updating a seaside cottage

As soon as I walked into this cottage by the East Wittering beach I fell in love with it. It had loads of character with unusual crittal style windows, a dramatic large fireplace and wooden floorboards throughout. The front of the cottage was even in a picture on a fudge sweet box I found in the local village.

After I bought the cottage it became a holiday rental. Over the years, and no thanks to COVID, the property had been stripped of all personal items and was in much need of some TLC including brightening up with an injection of colour and style.

THE BRIEF. - To make the cottage warm and inviting whilst not making it dark and gloomy. Because the update was done on a budget all the large furniture needed to stay.

SOFT FURNISHINGS - We have had hours of fun making our own soft furnishings. I fell in love with the fabrics of Peony and Sage. I managed to get off-cuts of materials that they sell in bundles to create a mood board and once we'd decided on pattern mixes we went about making headboards and cushions for each room - not all of them worked out well, but as they say, practice makes perfect and we were definitely happy with the end result.

PAINT COLOURS

Our starting point was a colour theme throughout the property. Once we had decided on the wall colours we built up the accessories from there. Our favourite pallets at the moment are from Neptune Home.

STYLING

Warmth was created using a variety of rugs, runners, pictures, flowers. We also did a hunt around the local antique shops for bedside tables and found some fantastic ones that are made from solid wood (now painted cream) and have added unique character to the room. These were mixed with some lamps from John Lewis Home that blend well with the wall colour.