Inside your homes: Marcus Hawley

We do love seeing inside your homes - everyone has a completely different eye for design and the unique ways in which you style your spaces always leave us filled with inspiration.

Recently, Marcus Hawley used our interior consultation service to help choose the perfect pieces for his new home. Excited to see how the spaces turned out, we visited Marcus for a tour of this beautiful Sheffield new build…

You’ve recently moved into your new home. What were your design intentions for your new build?

Building my own home is something I’ve always wanted to do. We were walking our dog one day and saw that this piece of land was available to buy, so we bought it!

We wanted a home that was going to be quite spacious, open and light, making the best of the views that are available to us. We didn’t want any narrow passageways; we wanted our transition spaces to be rooms in themselves. It gives the house a feeling of space as you’re walking round, and it means everything feels a bit more connected.

I’ve always wanted a natural stone house, with lots of natural materials featured. We used a lot of oak inside, which is also reflected in the furniture that we chose. We have oak parquet flooring, and the stairs, they’re oak as well. The outside of the house also has cedar cladding.

Could you describe your home for us?

It’s a four-bedroom detached house in Sheffield, with three floors. It includes a basement apartment for our daughter and her partner.

When I’m busy at work, my home is my refuge. When you come home at night, it’s great to have a space to relax. I’m quite a laid-back person I think, and I hope that’s reflected in our home. It’s quite a family orientated house with a big kitchen that we can gather in, as even though there’s only us two living there, we have our family round quite a lot.

Do you have a favourite space in your home?

My wife Ali’s favourite room is the front room, which has got the Muuto Outline Sofa in. We’re waiting on a sideboard for under the TV, just to finish the space off. She enjoys the views from this room and it’s a nice cosy room to relax in.

I like the lounge area that’s right next to our kitchen. We’ve got two &Tradition Fly Sofas that face each other, with a coffee table in between the two. If I'm watching the football (I'm a Sheffield Wednesday fan) we can move the sofas round so they’re facing the TV and it changes the space up. This is my favourite area, as it’s nice to just come home, flick the telly on and chill out.

Were there any challenges you faced during the project?

Everything has taken longer than we first thought it would do, from the planning to the builders to the materials. Building during the pandemic hasn’t been ideal either – I’ve been told its probably one of the worst times you could ever build a house!

There’s been shortages on wood and plasterboard for example, so we’ve had to wait a while for certain things to be available. And then if one thing doesn’t get done, that leads on to something else being delayed. It’ll definitely be worth it in the end, but it’s just taking a long time to get over that finishing line.

Do you have any tips for others who might be looking to build their own home?

One of the hardest things for me is that every decision seems to come at once, especially with the decorating side of things. I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve kept our decor quite neutral. There are so many decisions to make – you would sometimes struggle to just do one room in your house, and then when you think you’ve got every single room to finish, it can be a bit overwhelming.

We tried to keep it as simple as possible, choosing neutral grey sofas for example. This provides a good neutral base and if you want to jazz it up a bit you can bring colour in with accessories like a throw or a rug or a cushion.

Your beautiful home features a carefully curated selection of designs. When choosing furniture and lighting for your home, what qualities do you look for?

It’s a difficult question for me as I tend to just buy things that I like! I trust my gut – there are some things that I look at and think ‘that’s awful’ and others that I love.

I do think if you’re going to spend money, try and spend money on things that you’re going to touch on a regular basis and that you’re going to see and feel the quality of. We’ve got lots of Buster + Punch finishing touches in the house – especially in the kitchen. Their handles have got a knurled feel to them and they’re quite heavy so they’re very tactile. I especially like the Buster + Punch Hooked Wall Lights we’ve got at the side of the TV, where the wooden panelling is – they cast some really nice light and shadow.

When it comes to the designs you have selected - how were they chosen? Could you describe your experience of sourcing designs via Nest and the service your received?

At the start of everything I had a scrapbook. If I saw something, I liked in a magazine I would cut it out and stick it in for future reference. There are a few things that I look back on now and think ‘what did I include that for?!’

We then visited the Nest showroom and discussed what we liked with Ashlee. It was actually her that recommended the &Tradition Fly Sofas. After our initial meeting, she sourced some fabric swatches for us, to help decide on the colour of sofa that we wanted.

We originally wanted the sofa in the front room and the sofa in the kitchen to match. However, the same fabric wasn’t available from both suppliers. By providing swatches, Ashlee helped us to find an alternative material that matched closely and works really well in the space.

What’s next for your home? Is there anything else on your design wish list?

We really want to get the outside space finished, so we can throw open the back doors and have some BBQs or eat our dinner outside in the evenings. When it’s finished, we’ve got lots of HAY Palissade furniture for the space and we’ve also got some outdoor sofas to go in one of the corners to create a relaxation area.

I would also quite like a lounge chair - maybe in the hallway or on the landing. I’ve always liked the Eames Lounge Chair and the Ro Easy Chair from Fritz Hansen. They’re both quite big and generous with their sizing so that might be one for the future.

Are you giving your home a makeover?

We offer an interior consultation service where our dedicated product specialists will help you get the best out of your space. Their expert advice will lead to you getting the home you deserve, skilfully tailored to your needs.

Find out more on our interior consultations page or contact our Sales Manager Ashlee via email, over the phone on 0114 243 3000 or through Live Chat on our website.