The Modern Classic Waterside House: A Top-to-Bottom Remodel in Cornwall by Millard & Flo

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When lighting designer Chris Millard and interior design Flo Millard relocated from London to the village of Rock in Cornwall, they hoped and dreamed for exactly this sort of project. A one-time dinghy club and restaurant perched on the waterfront in tiny, steep Polruan, on Cornwall’s south coast, the wooden structure had long ago been converted into living quarters, but was in need of a top-to-bottom rethink. “The house had been reinvented several times over the years,” Flo tells us, “and the result of these reiterations meant it was a patchwork of rooms with a rather confusing layout.”

Millard & Flo, as the couple call their firm, stepped in and, while preserving the footprint, gave the structure a historically sensitive makeover, opening up and orienting the living spaces to the river, relocating the kitchen to an underused part of the ground floor, and fully outfitting the place: “we provided all furniture, finishes, joinery, and lighting.” The results are a bright and breezy modern-classic nod to boathouse style executed with ease and restraint. And an unmistakeable English accent. For those of us still recovering from winter, these rooms are a tonic.

Photography by David Curran courtesy of Millard & Flo.

thanks to glazing added in a past renovation, the back of the wooden structure 17 — Above: Thanks to glazing added in a past renovation, the back of the wooden structure has wide open views of the Fowey Estuary, which flows into the English channel. The house is accessible by foot only, “providing the contractors, as you can imagine, with quite a challenge,” says Flo.

the main entry, with a porthole window, opens to a spacious sitting area. (elec 18 — Above: The main entry, with a porthole window, opens to a spacious sitting area. (Electrical systems are concealed behind the upper cabinets.) The house is accessed by a series of steep steps down from the street level.

The designers introduced whitewashed paneling, ceilings included, throughout: “we tied the entire scheme together with the use of several tons of timber cladding,” says Flo, “horizontal on the ground floor and classic vertical tongue-and-groove upstairs.”

the kitchen is an entirely bespoke design fabricated by millard & flo&# 19 — Above: The kitchen is an entirely bespoke design fabricated by Millard & Flo’s crew. The counter is oak and the apron sink is from Perrin & Rowe.

The white paint used throughout is Little Greene’s Slaked Lime, which, according to the company is “made with a combination of minerals to give a warm and soft appearance.”