At Home with
Carolyn Denham from Merchant & Mills
Making a house into a place and space that reflects you and yours is an intricate dance of your truth, whilst being surrounded by the realities of life. Choosing colours, furniture, curtains and kitchens, is an aesthetic decision based on personal preferences, as well as universal trends and themes. But to choose a way of living within the frame of the space you live within – that is entirely different. To thoroughly surrender to the truth of who you are – imagine... I have always been most interested in the latter and I think it is why we always gasp when we see it. It may not be how we want to live, but it can lead us closer to our own truth. We can understand why kitchens for some, are irrelevant. Yet for others, they are the entire reason of living. Free to be me, we and us should be at the root of our domestic liberty.
We make colours and paint so that people can tell their own unique story of home. I love that what we make is a conduit for expressing personal choice. If you decide to try something new, paint is a simple and pleasurable change. It is much, much easier to change a colour than an entire bathroom and in doing so, we can continually re-invent and re-excite our homes and our lives. One colour or twenty – the answer lies in you and the personal joy you create, when you make these choices. I want At Home with to be your conduit to freedom.
Carolyn Denham, founder of Merchant & Mills
I am delighted that Carolyn Denham from Merchant & Mills was happy to welcome us into The Grove – her residential sanctuary based in Rye. It is a home to be shared and enjoyed whilst students are immersed in week-long sewing retreats.
It is painted in a variety of quiet and nuanced Atelier Ellis hues, but the root of its beauty is the richly detailed use of fabrics throughout the entire home. There are quilts and curtains, sofas, lampshades, cushions and blinds. All from Merchant & Mills range of fabrics and all curated by Carolyn and made with extraordinary care. It is magical and The Grove is a place for private reinvigoration.
Walls, radiator & woodwork in Milk
I have admired Carolyn for years. She has built a business based on craft, beauty, knowledge and care. And she has built a team and community of customers who are loyal and enriched by what they make, buy and how they engage with her business. If you are a lover of fabric, sewing, personal presentation – then you know what it feels like to walk into her store. Precise, yet free, creative and practical. Hugely stimulating and comforting in equal measures. And the fabric, pattern and books? – well it’s all beautiful at every level of what beauty should be.
The Grove is a living embodiment of the life that Merchant & Mills & Carolyn advocate. It reflects her dedication to her craft and her way of life – which is something I am hugely inspired by and want others to take joy from. As a place, it is beautifully designed and the detail of every room is extraordinary – please study these images for the real beauty. But to spend time inside this home, offers a feeling of such deep comfort, it is hard to explain. I knew it would be so – but I didn’t know how uplifting and freeing it would be. I have always been someone who made – especially to sew. It is a skill that has been woven into me from a very young age. For the last few years, I had put this part of me aside. But I feel reignited and excited to make. By buying fabric for the first time in a long time, I feel excited to come back to myself.
I think Carolyn and The Grove can teach us what it is to give in to the freedom of comfort and hands making. That this does go with that and that crafting things for our home is fantastic. That cushions can sometimes be simple envelopes if the fabric is beautiful, and that a safe and beautiful space brings an ease to conversation, collaboration and our own creativity.
Walls in Seafoam
Walls in Seafoam
Walls in Seafoam
Walls in Half Bone, Shell & Quill
Walls in Bright Star
