A near-ruined house brought back to life with playful, dramatic decorative schemes
We had been stalking the house for years, watching it slowly fall further and further into disrepair,’ says Richard Smith who is, with his partner Andrew Blackman, the owner of this wonderfully evolved country house in East Sussex. Falling in love with a near-derelict building is never an exercise for the faint hearted, but for Richard and Andrew the magical ruin had cast its spell. Set in eight acres within an 850-acre nature reserve with unspoilt views of the English Channel, the building is an unusually charming mish-mash of period details dating back to the 17th century – the sort of place that can occur only by chance.
Richard and Andrew tracked down the owners and wrote to ask about the house in 2002. A year later, they heard from the owners that it was being sold at auction.‘There were five other people who wanted it, which was really irritating, as every time that one of them bid against us, I thought, “There goes another bathroom…”,’ Richard says ruefully.
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When they finally went inside the building for the first time, on a soggy winter morning in 2003, even mouldy carpets and multiple leaks could not dampen the lovely feeling it had. ‘Pure architecture can be idyllic, but what’s lovely about this house is that it has all the later additions, which give it this atmosphere,’ explains Richard. The renovation began with the roof, which was transformed when some 30,000 Seventies concrete tiles were replaced with handmade Kentish clay tiles. The badly vandalised wooden casement windows were repaired and had to be re-glazed. The loss of the original glass was especially sad for Richard. ‘Old glass catches the light in a particular way, bringing so much life to the exterior of a building,’ he explains.
The front of the house is the oldest part, with the jutting-out porch added in the 19th century. Taking inspiration from some-thing similar that he had seen in a 19th-century engraving of the house, Richard added the oak trellis that now wraps round the three porch walls. This is cleverly mirrored in the beautiful floral trellis wallpaper in the bathroom that is housed inside the turret-like room above the porch. Remarkably, what appears to be old stone at the top of the porch is actually a paint effect devised by Richard to soften a badly rendered bit of wall. Such a clever bit of trickery is sure to upset any architectural purists out there, but is a brilliant solution.
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Although this was not his own work, Richard is a talented but fantastically modest painter, well known for his own fabric company, Madeaux, as well as for designing the No9 Thompson collection for Jim Thompson. Inside, the playfulness and humour one associates with his textiles is writ large across the rooms. The entrance hall contains a tented wardrobe in ‘Rex’, a monochrome striped silk linen from Madeaux. The ottoman in the east-facing drawing room has what Richard calls a ‘loony valance’ in ‘Tallulah’, describing the printed tassel linen of his own design as ‘Cecil Beaton meets Angus McBean’.
There is a happy layering of fabric throughout the rooms, which helps to make sense of a house composed of many parts. Richard laughingly imagines a decorator presenting a board of 45 different fabrics to a client and saying, ‘Trust me, these are going to look great.’ But it has been a good testing ground for his designs. ‘You learn so much from decorating with your own things, all about scale. This is how a collection is formed, how a house might evolve,’ says the designer, who is a self-confessed fabric nerd and voracious researcher. Each of his designs comes with a visual description, whether it is the graphic black and white sofa fabric in the drawing room with a touch of ‘Wiener Werkstätte’, or the pinkish ‘Venezia’ wallpaper that has a softness ‘like Joan Crawford putting Vaseline on the lens’.
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As one moves through the house, the gently theatrical touches continue – such as the kitchen wall lights bought cheaply on the internet and then adorned with glue-gunned shells. However, it is upstairs that it feels as if Richard has had the most fun. Bed-rooms are bedecked with a mix of bold fabrics, and surprises hide behind every door. A peppermint-green bath, which was the only thing in the house when the couple bought it, was the starting point for the glamorous scheme in the bathroom now used by guests. ‘Any idea of economy from saving the bath was quickly spoiled by the purchase of a matching green loo and basin from Lefroy Brooks, which seriously blew the budget,’ says Richard, with resignation, though he admits that owning a fabric and wallpaper company has helped enormously with budgeting. Local auctions have proven to be rich hunting grounds for Andrew. He dealt in Old Master paintings and is responsible for sourcing most of the furniture and the wonderful art in the house.
Above all, comfort is at the heart of this house. As a couple who adore entertaining, these have been sad times due to the lock-down restrictions. It means a huge amount to them both that their friends love the house. Richard defends his more dramatic decorative flourishes, ‘People who come to stay may not want such dramatic schemes at home. But it’s such fun for a few days, and a chance for them to feel cosseted and glamorous’.
Paul Massey1/10By the door to the entrance hall, the screen is covered in ‘Bazaar’ and the sofa in ‘Ziggery’, both silk linens from Madeaux by Richard Smith. The antique ottoman is upholstered in No9 Thompson’s ‘Amasura’ linen.
Paul Massey2/10On either side of the chimneypiece, which was moved from a local farmhouse in the early 20th century, are armchairs covered in Madeaux’s alpaca/wool ‘Berber Stripe’. The ottoman has a skirt in Madeaux’s ‘Tallulah’ linen.
Paul Massey3/10The curtains are in ‘Fernerie’ and the 19th-century fruitwood sofa is covered in ‘Puzzled’ jacquard in chess, both from Madeaux.
Paul Massey4/10He covered the ceiling himself with a custom-made wallpaper, which turned out to be ‘an absolute nightmare’. The tablecloth is in ‘Neptune’s Vase’ cotton linen and the curtains in new fabric ‘La Vigne’, both from Madeaux. The Thirties fish lamps inherited by Richard from his great-grandmother are his favourite pieces in the house.
Paul Massey5/10Richard had the dresser made to his own design and created the wall lamps with shells and a glue gun, using frames he bought online. The floor is made from reclaimed Polish roof tiles. All the fabrics are from Madeaux – this includes ‘Allegria’ linen as a tablecloth and ‘Tahanee’ cotton mix on the dining chairs, the legs of which Richard has ‘badly tortoiseshelled’.
Paul Massey6/10A tented wardrobe, from Diana Kelly Interiors in Alfriston, is covered in ‘Rex’ silk linen, the wallpaper is ‘Garthwaite’ and the tablecloth is made from ‘Aviary’ glazed cotton linen, all by Madeaux. The stair runner is from Crucial Trading.
Paul Massey7/10Aviary’ wallpaper in midnight forest and bed hangings in ‘Aviary’ cotton linen, lined with ‘Audrey’ silk in charcoal, all from Madeaux, were used in the main bedroom for guests. Richard glue-gunned the red side tables with Thirties millinery silk velvet.
Paul Massey8/10A peppermint-green bath – the only thing left in the house when the couple bought it – was given a new mirror-glass surround and teamed with sanitaryware in a matching shade from Lefroy Brooks.
Paul Massey9/10In the bathroom above the porch, the walls and ceiling are covered in Madeaux’s ‘Rose Trellis’.
Paul Massey10/10Built of locally quarried sandstone, the front of the house is the oldest part, dating from the 17th century. The casement windows and porch are early-19th-century additions.
