Restoration Drama

Restoration

DRAMA

Douglas Yeates and Harry Tedstone used their creative talents to turn a gloomy house into a bright and stylish home

When Douglas Yeates and Harry Tedstone got the keys to their new house one spring day some years ago they remember saying how lovely it looked. The pretty white weather boarded house is tucked away off the old high street of the historic heart of Bexhill Old Town with its lovely old church and ruins of a manor house nearby.

“There was nothing superficially wrong with the house, but then we decided to put in some damp proofing

HOME TRUTHS

LOCATION: and within two days we had totally wrecked it!” recalled Douglas. “Each time something was uncovered we found yet another repair was necessary.” As a passionate cook one of the things that had attracted Douglas to the house was the Aga, however he soon discovered that there was so much wrong with it that it wasn’t worth repairing. “I really wanted to keep it but it wasn’t meant to be,” said Douglas wistfully. A new country-style fitted kitchen improved the working space and a range cooker in the chimney breast replaced the redundant Aga.

Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

THE OWNERS: Douglas Yeates owns a location catering company and Harry Tedstone is a solicitor; they share their home with their dog Jasper, a Parson Russell terrier

THE PROPERTY: The house is part timber frame, brick and weatherboard. Built around 1720, it has two staircases that suggest it was two separate dwellings or shops with living accommodation above. During the 1960s it was a pet shop and was subsequently converted into one detached house

ROOMS: Kitchen, dining room, sitting room, cloakroom, stairs to landing bathroom, shower room, 3 bedrooms and dressing room

A narrow passageway leading to the stairs was partitioned from the dining room with wooden panelling but it served little purpose, making the passageway very dark and the room poky and badly proportioned. To enlarge the room, the panelling was removed and used to line the walls. Painted a pale sage green and

The kitchen chairs came from a friend in the antiques trade which they painted to match the old French farmhouse table

The custom-made dresser was designed with shelf space to store their mixer and display a copper bain marie and Douglas’ professional saucepans The old kitchen came out along with the Aga and was replaced with a modern one in a style sympathetic to the building. The appliances are modern but the traditional butlers sink and fitted dresser look like original fittings. Painted in an off white with strawberry pink walls it’s an efficient working space that is also comfortable and cheery

SITTING ROOM A palette of soft taupe combined with natural tones of teal and leaf green create a calm and pleasing atmosphere

Each time something was uncovered we found yet another repair was necessary

furnished with carefully chosen pieces of furniture the room is perfectly in keeping with the period feel of the house but is now a useful size for formal entertaining.

Nearly a year later with the renovations almost finished Douglas noticed a puddle of water in the fireplace of the sitting room. An underfloor pipe encased in concrete had been seeping unnoticed for years and had to be dug out. Once again the house was in turmoil

STAIRCASE The staircase was painted in grey and the sisal stair runner has a black webbing binding

A pergola provides a shady corner in the courtyard garden with an old oak settle and French style garden chairs for informal dining. Plants in terracotta pots are ideal for low maintenance plantings After two years of hard work and many setbacks they are delighted with the result

with builders everywhere and huge dehumidifiers drying the floor. “It was a pain but looking on the bright side it was a good opportunity to put in new central heating. Luckily we were able to reuse the floorboards and once the floor was back down I painted a decorative pattern over the top,” added Douglas stoically.

Upstairs the main bedroom is simply furnished in neutral tones. Having worked in the antiques trade Douglas bought and restored several pieces of furniture in the house, including the yellow chest of drawers. “Once all the old paint was stripped off

Q A

Favourite shops

“Norman Road in St Leonards is full of interesting shops.”

Favourite possession

“One of our favourite possessions is the antique bedspread. We went to a family wedding and stayed with Harry’s mum and she was busy clearing out her cupboards,” said Douglas. “We brought back loads of things to put in our cupboards including the crewel work bedspread. It was made by a distant great great aunt about a hundred years ago.”

Lessons learned

“We planned to knock out the pantry to gain some extra space, but discovered that one of the walls was supporting the stairs. In hindsight we are pleased we saved the pantry because it is so handy for storage.”

Inspirations

“Having worked in the antiques trade I have many contacts in the business and we always enjoy visiting shops and auctions looking for special pieces.”

Best buy

“We have so many but one of my favourites is the cat like sculpture in the guest bedroom. It is a saddle stand that Latin American gauchos hung their saddles, lassoes and ponchos over. It came from a shop that specialises in sustainable furniture made by communities in South America. I walked past their shop in London and saw it in the window and thought I must have it. It wasn’t the most practical thing to buy on impulse because I then had to get it home and it was a real struggle on the train in the rush hour.”

I discovered that one of the drawers had a huge split in the wood and had been filled. I gave it a crackle glaze finish and painted the scroll design to disguise it,’ he said.

After a lot of deliberation over the wallpaper for the guest bedroom Harry found the perfect pattern. “We had spent so much money on having things done by tradesmen that we decided to do the paperhanging ourselves. But I’m not that

GUEST BEDROOM Sanded and varnished floors, white painted woodwork and crisp white bedlinen against a backdrop a yellow wallpaper combine to make a sunny guest bedroom

After a lot of deliberation over the wallpaper for the guest bedroom Harry found the perfect botanical pattern on an Adam yellow background

MAIN BEDROOM There was nothing superficially wrong with the house, but then we decided to put in some damp proofing and within two days we had totally wrecked it! The modern style textured leather bedstead has an antique crewel bedspread which is a family heirloom Contact us on: 01435 865477 - info@foresters.agency 13th August 2021 13th August 2021 13th August 2021 13th August 2021

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great…” confessed Douglas. “We couldn’t get the pattern in the right place – it was either too high or too low and at the end of a very fraught Sunday the whole lot had to be ripped off and thrown away. We started again and it was really fiddly but luckily we had bought far too much and eventually we were able to finish it.”

After two years of hard work and many setbacks they are delighted with the result. They might not have planned it that way but the enforced restoration programme has enabled them to create a really charming period home. “Now that finally everything in the house is done we are looking forward to having a rest and enjoying our courtyard garden which is flourishing nicely,” enthused Douglas. l

Text by: Katie Treggiden Photography: GAP Interiors/Bruce Hemming Styling: Sally Maton

BATHROOM The washstand was bought years ago from an auction in Winchester and the unusual mirror came from a shop in Eastbourne specialising in distinctive interior pieces and artworks