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Inside the home of... Ruth Crilly
The model and beauty influencer takes us for a tour of her elegant Georgian home
Ruth Crilly bought her Somerset country house in 2017, after having been understandably won over by its elegant classic Georgian architecture. While its previous owners had painstakingly renovated it, reproducing original cornicing and restoring shutters and doors, it lacked the warmth that the writer, model and beauty guru wanted for her family home. The white and grey shades that looked so chic in the pictures felt a little cold in reality, so the next few years have been spent redecorated to give it the vitality and cosiness she wanted.
"We bought our home because it looked like something from Pride and Prejudice and I had a mental image of myself swanning about reading romantic novels in window seats, which hasn’t happened yet," Crilly laughs. "It’s rambling and old, but it has a welcoming, happy vibe."
Take a tour of Crilly's inviting home below, then follow her interiors journey at @casacrilly.
The bedroom
"I went a bit maximalist with the textures and patterns in this room but that’s what I wanted - cosy elegance. The velvet bed is from Soho Home, the wallpaper is by a brilliant brand called Borastapeter and the rug is Louis de Poortere. The big mid-century chandelier is Sciolari from a dealer in Italy. I get the majority of my vintage stuff from antiques dealers or through Vinterior."
The living room
"The living room is double-length - it would have been two rooms originally - and it has been quite tricky to decide how to furnish it, especially with two tiny children, who like to use it as a running circuit. So there’s the cosier TV end where we put our feet up in the evening and then the more formal end that I tend to use to read as the light floods in from the window.
"It’s all tied together by the Timorous Beasties by Brintons carpet, which provides the pattern in what is otherwise quite a serene space. I’ve done a LOT of sofa-testing as my husband puts comfort over style and I’m the other way around! Finding the middle ground is always tricky. This large sofa and footstool is from Arlo & Jacob."
The living room
"The huge Georgian sash windows were one of the things I instantly fell in love with when we first saw the house. They make every room look like a film set. This sofa is from Sofa Workshop and is set off nicely by my vintage Archie Shine rosewood chests. I love mixing mid century design with the traditional - there are a lot of similarities between Georgian and mid century design with clean, elegant lines, so they sit well together I think.
"I’m really into art and have lots around the house, although it tends to sit unhung for years because we can never agree on where to hang it. The huge portrait is by Sophie Derrick who literally paints her subjects and then photographs them, turning the whole idea on its head. The painting to the right is by my brother, Dan Crilly. I have lots of his work."
The kitchen
"I spend so much time in this kitchen and it’s the only room we haven’t done anything to whatsoever. It has beautiful Neptune cabinetry (out of shot) that was built to match the original dresser that takes up a whole wall and a massive AGA which is both a source of contention and great joy. The table and chairs are Ercol and the highchair is a Stokke Tripp Trapp, decades and decades old, passed down through the family - a sign of a good design."
The kitchen
"The clock is a Newgate Billingsgate. I love an eclectic jumble of stuff on a mantelpiece, but so far I’ve managed to confine my jumbles to the kitchen! The candlesticks are from OKA and the tall vase with green banding is by an amazing artist friend, Helen Jones as is the round leopard-patterned one. You can also see a complete fossilised prehistoric sea snail that we found in the garden!"
The studio
"I picked up this rattan chair from the local car boot sale for £60 and immediately saw an identical one on 1stDibs for around £1,000 - bargain of the century. I’m not an avid car-booter or market-hunter, I just go when we get the chance and mostly we come away empty handed. But now and then we might find a gem. The abstract above the fireplace in this room is by Holly Delaney, who works with gold leaf. The rug is (again) Louis de Poortere. I should have bought shares in them really.
"This room is my shoot room and it’s where I do the majority of my filming. When we were house-hunting in Somerset I knew that I would need to work from home, so we factored my studio space into the size of the house. It means that I always take work home with me, but at the same time I have a ten second commute, so it ticks all of the boxes for me!"
The hallway
"We found this giant boxing elf at Shepton Antiques Fair when we were looking for door knobs. He is made of solid bronze and we just couldn’t resist him because he’s so unusual. The 'Model Upstairs' light is from a great place in East London called God’s Own Junkyard. It’s very Insta-famous now but used to be a trade secret for those in film and fashion and set design - you can buy really cool lights there. The console table is Andrew Martin and the ladder was actually another flea market find - perhaps I’m more of a furniture forager than I thought."
The hallway
"This huge mirror was found at Wells Reclamation Yard and it completely transformed the first floor landing by bouncing back light from the window. The rug is an off-cut of some Timorous Beasties carpet we have in our dining room - we had it bound locally and backed with non-slip stuff. It’s a very thrifty way of making a rug."
The glass room
"The glass room has been our big project with this house. It replaces an old, badly-built annexe that was added in the 60s' or 70s' and it has completely changed the way we use the house. The light in here is incredible and it’s north-facing so it never gets hot or glaringly bright. We used to spend nearly all of our time in the kitchen, but this has become our new place to congregate. The leather chairs are vintage De Sede and the table is BelgoChrom, from Vinterior. The huge balloon dog sculpture is from Andrew Martin, one of my favourite places to go for interiors inspiration."
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