Were it not for its bright red chimney, Toot Rise would blend perfectly into the rural sandstone hill on which it is built. But this stainless steel cylinder pierces the chestnut-clad house like a sharp new pencil satisfyingly pushed through the lid of a shoebox. It is at once a deliberate sign- post and the final flourish of British architect Nick Evans, who designed the two-story structure in East Sussex as a weekend home for himself and his family.

“I wanted it to be a strong element that worked inside and outside,” says Nick, a partner at ECE Architecture who spends most of the year living and working in London. “I wanted that color continuity you don’t normally get in houses. It was more like a piece of art—a very calm tim- ber box with something coming through the center.”

This love of bright colors continues inside the 2,280-square-foot, four-bed- room, four-bathroom house that Nick shares with his wife, Celia Sellschop, their 14-year-old daughter, Allegra, and their four-year-old basset hound, Daisy. Eye- popping color is used sparingly, but with great effect, not least in the brilliant green kitchen that sits at the home’s center. Celia is a chef in London and runs a supper club, so space for culinary experi- mentation was an essential part of Nick’s self-imposed brief. This is the first home he has designed for himself, and he’s glad he didn’t do it earlier in his career.

“A lot of people try when they’re younger,” he says. “It’s nicer when you’ve got a slightly more stable set of views, because architecture can be very fashion- conscious. There are lots of ‘isms’ that become ‘wasms.’ ”

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