Vintage loving artist Lizzy Bramley mixed old and modern in her Georgian cottage in the centre of one of the UK's smallest cathedral cities in North Yorkshire. Ruth Campbell meets her

THE moment you step through the door of Lizzy Bramley’s charming Georgian cottage, you can tell that this is a home with a unique personality. For a start, the Farrow and Ball bone-coloured walls of the original, stone-flagged hallway sparkle with an intricate, hand-painted swirl and dot gold pattern, which fine art graduate Lizzy painstakingly completed over a period of four years.

She was inspired by hand-printed 1930s wallpapers. And even the coat hooks, which hold an array of gorgeous vintage coats, are from the same period: “I have got a thing about coats,” says Lizzy. “For every outfit, I have to have a coat that goes with it. I can’t just throw anything over the top.”

She has plenty to choose from, including a white Sixties woollen one with huge buttons, a bright yellow mohair collarless Fifties design with three-quarter length sleeves, and a beautifully fitted, tailored Sixties linen coat with Peter Pan collar.

As befits the home of an artist and vintage enthusiast, every item, from those coats on elegant pegs to the handbags that hang on the back of the kitchen door and the collection of gilt edged Fifties dressing table mirrors artfully arranged above the old Parisian wrought iron stove in the living room, has been chosen and placed with care.

Lizzy’s flair oozes from colours, textures and all the witty retro finds dotted about her home. We sit on stylish, brown leather sofas, designed by the acclaimed British furniture designer Robin Day in the striking family living room, which is painted a rich, deep purple.

The cut glass light fittings cast an atmospheric patterned light across the ceiling and a curtain Lizzy made from an old grey and pale pink silk quilt she found in a shop in Saltburn is draped over the French doors, which lead out to a small courtyard. “It was a dark room anyway, so we thought we should go even further,” explains Lizzy, who sells clothes, shoes, hats, handbags and jewellery, largely from the Fifties and Sixties.

The vintage Union Jack hanging above a Phillippe Starck Louis Ghost chair and desk in the corner perfectly reflect the eclectic mix of old and modern that Lizzy loves. She collects items from car boot sales, antique shops and jumble sales, and also finds bargains, such as the Parisian woodburning stove, on eBay.

Today, she is wearing a psychedelic patterned peach, pink and gold Sixties dress with a bright fuchsia mohair jumper from Toast. “I love vintage dresses, the very fitted looks from the Fifties and Sixties, but the sort of stuff that is really in fashion today. What is in vogue and really expensive is just not the same when it is diluted on the High Street. But you can achieve that same, quality look with vintage mixed with new stuff,” she says.

In her work room, stocked with vintage dresses, hats and handbags, she even has a life-sized paper cut-out of her favourite dress, a floral pink cotton Sixties long-sleeved empire line mini-dress, with a grosgrain ribbon tied in a bow at the front. “This is a way of enjoying it all over again, in another form. It’s my absolute favourite dress and I love to wear it with modern shoes and orange tights,” she explains.

Dotted about the room, there are also a number of Lizzy’s unusual textured paper quilted handbags, made from old sewing pattern sheets, which she hand embroiders with floral patterns. When Lizzy took one to a fashion event in Manchester, a Vogue beauty editor admired it and asked her where it came from. Lost for words, Lizzy couldn’t bring herself to tell her she had actually made it. “I was too shy,” she says.

Some of her framed art work, mixtures of drawings and collages created from textured papers, hang on the walls throughout the rest of her three-bedroomed terraced home, which was once used as a café. She and husband Aidy installed period doors and wide, reclaimed floorboards when they moved in ten years ago, in order to recapture some of the original character of the 1740 property.

Lizzy points to a beautifully tattered and worn leather Twenties chair, with much of its lining exposed, in the corner of the light and airy front room. “I don’t mind if things are broken or damaged. People ask if I am going to get it re-covered, but I like it the way it is,” she says. “I also love it when you can see old repairs,” she adds, pointing to a well-worn patchwork blanket, made from old pieces of suit fabric, which is draped over the sofa.

One of her favourite items of clothing, she says, is a faded and frayed vintage Levi jacket, with patched repairs. “I love it where things have been repaired over the years and you can see the stitches of different people who have worn it. I like to use things and not keep them pristine.”

The old toys on display also show signs of being loved and used down the years, as does the battered seed chest Lizzy picked up at auction, and the 1930s cockerel bag with plastic handles in orange and slate blue. “I love the unusual colours of this bag. I have always appreciated colours,” she says.

Brought up in Nottingham, Lizzy was a particularly artistic child, who started making and designing clothes from a young age. As a teenager in the early Eighties, she was fascinated by music videos, especially those of the more edgy, independent bands. Now 49, she recalls making a skirt inspired by musician Malcolm McLaren’s ‘Buffalo Gals’ 1982 hip-hop music video. “ It was a big, full panelled skirt and I embroidered the signatures of my favourite band, Orange Juice, on it.” She bought Fifties and Sixties clothes from jumble sales from the age of 14, and particularly loved old stilettos: “I always altered my own clothes and went through fashion phases.”

The daughter of an accountant and stay-at-home mum, Lizzie recalls . “My mum would say ‘You aren’t going out wearing that, are you?’.” Although her parents were strict, Lizzy was, she confesses, an Orange Juice ‘groupie’ from the age of 16 and ended up running their fanzine.

At Leeds Polytechnic, she threw herself into college life, singing in a busking group called The Moaning Minnies. She also did a lot of travelling across Europe. At the end of her degree she went to art school in Cyprus for three months before returning to Nottingham to set up a studio. But when she fell pregnant with her son Gabriel, now 25, she felt isolated in Nottingham and moved back to Leeds.

While working as an artist, Lizzy got together with Steve Elvidge, singer with the band Age of Chance, and also a DJ. The couple, who went on to have two children, Curtis, now 21, and Lily, now 18, started running a vintage stall at the weekly flea market in Leeds.

Sourcing items from jumble and car boot sales, their business took off and they opened a shop called Funky Stuff.

When the relationship ended, Lizzy, who had by now moved to a village outside Ripon, started working as a gardener. “I found that really creative,” she says, and went on to work with adults with learning difficulties.

It is only recently that Lizzy, who married roofer Aidy nine years ago, decided to return to her first love, vintage fashion. Her children, particularly her daughter, who is hoping to study fashion, love her clothes and have been very encouraging. Initially opening a vintage clothing shop called Fabulous in Ripon just over a year ago, she now sells solely online after internet sales soared. “Month on month, growth has been enormous,” she says.

Buyers come from all over England and Europe, with many from London. “People got to know me when I had the shop and started bringing me clothes,” says Lizzy, who buys items from the Twenties to Seventies.

One of her favourite finds was a Twenties velvet cape with fur collar and fringing which she sold for £70. “It was amazing, so bohemian,” she says. She also craved a black velvet dress with lace cuffs and bib from the Sixties: “I tried to get it on but it was too small,” she says.

Her other great love is handbags and her prize vintage collection is displayed on the back of her kitchen door. In direct contrast to the dark purple living room next door, this room is white, with a sleek, modern white, high gloss finish Ikea kitchen with corian top.

She and husband Aidy choose everything together, but, she confesses: “He is usually swayed by me. It is more important to me that things are the right colour and shape.”

A recycled, industrial chic-style glass light fitting by British designer Abigail Ahern hangs from the centre of the ceiling, above a scrubbed wooden table. Otherwise, the kitchen appears bare. “I always keep it clear. There is a place for everything,” explains Lizzy.

Even her laundry basket is vintage, an elegant looking French metal basket she picked up at an antiques fair. “I don’t like having anything that isn’t stylish,"! she says. "hat probably sounds really snobby, but I can’t have anything that’s out of place.”

E: lizzybramley65@gmail.com; T: 07533 265230; eBay: fabulous ripon