An Edwardian Villa in Leicestershire
11th January 2022
Back in November, myself and deVOL’s photographers had the pleasure of visiting and photographing some of our porcelain tiles in a beautiful Edwardian property in Leicestershire. It was just a short journey from our showroom to the popular market town of Melton Mowbray where this wonderful house was situated, owned by the lovely Andrew. I had been keeping a close eye on Andrew’s Instagram page, @leicestershireedwardiansemi, and thoroughly enjoyed the progress images along the way as I was sure this was going to be the most beautiful space once finished – I was right! Once I had seen the final images of Andrew’s brand-new kitchen space, I instantly knew I wanted to go and photograph the space. I emailed Andrew and much to my excitement, he happily agreed for us to visit and we soon arranged a date. It’s always a little risky arranging a photoshoot during the winter months as the best of the daylight is so limited. Fortunately for us, it was the most glorious winter’s morning with the sun beaming down.
You can just see the Minton tiles in the background and the beautiful stained glass entrance which created a stunning prism of light on the kitchen tiles.
When we arrived at Andrew’s house, we were welcomed into the most stunning entrance and hallway, I was so excited to see what else was in store if this was just the hallway! One of the features that instantly caught my eye was the gorgeous Minton tiles throughout the entire hallway. Andrew had mentioned that this was one of the main reasons they bought the house, the tiles in the hallway really sold it to him and I can certainly see why. The hallway really set the tone for the rest of the house. We then arrived at the kitchen and wow!
As we made our way to the kitchen area, this was the view that we saw and it was very apparent that the images I had seen online just didn’t do this space the justice it deserved. It was the most wonderful space with huge patio doors and sash windows which allowed the winter sun to flood in, giving us the best possible light to work with. The most important feature, of course, was the porcelain tiles, this was the main reason for our visit but it was very easy to get distracted by the many other Edwardian features of this property.
Onto the flooring, Andrew wanted to create a floor which looked like natural stone but preferred something which required less upkeep and maintenance so opted for our Ravello Beige Porcelain – the perfect choice! What makes our Ravello range stand out from our other ranges is the aged edge they have which really strengthens the impression of an aged limestone tile. As well as the rustic edges, the tiles also have a wonderfully textured surface providing more grip underfoot making them a practical option for busy areas of the home. Due to the generous space of the kitchen, Andrew chose to lay the 600×900 tiles which is the largest format we stock in this range and personally, I think that was the best decision. We do find that the larger the space, the larger sized tiles fit much better. Often, using smaller tiles in big rooms, can make the space look quite busy and overcrowded as you tend to see a lot more grout joints. Also in the kitchen sat a Shaker Kitchen from our sister company, deVOL Kitchens, painted in their Bakehouse Green shade. The deep, moody tones of the units really complimented the warm, fawn tones of the porcelain tiles creating such a lovely combination.
As an added bonus, Andrew had also created a seamless transition from inside to outside by using the same porcelain tiles for his patio area. A lot of customers are opting for this style and layout now and this really shows why it works so well. Porcelain, especially our Ravello range, is a great option for use externally as it has a distressed surface meaning it is less slippery when it becomes wet.
I could have easily stayed all day admiring this charming property but sadly we had to leave. It’s always such a pleasure to be invited into somebody’s home, especially when its as beautiful as this. A huge thank you again to Andrew! I really hope you’ve enjoyed a little insight into this project but if you would like to see more images from this shoot you can do so here but also keep an eye on our social media as I will definitely be sharing more images.
