MyDecor

London-based studio Emil Eve Architects has transformed a heritage-listed building in Somerset into a lifestyle store, cafe and bed and breakfast. Caro Somerset is located on the high street of a small English town named Bruton – also home of the Hauser and Wirth gallery.

Emil Eve Architects extensively reconfigured the space in order to make it suitable for the store and cafe, and also created a family home and short-stay accommodation behind it. Inside the main building, a cafe and lifestyle store inhabit the ground-floor front rooms. Homeware products are displayed on bespoke furniture throughout a series of unique spaces, which have each been stripped back and fitted out to show the building's history. In the cafe area, coffee and cakes are served from a tiled counter, and bar-style seating allows customers a place to rest and eat.

Behind and above the public spaces, a family home and short-stay accommodation were created. Aiming to retain a similar aesthetic throughout the properties and shop spaces, the architects worked closely with the store's owner, Natalie Jones, to pick out fixtures and fittings.

To the rear of the home, a large extension clad in larch wood houses a dark-painted, open-plan kitchen and living area. Expansive windows allow light to flood into the space – counteracting the darkening effect of the walls and surfaces. The bedrooms and bathroom are all painted off-white. In each of the rooms, a mismatch of unique pieces, including industrial-style lighting and a luxurious roll-top bath, are paired together.