Unlocked: an exploration in colour with Edward and Emma Bulmer

Dating to the 1700s, the Queen Anne-style Court of Noke in Herefordshire serves as both the headquarters of Edward and Emma Bulmer’s natural paint company, and their family home. Although they bought the house in 1994, Edward explains that he first discovered it many years before: “As a child, we used to have picnics by the river not very far away from here. As we passed this house, you could get a glimpse of it. In the spring it would be a carpet of daffodils, and that was my abiding memory of this beautiful façade. It just became the daffodil house in my inner psyche.” After an unsuccessful search for a large “doer-upper” home that hadn’t been converted into apartments, the couple decided to approach the house’s owner, despite the fact that it wasn’t on the market. Fortuitously, they were able to purchase it, and it was here that they would go on to raise their family.

When they moved in, Edward recalls that it “wasn’t the most hospitable house”; there was no running water, and only one radiator. Virginia creepers covered the façade, and many of its sash windows had been removed and bricked up.

30 years on, the house is complete, after a gradual renovation that has seen parts of the building reconfigured, windows reinstated and interiors finished with colours, patterns and materials that complement the house’s 18th-century bones. As Edward explains, the interior design was a joint effort: “Emma suggested all the colour schemes, and I manifested them.” The result is a beautifully curated series of spaces, from a music room washed in soft green to a bedroom papered with ornate Chinese wallpaper from the 19th century. A two-toned wall in the dining room – half warm orange, half mint green – offers a glimpse of Edward’s new Chatsworth paint collection, inspired by the historic interiors and natural materials found throughout the majestic estate.

Emma and Edward’s expert eye for colour and pattern is equally evident in the garden, which brims with a vibrant display of flora and fauna. At the front of the house, a serene pond is the perfect spot for a dip, while existing waterways are thought to have been part of a Dutch-designed water garden.

As Edward explains, his colour choices are informed by the history of colour and interiors; in large 18th-century homes, softer, more neutral colours were typically used for transient spaces such as hallways, while richer, more expensive colours were used for living rooms and bedrooms. He says, “[this approach] gives you a kind of canvas, with blobs of colour in the rooms you’re actually going to spend some time in, and quite calm, neutral palettes in the rooms you’re just transporting yourself through.”

Follow Edward Bulmer Natural Paint on Instagram

If you enjoyed this episode, why not subscribe to our YouTube channel? That way, you’ll never miss an episode.