Inside designer Katharine Paravicini's warm and welcoming Wiltshire cottage

The art of temporary decorating is one we all have to master at some point, whether it's for a rental flat or the house we're just not ready to overhaul yet. The latter was the case for interior designer Katharine Paravicini when she bought a charming 18th-century brick and flint cottage in Wiltshire at the end of 2019. The house was, as she cheerfully admits, "a wreck" when they found it, and the priority was to make it comfortable and liveable for the period until they could undertake an extensive renovation.

In itself this was no small task. "You could have grown vegetables on the floor," recalls Katharine, and the house had to be entirely re-wired and re-plumbed. Beyond those essentials, however, the family was on a strict budget, and there had to be a reckoning with where to spend and where to save. This was especially the case since the planned extension of the house would involve a total reconfiguration of the existing rooms, especially downstairs. For example, Katharine needed to create a stylish, functional kitchen in the knowledge that the space would cease to be a kitchen in a few years. In some ways, however, this was liberating, allowing her to make decisions without having to commit to them forever, like the bright yellow hue she chose for the cabinets. "It's a dark room, and I wanted to brighten it up," she explains. "I was able to be brave because it's not how the room will look forever." The units are intended for a utility room in the long term, where their cheerfulness can continue to be valued.

Some of her solutions were particularly clever combinations of style and practicality. The hallway will eventually have flagstones, but given the planned reconfiguration, Katharine was reluctant to splash out on stone that would only have to be dug up later, so she simply laid a fresh layer of screed, painted it and laid down seagrass matting. This low-maintenance approach is perfectly in keeping with the atmosphere of the cottage. "Even though the house was a wreck, it had a lovely atmosphere," says Katharine, "and I didn't want to ruin that by making it feel too done."

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The furniture in the house contributes to this sense of casual comfort; Katharine is an expert antique hunter with a knack for finding interesting pieces. "I’m forever scouring antique shops and markets, and places like The Saleroom, Etsy and eBay," she says, "and my husband teases me for being addicted to it!" They bought very little new furniture for the house, bringing most of it from their previous Victorian terrace in London, though it seems to work perfectly in situ.

Restraint may have been a keynote of this first renovation, but there had to be a loosening of the reins somewhere. One of Katharine's greatest pleasures as an interior designer is in beautiful fabrics and in the layering of colour, pattern and texture. Fabrics from Claremont, Soane, Namay Samay, Ottoline, and other covetable sources are thoughtfully layered in each room, creating warmth and interest against a mostly neutral background on the walls. If you are on a budget, as she points out, it's still worth spending money on the soft furnishings, because those are the things you take with you or reuse, even if the house itself changes. "I am always saying to my clients that if you get the bones of the house right, then the rest will follow in time," she says, "but there are some situations where the bones can't be put right straightaway."

Eventually the bones of the house will change, extending into the garden and giving the family plenty more space to work with, but the comfortable, welcoming feel of the house and the charm of Katharine's decorative schemes will no doubt live on.

Katharine Paravicini is a member of The List by House & Garden, our essential directory of design professionals. Visit The List by House & Garden here.