How New England Lifestyle Came About

About 10 years ago I designed a New England Style house on the beach in West Sussex. I have always loved everything about New England - the wooden clad houses and the beaches - and so I named my house New England.

When I had finished the building work and interior decoration I looked around for furniture to compliment the seaside setting. I had my heart set on white furniture, but no matter where I looked - Laura Ashley, John Lewis, New Heights, The Conran Shop, Habitat, Heals, The White Company - I couldn’t find anything suitable. I decided to design a white bedside table with tongue and groove detail, and hence the Manhattan white bedside table was created. Then came the white chest of drawers now known as the Manhattan white chest of drawers, and the white blanket box which became the Manhattan white Blanket Box. I then thought about a headboard, and once again decided it should be made of wood with tongue and grooving, and so the Manhattan white headboard came about.

My second bedroom didn’t have built in wardrobes and required storage. Sticking to the tongue and groove design, I created a white wardrobe and large white chest of drawers - now sold as the Manhattan White Double Wardrobe and Manhattan Multi Drawer.

Turning my attention to the dining room I created the New England Dining Table, made of solid oak, and mirrored the fluted detailing of the legs in the solid oak New England ladder back dining chairs. Again lacking storage space, I created the large white dresser, now known as the New Hampshire Dresser.

When I came to sell the house a year later, everyone wanted to buy all the furniture and accessories with the house. I realised that a company selling white furniture could be a good idea, and so New England Lifestyle was born.