I was so THRILLED to see the cover of the new House & Garden showing the attic bedroom of Ben’s country house.
Ben? Come on!!!! Ben Pentreath, of course!!
Pentreath is the architect and interior designer turned shop owner turned blogger turned darling of English design. He is charmingly British and seems to have quite the Midas Touch. His fans are legion and loyal and he appears to be friendly and fun. I only wish I knew him personally.
After graduating with a degree in architecture and art history, Pentreath worked for the highly regarded British architect Charles Morris. He followed this with a move to New York City, where he did a five year stint with Fairfax & Sammons. Back in London, he teamed up with Prince Charles’ Foundation. Not too shabby!! He opened his shop in 2008 with Kiwi designer Bridie Hall and from then on his popularity has grown and grown and grown.
His shop’s success is due to Londoners who happen upon its Bloomsbury address and to all the world-wide online shoppers. His blog, appropriately titled “Inspiration” helped spread the word of Pentreath & Hall.
The shop. Ben’s chair, Bloomsbury, is a store favorite.
But, Pentreath’s main focus is his Architecture & Interior Design business, where his firm works on both residential and commercial accounts, such as this hotel above.
His interiors are an interesting mix of English Classic design and a youthful turn on midcentury design.
His portfolio is growing quite large, and his social life, which the public follows through his many social media entries, seems very full. Oh, and there is also his best selling book and a new one coming out. Yikes!!!! I’m not sure how he manages it all and seems to do it so beautifully.
Pentreath’s new book – PREORDER by clicking on the picture.
Ben’s 2012 book. Order by clicking on the picture.
And then there are Ben’s clients. The famous set are said to include Sarah Jessica Parker and Liv Tyler, and those are just the ones we know of. His clientele list is closely guarded. The Prince and Princess of Cambridge, or Wills & Kate, are said to be clients.
Apparently Pentreath is head of Wills & Kate’s renovation of their country house Anmer Hall at Sandringham. There have been lots of rumors, and it’s well accepted that Ben does have this job, although he will never confirm nor deny this – on the record.
Pentreath’s been called a younger Nicholas Haslam and Robert Kime. But I don’t agree with either comparison. Neither Haslam nor Kime used mid century designs in their work, a look that Ben obviously fancies.I first noticed Pentreath when I saw his London apartment:
That wall with the antique map in Pentreath’s apartment! So perfect! Besides his apartment in London, Ben and his husband Charlie McCormick have a country house in Dorset which is uber attractive. (Copies of the map of London seen above HERE.)
The house, built in 1820, is a parsonage – once the home for the clergy from the church next door. Ben had known about the house since he was a young boy and when he found it was available for rent – he decided to move in with a 10 year lease. The house needed repairs and Ben has done them, but not going overboard. He is keeping in mind it is a rental.
Pentreath has spent much time developing the landscape and gardens, especially on this side of the house. Here, you can see its two large bay windows that look out onto the church.
Pentreath’s instagram is a personal favorite and is much loved by his many fans. His photos of the Old Parsonage, as his country house is named, are particularly alluring – and I love to watch how he updates the parsonage and all the changes he makes.So, it was especially exciting to see his house on the cover of the new House & Garden and to compare how it looks today with how it once looked when he first moved in. I pulled some of his “Before” pictures of the house to compare it to the way it looks in the magazine.
Entry Hall:
House & Garden: The entry has a stone flag floor which is so typical of English country houses. Ben put in the wallpaper a few years ago. The door with the arched transom leads to the living room.
Here’s a view looking the opposite way into the kitchen. You can see the stairs with its red and white runner here.
Before: And this view – straight from the front door that looks into the dining room. Pentreath took this photo right after he had painted the dining room deep purple and was still hanging paintings.
Today: And finally – the view from the front door looking to the dining room with its now painted blue walls. Wellies and canes stand ready for the many country walks Ben and Charlie take.
And, in the entry hall, to the left of the front door is the powder room – with its encaustic tiled floor. Pentreath hung a collection of prints here – the room is painted Farrow & Ball’s Wet Sand, just like the kitchen (was.)
Living Room:
House & Gardens: The living room. The star of the room is the paint color. Ben says that when he first moved in, he painted all the walls in the house a quiet gray. But eventually he grew bored of this color and in here, the walls are now an English pink, custom made for Ben by Papers and Paint. The color is now in their line and is called Parsonage Pink. At the window are curtains made of ticking fabric.
The yellow sofa is another star of the room – the Katzsic Sofa from Max Rollitt. Covering the ottoman is a needlepoint by Schumacher (which is a personal favorite.) Behind the sofa is a piano. The small black chair is from Pentreath’s shop. The prints on the back wall have changed throughout the years and today there are ferns there. You can really see the beautiful pink color of the walls here.
House & Gardens: this shows the prints have been changed and are now part of a collection of ferns which also hang in his London apartment.
A photo of the piano behind the sofa and a view of the ferns.
Today: the view towards the bay window which overlooks the church. The two bay windows were added some time after the parsonage was first built in 1820.
Before: Before the room was painted pink – it was gray, although in this photo it looks a bit green.
Before: And another very early photo of the gray walls which shows the table behind the sofa and here, Ben had hung a map on the wall, which I love. You can see the rug layered over the seagrass, another very English look. These are Ikat lampshades which he sells in the shop. Today he has marbleized paper shades here, which he also sells.
Before: Another much earlier view of the gray walls – the difference is stunning. The pink walls of today look beyond fabulous and this is from someone who loves gray. Hmmm…
Before: Finally, Ben moved to the Old Parsonage in 2009 – before he was dating Charlie. This photo shows a very, very early version of the living room – without the fabulous mirror on the mantel, the ottoman/coffee table, and the piles of pillows. It’s interesting to see how far the room has come – from a quiet gray space to the warm, cluttered-filled pink living room:
Available link for download
