The Rest Room: in conversation with Glebe House founder Olive Guest
How did Reia end up at Glebe House? What drew you to it?
We wanted someone with a nice story and similar values to ours, we loved the ethos of reuse and refills, and then there are those lovely woody essential oils. When I used the samples, I thought, "This instantly makes me feel relaxed." It felt much more elevated than what we had before. It's also lovely to share that with female founders who have a similar vision, so it felt more personal. As with so many things at Glebe, we love having that sense of locality, and love that it’s made locally in Dorset.
You think carefully about every object a guest encounters. What does something have to feel like to earn its place in a bedroom or bathroom at Glebe?
We have discovered so many talented makers and artisans in the local area so it’s great to champion some of these people’s work in a setting that feels natural. We always choose things we want to use ourselves. The choices are quite instinctive but a lot of it comes down to how things are made — if they have a nice tactile quality to them or I enjoy interacting with the object or if there is a pleasing or distinctive design detail, and if you can feel the care that has gone into making it.
Your home and Glebe House have a lot of crossover, but is there anything you keep just for yourself?
That's something we learned as we went. When you have kids, you can stop feeling like yourself, even physically. Then suddenly all the things we'd collected at home were at Glebe, and our own space was already small. I felt I needed to reclaim some of it, and now I think we have. Take the decorative plates on the dresser. A lot of them used to be in the restaurant, but expensive plates get smashed quite often there, so I took my favourites back and they live here now. I've also become a bit of a mad collector of soap dishes, and it's nice to keep things like that for ourselves.
You've talked about growing up surrounded by objects that had stories to them. What's in your bathroom or kitchen that has a story?
We have a large vase on the mantelpiece at Glebe which was my grandmother's, so it has always been very special to me. I didn’t really know much about its origins, but it appears in lots of our social media posts, and someone recently tagged the ceramicist Irena Sibrijns — it turns out she is still making beautiful pieces, and she knew my grandmother well so she regaled some lovely stories of her that I otherwise would never have known.
Is there something in the house, your part of it or the guest part, that you'd struggle to explain why you love it, but you do?
A lot of the items we sourced for the house we spent a fair amount of time searching for, so we almost became quite attached to them. The baths and sinks for each room, for example, we’ve always sourced these unique vintage sinks from around the UK as they’re such an important part of the guest experience. I approached our own bathroom in the same way and found this amazing huge mint green sink on Facebook Marketplace that I went overboard getting restored for some reason. It’s made in a shape I've never really seen before — it looks a bit like a bird feeder. I just love it.
You've decorated Glebe gradually over years. Is there something you always knew you wanted to do in a particular way?
Glebe has always had a very warm and inviting feel to it, when it was a family home there was a spirit of generosity to it. We wanted to keep this feeling of it being a family home but that you are being hosted exceptionally well. That meant keeping the character and personal touches. We want it to be a place where people feel relaxed and can be enjoyed by all generations.
What does a room feel like when it's finished? Or do you ever feel like anything is actually finished?
I think it needs to feel comfortable first and foremost. It doesn’t matter if all of the design details aren’t all quite there yet but if the lighting is right and there are comfortable seats then people can relax! Rooms tend to evolve with the needs of the people who use them, so when our guest offerings adapt or change slightly we will redesign accordingly. For example we are re-designing our dining room at the moment to allow for more seating as we are expanding. I also think tastes evolve as well and it’s nice to freshen things up and build on what’s already there.
What does a good morning at Glebe look like, before the guests are up?
Being in the kitchen garden with the kids, harvesting things. The garden is tucked behind the house, and although guests walk in and out of it, it's never too busy, especially in the twilight hours. I find that if my kids are outside first thing, the mornings go much more smoothly. Even if it's only ten minutes at the weekend, we can just notice things and talk about what's happening.
Do you have a way that you reset your day or create time just for yourself?
I love arranging flowers, it’s a real moment for myself to rest and I find it quite calming being in the garden and choosing the stems. I used to do all of the flowers around Glebe myself and I loved it. Even though I don’t have to do all of the arranging there now, I still keep it as a practice for myself and I’ve always got flowers in our home.
Photography: Tintin Macdonald
