Interior decorator Max Rollitt on the objects that make a home

“There are other places that bring me great joy but this is definitely home,” says Max of the farmhouse and outbuildings where he has lived since 2009. Located in the beautiful chalk-stream Itchen valley, he explains: “My house is very embedded in the chalk we live in. Chalk is really important to me, the feel of it. I feel very at home within it. I don’t want to be anywhere else.”

Bought with wife Jane, a psychotherapist who previously worked in physical performance, when their three boys were seven, 11 and 12, it marked a move out of Winchester, following the death of Max’s parents, and became a busy family house for the next generation. One of the many outbuildings was converted into a sports hall, with a wooden floor for an indoor hockey pitch and later, in the teenage years, a skate park with a half pipe: “it was skater heaven in the rain with their mates”, Max recalls. These days his sons are very happy to come back and spend time in each other’s company. “Creating a home and warmth is very important to Jane and me,” says Max, adding, “You’re always going to be as happy as the house you grew up in ...”

Max’s own upbringing, as an only child, left him with abiding memories of freedom, independence and opportunities. His mother, who ran away from home aged 28 to work as a fashion designer, took on a fabric, fashion and antiques shop in Winchester when Max was a child. He grew up in the shop, showing customers through the fabrics and regularly going to Blanchard’s antiques emporium in Winchester, which was at that time “an institution, everything went through it”, helping source antiques to sell.

It is perhaps not surprising that he ended up with the three-pronged career he has today, though, as he shares, it took him dropping out of university, and at least one chance encounter, to get there.

Today, his Yavington Barn showroom is a bespoke set up in its own right, housing the three businesses (as well as Jane’s) and their home across the road. The grainstore-turned-emporium is where they come together. Set up as a series of period rooms in which antiques sit alongside Max’s bespoke furniture and lighting, it has been called “one of the world’s most beautiful shops”. Max himself calls it his "golden box" and in the full house tour (available on Patreon for members), he shares the stories behind the "clutter" in the house – a visual autobiography in each room of objects gifted to him, made for and by him, unearthed treasures and found objects from people who are valuable in his life. What binds these very different objects is the emotional value they hold for Max.

Yet, for all the love of clutter, a serious bicycle accident means that Max has become very aware of the preciousness of life. His days now involve Buddhist meditation, yoga, and in summertime, sleeping in a yurt in the garden, feeling grounded and complete contentment. “In my next chapter I’d like a simpler, uncluttered life, to have nothing to manage, no maintenance, my spiritual life, my bicycle - it’s very attractive.” Can he really see that happening? “No,” he laughs.

Forthcoming episodes of Homing feature Sam Taylor-Johnson, Tom and Sue Stuart-Smith, Dan Pearson and Skye McAlpine. Subscribe to Homing or become a member of Patreon and as always, happy listening.