We just visited antiques dealer and interior designer Alex MacArthur in the town of Rye, England, where she’s transformed a derelict Augustinian monastery into her showroom (see Welcome to My Monastery). Today we’re touring the adjoining brick cottage where she and her beloved three dogs live. Added onto the west wing of the monastery in the Georgian era, the house is as cozy as the chapel is expansive. Of her gargantuan restoration project, MacArthur says, having a home attached to her business, plus a walled garden for her pets, “ticked all the boxes, so I had to take a leap of faith.”
![built in the early \19th century, the cottage had been unused since the \ 17](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-monastery-and-cottage-annex-rye-east-sussex-england-1-733x489.jpg)
![mimi, macarthur\2\17;s french bulldog, guards the cottage entrance. ther 18](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-cottage-enterance-rye-east-sussex-england-3-733x550.jpg)
![the rooms in the cottage are all newly finished in designer abigail ahern& 19](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-cottage-kitchen-rye-east-sussex-england-5-733x1016.jpg)
![the brick fireplace is two sided and also heats the living room. 20](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-cottage-kitchen-rye-east-sussex-england-733x489.jpg)
![next to the hearth, macarthur slotted in a brass sink handmade in florence, wit 21](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-cottage-kitchen-rye-east-sussex-england-6a-733x1100.jpg)
For a similar to mixer faucet, see Aston Matthews’ Tradition Kitchen Sink Mixer.
![looped over the slatted shelves, s hooks provide hanging storage. macarthur fin 22](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-cottage-kitchen-rye-east-sussex-england-6-733x489.jpg)
![each room is blanketed—walls, ceilings, and moldings—in a single 23](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-cottage-annex-rye-east-sussex-england-4-733x489.jpg)
![thanks to the pigeon infestation, macarthur was allowed to remove the upstairs 24](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-cottage-bedroom-rye-east-sussex-england-7-733x1012.jpg)
![occupying what had been a second bedroom, the bath looks as if it\2\17;s 25](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-cottage-bath-rye-east-sussex-england-8-733x477.jpg)
![the fittings are all antique and include a narrow copper bathtub with a brass s 26](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-cottage-bath-rye-east-sussex-england-9-733x958.jpg)
![there\2\17;s plenty of room to roam, including a courtyard garden. 27](https://media.remodelista.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/alex-macarthur-interiors-monastery-rye-england-courtyard-garden-733x486.jpg)
See more in Welcome to My Monastery.
The cottage tours continue. Here are three more of our favorites:
- At Home in an Irish Stone Cottage with Superfolk
- The Welsh House: Slow Living in a Traditional Cottage, Available for Rent, in Wales
- Garden Visit: Derek Jarman’s Prospect Cottage at Dungeness
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