Nielsen House

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Created by Sarah Jane Nielsen, Nielsen House is an award-winning interior design studio specialising in luxury residential and commercial projects in the English Lake District and in the Mediterranean island of Mallorca.

Architects: interior consultancy from the early stage strengthens every project.
04/09/2026

Architects: interior consultancy from the early stage strengthens every project.

Behind every space that works well is a group of people who trust one another.The Heaning was shaped by a relationship t...
02/09/2026

Behind every space that works well is a group of people who trust one another.

The Heaning was shaped by a relationship that stretches back more than twenty years, along with a trusted architect, a contractor and a whole community of local makers. The rugs were woven especially for the estate. The lighting was turned by hand. Even the black-and-white photographs on the walls came from the client's own camera.

None of it was done alone, and that is really the heart of it. The best places come from the best relationships. Swipe through some of the craft and the people behind the finished rooms.

This brings our look back at the estate with Deborah to a close. Thank you for following along.

02/09/2026

Working with a friend is one of the more delicate things you can do in this profession.

Deborah and I have been friends for years. Our children grew up together, and we knew each other well long before The Heaning was ever discussed. So when the opportunity came to work together, I will admit I wondered whether turning that friendship into a business relationship might change the dynamic between us.

Happily, it never did. We were always able to keep the two things separate, while drawing on what we already understood about each other to shape a project that reflected exactly what Deborah set out to achieve with the place. If anything, the trust we already had made the whole thing easier.

Part six of six, and the final part of our conversation at The Heaning. Thank you for following along.

Have you ever gone into business with a friend, and how did it work out?

26/08/2026

I have always believed that respecting the past of a building lends it a certain energy. It is hard to measure, but you feel it the moment you walk in.

At The Heaning, so much of the pleasure came from discovering original details that had been hidden or forgotten, then bringing them carefully back to life. Restoration of that kind is never a straight line. You start with the raw property and work through it step by step, and the skill is in holding your nerve and staying true to the vision until you reach the destination.

When a client values that journey as much as the result, as Deborah has, the whole process becomes a genuine pleasure.

Part five of six.

What is the oldest building you have ever spent real time in, and how did it make you feel?

Living in Mallorca changed the way I design, and not in the way I expected. It encouraged me to slow down creatively. I ...
25/08/2026

Living in Mallorca changed the way I design, and not in the way I expected. It encouraged me to slow down creatively. I became less interested in how a room looked and more interested in how it felt to be in it.

The lessons rarely came from anything designed. They came from watching how people gathered at the markets, from walking narrow shaded streets that stay cool through nothing more than proportion, from craftsmanship made patiently by hand, from planting that simply belongs where it grows.

All of it has become part of how I work. I begin with how people live, not with how a space photographs. Nature has always been my greatest mentor.

Has slowing down ever changed the way you see something you thought you knew well?

When you take on a building with this much history, you take on a responsibility to everyone who shaped it before you.Ri...
20/08/2026

When you take on a building with this much history, you take on a responsibility to everyone who shaped it before you.

Right across The Heaning, the aim was to honour that history while making the estate genuinely comfortable for the way we live now. The original oak panelling and staircase were kept and brought back to life rather than boxed away. The fireplaces stayed where they had always been. Slate and encaustic floors, seventeenth century beams and old stonework were all left to tell their own story.

These tend to be the details guests fall for. Swipe through the features we chose to protect, and tell me which one you would keep.

19/08/2026

When you take on a building with history, you take on a kind of responsibility too. A responsibility to the people who built it, to the site, and to everything that came before you.

At The Heaning, that meant bringing the estate firmly into modern, comfortable living while holding onto the details that tell its story. We polished a set of fireplace tiles back from black and found a soft sea green underneath. We lifted later floorboards in the kitchen and discovered an original slate floor. The seventeenth century beams and original cornicing we left exactly as they were.

Guests notice these things, and I think they feel them too. A home that respects its past simply feels more settled.

Part four of six.

Is there an original feature in your own home that you would never part with?

People often ask where my inspiration comes from. The honest answer is that it has never come from magazines or trends. ...
17/08/2026

People often ask where my inspiration comes from. The honest answer is that it has never come from magazines or trends. It has come from travelling slowly enough to observe.

Mallorca taught me this more than anywhere. Light behaves like a building material. Old farmhouses stay cool through proportion and orientation rather than technology. Dry stone walls built by hand hold for generations. None of these are lessons about interiors, and yet they shape every interior I design.

It is why my process no longer begins with furniture. It begins with place, with climate, with light, and with the way people naturally move through a space.

Homeowners and architects who value that considered starting point are welcome to reach out.

Every so often someone asks how The Heaning still feels fresh after five years. The honest answer is the style sitting u...
13/08/2026

Every so often someone asks how The Heaning still feels fresh after five years. The honest answer is the style sitting underneath everything else.

The whole estate is built around a calm, Scandinavian feel that is firmly grounded in the Lake District. A soft grey palette runs through the buildings as a quiet canvas, then it is layered with local Herdwick wool, tweeds, natural oak and slate, and textures taken straight from the landscape outside. It is restrained and elegant rather than showy.

Because none of it was chasing a trend, none of it has dated. Swipe through for the details that tie it together.

Address

Kendal
LA89LR

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9am - 5:30pm
Friday 9am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+441539822433

Website

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