Having recently taken a tour of Seb and Brogan Cox’s handsome, handmade kitchen in the coastal town of Margate, we were naturally keen to see how they’ve transformed the adjoining utility room, which Brogan has cannily rebranded the “beautility room.”
The light-filled room is sparsely furnished with a bench from Seb’s Underwood collection, made from hand-coppiced Kentish hazel and ash. Seb opened up what was a “sad, pokey little window”, creating a floor-to-ceiling aperture that overlooks the garden.
The green door (painted Citrine by Little Green) is also a new addition. Now, it has two entranceways, so the couples’ young daughters can access the WC from the garden and the utility room.
The entrance to the utility, via the kitchen.
“It also hides the filth that comes with having young children who live by the sea,” Brogan adds.
This lightweight, woven closet hides the washer, dryer, and freestanding fridge.
The woven panels are lightweight, which makes them perfect for sliding doors.
The frame and adjacent cabinets were constructed from tiger oak—a descriptive term for oak that has been infected with beefsteak fungus, which produces this distinctive graining.
The utility sink and painted wooden splashback with shaker pegs; the deck-mounted taps are by Perrin and Rowe; the brush on the right is by Rosa Harradine. As everyone broke off into groups, we found that the utility was the most popular room in the house.
That’s when we came up with the thought that this is more than a utility room – it’s our beautility room – a desirable space that people want to gather in.”