The one that got away… That was how interior designer Vanessa Macdonald and her husband James felt after losing out on their perfect country house in Oxfordshire, England. They tried to move on, yet the home continued to haunt them. So three years later, they wrote the owners to let them know they would love to buy the home if they ever decided to sell. Miraculously, they did and Vanessa and James got their dream home! However, the house was not the original shell it had been when they first viewed it… ancient stone floors had been lifted, rooms switched about, and new fireplaces were installed. But Vanessa, an interior designer, was up for the challenge of recreating a traditional country house feel. “You can have a bit of modernity in the country,” she told House & Garden. “But not too much.” Let’s take a look inside!
Pictures from the Guest House are Below
Timeless English perfection! To see more, please visit House & Garden. And for more English country homes from The Glam Pad, please click on the links below.
- AN OLD FASHIONED ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE
- BEN PENTREATH’S ENGLISH COUNTRY HOME
- LOUISE TOWNSEND’S IDYLLIC ENGLISH COUNTRY HOME
- ALICE NAYLOR-LEYLAND’S ENGLISH COUNTRY WONDERLAND
- MARK GILLETTE REFRESHES A 300-YEAR-OLD ENGLISH MANOR
- FARM FROM HOME WITH AMANDA BROOKS
- LAST NIGHT I DREAMT I WENT TO MANDERLEY AGAIN
- BOWOOD HOUSE
- INSIDE ENGLAND’S SEEND MANOR WITH AMANDA CLARK
- JOHN FOWLER’S NANTCLWYD HALL REVISITED
- BRITISH ELEGANCE WITH SERENA FRESSON AND ALICE NAYLOR-LEYLAND

What a joy it must be to own your dream house . I read many tales of people loving a house then writing the present owners that they would buy the house if and when it came available. There are many such houses that are now beloved homes owned by patient people. You have to work to make dreams come true.
Enjoy your blog very much
Thank you, Chintz! I always love hearing from you. 🙂
Xx,
Andrea
The Glam Pad
Do you happen to know the name of the floral fabric on the sofa of the main house? Love it,
I die!!! I could move into this house today and not change a thing! THIS is how neutral walls should be used. It’s just perfection!
I love everything about this house, especially the fabrics…..
I immediately relax when I see these photos. It has the comfortable elegant style of older suburban homes that I remember growing up. I can almost smell it (and I mean that in a good way).