgia rectory, and each time they returned to the city feeling like they hadn’t been quite ready to leave. It was Beth’s husband, Andrew, who came across Armada Cottage, a 900-square-foot house in the picturesque village of Charlbury that was for sale. It would make the perfect weekend getaway and scratch her renovation itch.
“It was so full of stuff, with decorative mugs hanging from every kitchen beam,” she says. “But we looked beyond that and fell for its thick exposed brick walls, the wonky old staircase, and its charm.”
They believe the place dates all the way back to 1489, when it would have been part of the inn next door, and is one of the oldest buildings in Charlbury. As for its name? That has deep historic connections, too. The floorboards in the first-floor bedroom are said to have been salvaged from the Spanish Armada fleet that was destroyed in 1588.
Tired-looking and leaking (“You’d empty the bathwater and it would all come through the kitchen ceiling,” remembers Beth), the house had to be updated, but the property’s heritage status meant the designer couldn’t actually make any structural tweaks. Because they were working with a tight budget, she and Andrew drove the two hours from London every Friday night from January through July, often arriving in the dark and sleeping on a futon. They did as much as they could themselves—stripping, sanding, plastering, tiling, painting—and occasionally put on hazmat suits when necessary. They only called in the professionals for rewiring, plumbing, and anything else that needed official sign-offs.
Even the couple’s son, Louis, who was 17 at the time, helped lay down tile on the kitchen floor with his dad on Father’s Day. “I think it was quite a good introduction to living in what felt like a pit and trying to make it nicer!” says Beth, laughing. “It was a labor of love.”
The designer steered the decor away from being predictably traditional, and through a sophisticated palette of dark greens, rusty browns, and mustards, sought to reflect autumn in the countryside. She raided her stash of fabric offcuts for the blinds and seat cushions. Apart from the sofa and the beds (the latter of which had to be delivered in four parts in order to fit up the stairs) and the odd side table or lamp from Zara Home or IKEA, all the items in the home were thrifted.
Thanks to Facebook Marketplace, junk shops, and a local antiques market (where Beth often spots David and Victoria Beckham, whose country home is nearby), she scored the space-saving, gate-leg tables and pine cabinet for the bedroom. “Lots of stuff is in its second, third, or even fourth home, which feels more authentic and like it has been collected over time,” she says.
But there were a few splurges, too. The designer replaced the flat-panel radiators from the 1980s with a handsome cast-iron style, and the Lefroy Brooks faucets provide a luxurious touch for the paying guests who rent the cottage out. Another indulgence was being able to design the small but functional kitchen, which was made on-site by Beth’s go-to millworker. As in her own kitchen, there are no drawers. “I don’t really love the look of them, and it’s more complicated and more expensive to make,” she explains. Instead, her silver cutlery lives on the worktop in vintage ceramic jam jars.
Beth’s favorite spot to spend time in is the lofted bedroom. “It gets the best light and views. It was so obvious to me that it should be a suite,” she says. By adding a freestanding bath and concealing the toilet behind a paneled wall, it fuels the feeling of sleeping at a boutique hotel.
Guests come from as far as Australia and the U.S. and regularly tell Beth they feel as though they’re living in a postcard—especially when horses trot past on a Sunday morning. When she and Andrew get to visit in between bookings, her to-do list naturally goes out the window: “I literally just switch off. I just want to be upstairs reading or having a bath or going to the local pubs and people-watching. It’s super-relaxing.”