You can't really create magical spaces without the right floor plan.

That’s the philosophy of Rebecca Wakefield, a self-confessed spatial planning "obsessive." She approaches interior design with an architect’s eye, relishing the chance to rework layouts in real time during Expert sessions. “I love working at speed and under pressure,” says the London-based designer, a three-times Expert Top 40 designer closing in on 600 bookings on the platform.

​

For this house in the English countryside, she had a full year to design before construction began—a luxury given it spans 11,000 sq. ft. Built in the 1990s in a mock Arts and Crafts style, the layout felt too formal for three young children in the mix, so Rebecca reworked it to feel more convivial. A living room became the dining room, and a pretty orangery opens out to the south-facing garden. “The worry with such a big house is that you can easily feel miles from everybody else,” she explains of improving the flow for a better sense of connection.

​

Only once the footprint was settled (with the help of Jenn Jammaers of DKN JAMM) did Rebecca dive into fabrics and color palettes. The goal was softness throughout, and rooting the house to its bucolic setting. It also needed to comfortably accommodate a steady stream of visitors (one half of the couple is a chef, the other is from America) as large meals and houseguests are a regular fixture.

​

For the kitchen, a Lacanche range was a must-have. And when the headcount swells to more than 10, the custom-made table in the dining room can comfortably seat 20. There’s also a generous annex for when the homeowner’s parents visit from the US. Accessible from both the main house or its own entrance, it has a bedroom, bathroom, dressing room, kitchen, and living room. “It’s basically a huge one-bedroom apartment,” laughs Rebecca, who channeled the landscape beyond by wrapping the space in Pierre Frey’s Bengali Albertine wallpaper.

​

The clients had a deep appreciation for British artistry and craft, and trusted Rebecca to cherry-pick the very best in homegrown talent. Prints by Morris & Co., and future heirlooms by Studio HÀM and Studio Duggan are dotted around with confidence. Antiques also played a vital role in making the house feel older than it is. The only features of American provenance—the laundry chute and the kitchen's pot-filler—are, arguably, concessions to convenience.

​

At triple the size of the family’s home in central London (which Rebecca also worked on), this house gave her room to indulge in a playful side. The former dining room, once connected to a small kitchenette built for ‘90s-style entertaining, is now a playroom with a bookcase that swings to reveal a secret den with a boat ‘deck’—complete with a ship’s wheel.

​

“We could fit in more whimsical elements because we had the room and the inclination to do it,” says Rebecca, whose three children are the same ages as the clients’. With cousins traveling from across the pond for sleepovers, a remarkable bunk room is where memories get made. Decorative painter Tess Newall, who is based nearby, brought her artistry to the bed frames.

​

Outside is just as fun thanks to a garden designed by Butter Wakefield. The award-winning landscaping features a pool, zip line, pond and, for more adventurous pursuits, a magnificent treehouse. Designed in harmony with the main house, the wooden retreat echoes the orangery's Gothic-arched windows. Such painstaking attention to detail makes this an unforgettable place to host—and a forever home where plenty of magic will be made.

​