“We literally put into the search engine: ‘commutable into Soho within an hour’. We found Brasted and that was it. We lived in a one-bedroom Victorian maisonette in Battersea and we needed more space to include an art studio for my work. We managed to get this for the same price … it was a no-brainer!

“I moved here four years ago with my husband, John, and our first child, Aoife. Now she’s seven, and we also have Naoise, who’s three.

“We didn’t do our house hunting based on Ofsted reports, en-suite bathrooms or car parking, but the more practical things aren’t, and never really have been, my priorities.

“Yes, it has to function. But I don’t mind the fact that if adults come for dinner they have to crawl under the table to get into the Arts and Crafts bench – I, and they, find it amusing.

“The house is one half of a listed 15th-century hall house – the beams date back to 1430. The Victorians butchered it up into two shops, and then a 1970s extension came along and even worse things happened.

“When we first came here there was pink vacuum-formed carpet on the stairs and in the bathroom – who were these people, and how were they allowed to do it?!

“But then we thought ‘ah, ok, there’s more to this house, it keeps giving’. I think because I have a background in fine art and interiors, anything like raw hessian wallpaper and parquet flooring is a gift. It’s all part of the history of the house, which I’m fascinated by. It appeals to my need for a home to have depth, for it to feel like it has its own character.

“A sense of space is quite unusual in a house that offers 15th-century character too. You can look right through from one end of the house to the other. But it has pockets that you can occupy according to your mood, which I find more stimulating than having one open-plan expanse.

“When we bought the property, we quite quickly realised how we were going to live in it. The front room was always going to be my studio because it has a lot of natural light. But it’s also the room that we spend all our time in as a family during the day. One or two people have walked in, thinking it was a still a shop and wanting to buy my furniture!

“The back of the house gets less light but that works for us because it’s a cosy space to spend our evenings. I make a point to light candles after the children have gone to bed, not because it’s romantic but because it just seems like that’s how the house wants to be.’

“We light the wood-burning stove by the dining table every night in the winter and it keeps the whole house warm. At the weekend, we all eat at the table and listen to records.

“Because I have always loved to collect objects to draw, the house is full of quite dangerous things! But the children have never broken or touched any of it. There are brass poles, cannonballs, shark teeth, meteor fragments, dinosaur eggshell pieces, but they’ve never gone near them. So yeah, they’re good children!

“There is a lot of space to fill, which is a gift for a fine artist. I’m working my way up the walls. Secretly I think that I make all my art with a view to it being in my home because it just gives me joy. I’ve also got work by other artists, such as Yasuyo Harvey’s botanical piece in the mezzanine area.

“There’s currently an exhibition of my work on at Faye Toogood’s design studio on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch. For me, creating art involves a lot of observation, reflecting and just sitting, not necessarily doing anything. So it requires a lot of time. My studio is an absolute gift for that process because I can be comfortable and totally relaxed, and then draw, rather than if I was in a drawing studio, where I would feel like I was at work.

“Having my studio at home means my work becomes a shared process with my husband and children. They get to see the process and the frustrations. And you’ll never get a more honest opinion than a child’s.

“My art has been totally influenced by the practicalities of the time that I have and where I live. I have to dash in, get out, hop on the bus with the two children, grab what I can get and then produce what I have.

“But I like honesty to yourself, and to materials. And that’s why I think I love drawing – you just need a pen and paper. Cardboard, that’s easy to get hold of. Wood, pretty easy. And so the materials I use and the work I make is honest to who I am and my lifestyle.

“Maybe that’s how I feel about the house as well. You don’t really need to do a lot to it. The house is singing well enough. It’s not pitch perfect, but it’s singing. It’s always given us what we need, it has never let us down … yet. But I don’t think it will. I can’t think of a house I would rather live in.”

Sarah, if you moved, what would be the first thing you’d take with you?
“The 1920s drawing board. It was the first thing we put in. It defines me.”

What do you think it means to live in a modern way?
“Having the confidence in your own judgment, and a willingness to express yourself and open up through your interior. I hope people are becoming more individual.”

Is there a property on The Modern House website that’s caught your eye?
“The one I thought, yeah this is the one: Kenilworth. I love the simplicity of it, the forms. I can see my art in that space.”

Sarah Kaye Rodden’s ‘Nearness’ exhibition runs at House of Toogood, 71 Redchurch Street, London E2 7DJ until April. Visit sarahkayerodden.com to see more of her work.