When antiques dealer Martin Murray was growing up in London, he would always look forward to the annual family holiday to rural Ireland, where his parents were originally from. ‘I loved it; I never wanted to come back,’ he says. ‘I always found London overstimulating and craved the peace and quiet of the countryside.’ And while Ireland wasn’t a realistic option for Martin and his wife Emma (a freelance fashion designer), when they finally found themselves in a position to move out of the capital, they both knew that a house of stillness and tranquillity in a rural setting was what they needed.
A historic Suffolk home
Having discovered Suffolk on their mini honeymoon, they focused their search in the area. When they discovered a 16th-century house, with Georgian and Victorian additions, in a village close to the market towns of Aye and Dis, they knew that it was the one. They moved in two weeks before Christmas in 2020.
Restoring with integrity
To many, the house might have seemed perfect as it was; the previous owner had done a lot of restoration work. But for this couple, with their strong aesthetic sense, their love of old things, and Martin’s professional eye, it was a question of respecting the integrity of the building. So out came the modern kitchen and bathroom, and up came the engineered wood floors.
Nothing that was taken out was wasted – with the modern floorboards and kitchen going to new homes – while beautiful, old, reclaimed boards were sourced from a local salvage yard. The bathroom was replaced with a mix of antique pieces and a freestanding bath, while the starting point for the freestanding kitchen was a huge Italian bread maker’s table, that they placed in the middle of the room.
An antique-led kitchen
The other kitchen furniture was found by Martin during the course of his job. ‘I’m always looking at furniture for my business, I’m a furniture-holic really,’ he says. ‘The table that the sink is in came from a dealer friend and –although I wouldn’t normally do this – I cut a hole in it for the sink.’ Martin is a sucker for original paint, and has always dealt in furniture that features it. The arsenic green of the sink unit is original, and the c1860s plate rack above, which is French, was a lucky find, featuring original paint of almost exactly the same colour. Meanwhile, the Georgian wall-mounted plate rack on the other side of the kitchen perfectly echoes the comb backs of the primitive chairs that sit either side of the breakfast table. These are typical of the folk pieces that the couple love.
Living with antiques
While they don’t see themselves as ‘collectors’, there are things, such as textiles, that they’re drawn to. They both love the Flemish c1700 tapestry in the living room, which adds warmth and colour, and in the guest bedroom there are framed 18th-century needlework pictures and a graphic woven textile from the 1920s. Martin, meanwhile, admits to being ‘a bit obsessed with chairs’. ‘My dad was a chair obsessive. In my parents’ house you’d be tripping over them, so I try to restrain myself,’ he says.
Light, balance and cohesion
With dark, early oak furniture being both a passion and the core of Martin’s business, the house is filled with wonderful, sturdy pieces. The couple are aware, though, that too much dark wood can feel oppressive, so they painted all of the ceiling beams in the same warm, off-white distemper that they used on the walls, from local paint company Ingleby Paints. ‘We found that the whole place opened up when we did that,’ says Emma. ‘The ceilings felt higher.’
Using the same neutral background throughout their home has also provided cohesion in a house of differing parts, and a blank canvas against which to display their furniture and decorative items – many of which come and go as Martin sells pieces and buys in new stock. There are certain items, however, that they would never part with: a wing-backed chair that came from the estate of a dealer friend of Martin’s; the French cockerel shop sign that they have had for years; the carved bear’s head above the inglenook fireplace, which was a present to Emma from Martin; and the rare primitive chairs – things of sentimental value.
Folk art with Irish roots
On the kitchen wall hangs a folk art picture from the 1830s, depicting two hot air balloons over a green landscape – a piece they would never sell. ‘I bought it from a Welsh museum that was slimming down its stock,’ says Martin. ‘It shows balloons floating over the Dublin mountains. It’s rare to find antiques from Ireland, as not much survived, but my mum came from nine miles outside Dublin, so that piece is special to me.’
Find out more about Martin's antiques at martinmurrayantiques.com
