Aload of CND banners and a gathering of Quaker women in the garden was the harbinger of future happiness for Jude Wisdom and her husband Luther, a sign that this terraced house in Bath was the one. A progressive Quaker belief in social justice meant that although they couldn’t actually afford it, Margaret, the previous owner, decided she liked Jude and her husband and reduced the price.

“Margaret said: ‘I want you to have it.’ We were young, I was heavily pregnant at the time and had a toddler, she was kind and lovely and we just loved the vibe… I’ve never met a bad Quaker,” says Jude.

A visual artist and an illustrator of children’s books, Jude has an obsession with the natural world that spills off the pages of her books and on to the walls of her home. They are decorated with her hand-drawn murals of trees, their leaves made from old newspapers. Garlands of hops and ivy are draped over shelves and mantles; branches, some abundant with berries or russet leaves, some bare, are dragged home after walks in the valley with Hector, their cocker spaniel, then hung by string on hooks on the backs of doors, or stuffed into vases.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Quaker notes: an old French daybed with decorative branches in the stripped-down sitting room. Photograph: Claire Worthy/The Observer

Jude is a collector of life and of what she finds in the fields. A sheep’s skull, an abandoned bird’s nest, furled ferns, seed heads, pebbles, flowers, moss and feathers are all displayed without restraint for all to admire. She is like a magpie of the foraged world, her childlike treasures evoking a nature table in primary school.

“I like things to be humble. I like simplicity – I find that aesthetic more interesting,” explains Jude, who studied visual communication at Bath Academy. Its alumni include Howard Hodgkin and her contemporary, the children’s illustrator Axel Scheffler of Gruffalo fame.

Her appreciation of simplicity is laid bare at home. The backdrop for her finds are walls painted in a natural palette of greens and blacks, creating a muted space with little light.

In fact, light is not really welcomed at the Wisdom home and, walking into the hall, its absence is striking. Wooden shutters are kept closed, candles are lit, and a matt version of Farrow & Ball’s dark lead grey Down Pipe is on the walls in the sitting room and sweeps up the staircase and on to the landing.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Her dark materials: the shuttered dining room with artwork by Jude on the wall, garlands of ivy, old books, vases of dried flowers and branches. Photograph: Claire Worthy/The Observer

“For me, darkness helps with the creative process,” says Jude. “I like to imagine. If I am internalising, I don’t want to see the outside world; it is too distracting. But I have to admit the house has become more troglodytey with each passing year.”

Jude and Luther, a plumber, met at Glastonbury Festival years ago and between them now have three children, all of whom are creative. Jack, the eldest, is a drummer with the jazz-hop band Binbag Wisdom; Daisy, an illustrator, is expecting her first child, and the youngest, Florence, 15, writes poetry, is home-educated, has her own apothecary making tinctures and balms, and loves to knit.

Their home, which takes the Bloomsbury group’s Charleston House as a reference point, has organically matured throughout the 25 years the couple has lived here. Each room’s structure has been gradually pared back, revealing floorboards, fireplaces and brickwork. Simple furniture and textiles are well-worn and well-used.

“I don’t have a moral issue with buying something beautiful”, says Jude, “but I just feel happier with found objects.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Exploring all the angles: a table and chair under an alcove, with drawings on the wall and Jude’s much loved branches. Photograph: Claire Worthy/The Observer

To this end the family spend weekends browsing markets, skips, pavements and local fairs, all the while cultivating friendships with a variety of flea-market and antique traders, who save old picture frames, metal daybeds and rare picture books for them.

This manifesto of found is put into practice in every room. In the kitchen, piles of old French ceramic bowls, vintage 70s saucepans and pots are piled high on a reclaimed scaffolding plank and a flurry of second-hand enamel colanders hang off hooks next to serving spoons and bunches of dried herbs.

Upstairs an old crate has a new life as a side table and in the bathroom, balls of moss decorate the soap holder, which they found in a junk shop in Cyprus. A poster of African heads was spotted outside a patisserie in Paris and transported home by the couple, who are always on the look out for found art.

Using the natural world to style her home infuses a sense of childhood innocence and inspires Jude’s creativity. “I like the idea of being in a wood, it makes me feel happy. This home is a portal to how I felt as a child. Creating is like going into stealth mode, tapping into that untainted childhood imagination. The best sort of art is child’s art. It is uncontrived with a massive amount of feeling to it. I love that.”