Modern Barn in Cornwall: An Oak-Framed Family Home Built Using Local Materials and Traditions to Build Their Family Home

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Were you raised in a barn? Flo Millard is one of the few people who can answer that old wisecrack affirmatively. She grew up in a 300-year-old converted farm building in Essex, England. And she liked living with a central open space and old beams so much that when she and her husband, Chris Millard, had the opportunity to build their own family home, they borrowed from barn vocabulary.

Flo is an interior designer and Chris is an architectural lighting specialist. Together they run Millard & Flo, a firm they founded in 2011 when they relocated from London to Cornwall—their first client was the real estate agent who initially showed them around: “he was building a house and needed lighting and interior design help,” says Flo. “It’s really just snowballed from there.”

The two now have a son and daughter, and were desperately in need of more space when they were offered land in the town of Rock, in North Cornwall, near the old cottage they had settled in. “We were then faced with the challenge of designing a new house from scratch as Covid was hitting,” says Flo. “It was a scary time to leave our beloved home and buy a field.”

The goal for their new place was to match the cottage in terms of character and longevity by making use of natural, and when possible local, materials and workmanship. Specifies Flo: “We wanted the structure to bed down into the landscape, and for the interior to feel communal and light.” We’re delighted to be the first to present the house that Millard & Flo built.

Photography by Daniel Scott, unless noted, all courtesy of Millard & Flo (@millardandflo).

on the roadside elevation, a hazel hurdle and fledgling hedge rise over a dry s 17 — Above: On the roadside elevation, a hazel hurdle and fledgling hedge rise over a dry stone wall, aka a Cornish hedge.

The roof tiles are local, reclaimed Delabole Slate.

constructed in nine months on a tight budget, the house is clad in larch— 18 — Above: Constructed in nine months on a tight budget, the house is clad in larch—”it needs time to silver off and for the garden to mature,” says Flo. The glazing, she notes, is “characteristic of the large openings in traditional English barns originally for wagons.”

the front porch is cornish granite with a slate walkway and a dutch door— 19 — Above: The front porch is Cornish granite with a slate walkway and a Dutch door—”it helps to contain small children and dogs.” The outside light is the Finsbury Lantern from Jim Lawrence. Photograph by John Hersey.

the vaulted living room has exposed supports à la a traditional english oa 20 — Above: The vaulted living room has exposed supports à la a traditional English oak-framed barns, but with a cleaner, contemporary look: Flo tells us she “loved the idea of a cruck frame for the central space, but wanted straight beams rather than curves to allow maximum scale.”

The fireplace is lined with same Cornish granite as the porch and leftover oak framing was put to use as the mantel beam. The wood-burning stove is a Charnwood C-Seven. The artwork is by Danny Rolph, an artist friend of the couple’s.