The romantic Devon home of Daydress founder Gabby Deeming
For so many of us, the lockdown of spring 2020 would come to dramatically impact where we would call home. Gabby Deeming’s story is no exception. At the start of 2020, she was living in Bloomsbury and working as Style Director at House & Garden in London. I, too, was working at the magazine as her deputy, and remember vividly the moment that the office was suddenly packed down, and we all had to figure out where we would live and how we would work under the new lockdown strictures.
Gabby was living in a gloriously decorated flat in Bloomsbury, and sometimes, during those softer parts of the lockdown, ‘working from home’ might mean for me a day or two cosied up in Gabby's flat with our laptops on our knees. But by March 2020, it felt as if the drawbridge had been pulled up, and Gabby decided that the place in which she needed to hide out the pandemic was the Devon home of her boyfriend, Yaniv Zalman, a jewellery designer.
‘I honestly think,’ ponders Gabby, ‘that if my house was burning, textiles would be the first thing I would grab.’ And so, when the pandemic hit, she packed not only the usual bits, but also a few big bags of her favourite throws, blankets, cushions and fabrics, which instinct told her she could put to use in the effort to make a house feel like home. The house in question is a typical Edwardian house in a small Devon town. It feels tucked-away, despite being on a hill with lovely views and being filled with light. Such is the magic of a nicely-positioned building. But it did feel somewhat transitional. Having moved on from being a family home, it had not at this point resolved itself into the home of a grown-up creative couple, who work from home, and who regularly welcome Yaniv’s teenage children.
After Gabby’s first move to jolly up rooms with rugs, throws and pillows, the second change made use of a pot of paint in ‘Caddie’, by Paint & Paper Library, left over from decorating her flat in Bloomsbury. In a thoughtful gesture, Yaniv decided to paint the living room the same colour, in order to make her feel more at home. Other changes were more gradual and the results of various shared excursions – pieces of furniture were picked up from local antiques markets and made-to-measure upholstery was commissioned during their trips to India.
India is where the couple met, and where they now spend half of their time. In a meet-cute that has become legendary amongst friends, they bumped into one another – as strangers – no less than three times in about 24 hours, lending a gravitational air of kismet to the idea that they really did need to get to know one another when they accidentally found themselves on the same flight home. Gabby was there visiting block carvers and print studios for her clothing brand Daydress, back then a side-hustle, but since 2021 her full-time job. Yaniv was sourcing the jewels and metals needed for his jewellery brand, Isla Silver. A few years in, their relationship and work are now aligned: the couple head to India when the seasons change to work on the India-specific portions of their jobs, and return to Devon each spring.
Once both Gabby and Yaniv knew that the house would be theirs to share – a process of gradual inevitability rather than any single moment – bigger works began to take place. They commissioned a conservatory to be built, which allows the garden to be more properly connected to the centre of the home. The conservatory has a lovely material softness, with a terracotta floor and built-in plaster seating. The window frames are painted a soft pale green, which combines with butter yellow lacquered coffee tables and red geraniums for a dreamy, slightly 1980s effect. A neighbour's cat naps on a cushion, and chilli plants, geraniums and seedlings line the sills. The couple also removed the ceilings in the main bedroom and bathroom, stripping out the bulk of the lathe and plaster to reveal narrow beams and a slightly higher ceiling, replastering the tops of the walls and ceilings.
On the day of this photoshoot, Gabby and Yaniv laughed about the prevalence of Gabby's ‘cosy corners’ in this house: once you spot them, they are everywhere. It might be a simple but lovely piece of furniture, around which a grouping of objects or a hang of pictures is arranged. Or a little display of plants, or a composition of throws and cushions. Perhaps it is her background as a stylist which makes her decorate in this way – a series of pleasing compositions, small and intimate in themselves, which flow together to create a romantic whole.
‘I get so much pleasure out of it.’ says Gabby ‘I find myself spending a lot of time just looking at the house – the small arrangements and also the look-throughs from one room to another. I take in the different views within the house and it feels so peaceful and pleasing’. Gabby's style is instinctive, and seems to be powered mainly by colour combinations that make her happy (often breezy blues, pinks and greens) and by furniture pieces which have an innate sense of life and ‘use’ about them (which often means old, but not precious; appealing but not self-consciously stylish). It also relies upon a joyful collection of art, with a bias towards stylised and colourful floral forms: something that she has incorporated into many of her dress designs.
Yaniv has been admirably open to her creative expression, bringing so much of it to life himself, to the extent that their tastes have grown and matured together. He is a wonderful cook, host and grower of ingredients. On the morning of our shoot, he gathered sage and chilli from the garden, presenting us with a delicious plate of sage-fried eggs before our work had even begun.
‘Romance and ease’ are Gabby's priorities in a home, and as the sun sets over Yaniv's fig tree and vegetable patch, and Gabby closes her laptop for the evening, I am certain that they have achieved exactly that.
Tom Griffiths1/7In the sitting room, walls painted in ‘Caddie’ by Paint and Paper Library and a striped wool dhurrie commissoned by Gabby in Jaipur are the backdrop for cheap and cheerful antiques bought from Totnes market and Ashbuton including the antique pine trunk, waney edged side-table and steel desk-light. The pouffe was bought in Marrakech and the white plaster wall-light is by Viola Lanari.
Tom Griffiths2/7Next to the sofa, a table lamp from Soane Britain stands on a side-table from Rowan & Wren. A framed print from Flora Roberts and antique mirror bought in Ashburton hang on the wall. The sofa cushions are a mixture of Daydress and Samarkhand pieces.
Tom Griffiths3/7In Gabby’s office the walls are painted in ‘Matchstick’ by Farrow & Ball and the window frame is in ‘Pea Green’ by Little Greene. The Chair is from Mrs Benn Vintage and the desk with its red lino top was made by Unto This Last (now gone sadly). The desk light is another vintage find from Totnes market. The marbled bin was a present from Venice and the green shelves were bought from La Redoute.
Tom Griffiths4/7The bedroom ceiling was taken down to expose the joists with plain plaster left down to the picture rail. The walls are Farrow & Ball's ‘Dimity’, whose pinkish hue makes it a perfect off-white for the plaster. The headboard was made by Ensemblier and upholstered in Bennison's ‘Ammara’. The cushions on the bed are from Daydress and will be available to buy in spring 2026, and the bedlinen is from Cologne & Cotton. The Indian side table was bought by Gabby’s great grandfather in the 1930s. The lampshade is from Susan Deliss.
-%2520brighter.jpg)
Tom Griffiths5/7The sheer canopy curtain is a discontinued cotton sheer from Colefax and Fowler. Their new ‘Fritton’ design is similar. The ticking blind is in a Daydress block print and the bamboo chik blind was made by Namay Samay. The chaise-longue was designed by Gabby for David Seyfried and is covered in ‘Nantes’ (indigo) from Lewis & Wood. The vintage wool flatweave rug is from Tat London.
Tom Griffiths6/7Yaniv cooking in the kitchen.
Tom Griffiths7/7Gabby at local Watcombe beach, with a favourite Welsh patchwork quilt from Globe Antiques in Ashburton.
-%2520brighter.jpg)
