A HOME ROOTED IN HERITAGE

Welcome to Cottage Noir

Welcome to Cottage Noir, the family home where my journey to understand the way we make home began. In 2020, when we first moved here, the cottage felt like a blank canvas full of potential, a space where I could decorate in a way that celebrated my Nigerian and Jamaican heritage. The renovation has been an extremely fulfilling creative journey, which has taken me to spaces and stages that I could not have imagined. 

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From Cottage Noir to House Proud

Creating Cottage Noir and sharing that journey publicly led me to a book deal with RIBA. The result is House Proud (forthcoming September 2026), a richly illustrated celebration of Black homes across Africa and the diaspora.

House Proud is the book I wish I had while renovating Cottage Noir, as I sought ideas and inspiration while making intentional choices about what I wanted my home to say and the role I wanted it to play in my family's life. It exists to help fill a long-standing gap in the way Black homes have been told.

Discover house proud

The Four Pillars of Ancestral Intelligence

HERE ARE THE PILLARS THAT HOLD IT UP, AS FOUND IN COTTAGE NOIR

The lightbulb moment while writing House Proud occurred when I began to uncover the common elements across all the homes featured in the book. Despite the homes spanning huge swathes of time and geography, they are united by a framework which I came to call Ancestral Intelligence. Ancestral Intelligence  reveals itself as a connection with nature; the presence of joy and rhythm; communal living and the importance of sacred spaces.

I was so happy to discover each one of these elements in Cottage Noir to some extent. Better still, Ancestral Intelligence provides a blueprint, not just for my own home, but for anyone who cares about their home and wants a framework for making it authentic, life-affirming, and a place for telling your stories.

So what is Ancestral Intelligence, exactly? Here are the four pillars that hold it up.

Ancestral homes embody a completely harmonious relationship with nature, with the instinct always being to work with the elements and not against them

  1. A Connection with Nature

Cottage Noir Front view of a brick house with a blue door, surrounded by green lawn and decorated with purple wisteria flowers climbing on the facade, with garden statues at the base.

Home life in ancestral societies centred on the community rather than on the individual or the nuclear family

2. Community

Living room with green textured wallpaper,, a bookshelf with books and plants, a TV, a beige patterned sofa with decorative pillows, a coffee table with books and a chess set, a gray lamp, and a vase of pink and white flowers on a wooden table.

Ancestral homes often carry a wit, humour, and a charming irreverence which I think of as an architecture of joy. The rhythm comes through as an essential part of the design language.

3. Joy and Rhythm

Bedroom with blue cloud-themed walls, a patterned headboard, and a colorful blanket featuring a woman holding leaves.

Sacred spaces are an integral part of ancestral homes. They act as ancestral  remembrance, spaces to make offerings to the gods, or places for rituals and ceremonies

4. Sacred Spaces

A wall decorated with framed photographs and artwork, surrounded by African-themed wallpaper with animals.

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THE COTTAFGE NOIR HOUSE TOUR WITH HOMEWORTHY

Shop Cottage Noir Style

My edit of The Cornrow products, which I have and enjoy at Cottage Noir

A bronze bust of a woman with jewelry and hair wrapped in a head wrap.

Sade Bust

A pink decorative candle with the words 'Fine Girl' in black letters, surrounded by colorful patterns and illustrations of glasses, trees, and abstract shapes.

Fine Girl Candle

Painting of a young Black woman sitting on a vintage armchair, wearing a white dress with puffed sleeves, and a pendant necklace, with a framed sign reading 'Up To No Good' in the background.

Lady Congo Art Print

Discover The Cornrow
A poster featuring an illustration of the RMS Queen Mary ocean liner with yellow funnels and smoke coming out, celebrating 70 years and building Britain.

Windrush Generation Tea Towel

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I turned the black canvas I saw in Cottage Noir when we first moved in into an interior design expression of "Black Girl Magic.” I have two daughters, and my intention was to create a childhood home where they could flourish. It turned int
May was a whirlwind! From hunting for treasures at antique fairs to tending the garden as wisteria season wrapped up, it's been a month of discoveries, moments and memories. So, here is from my notes, to you, what I got up to in the merry month of Ma

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Plain beige fabric background with a textured pattern.

My Substack

An intricate textile pattern featuring detailed leaf and floral motifs, designed with white outlines on a dark blue background.

About Kemide

a blank, textured beige fabric background

My Book