OPEN HOUSE
Artist Andy Waite has filled his inviting Georgian home in Arundel with colourful antiques and fascinating finds
Artist Andy Waite has filled his inviting Georgian home in Arundel with colourful antiques and fascinating finds
Andy Waite always wanted to be a musician, but in 1978, when he moved to Arundel in West Sussex, he saw that a career in sign-writing might be more profitable. A pleasing market town situated in a steep vale of the South Downs, with a medieval
castle built by the Normans and a reputation for a number of well-stocked antiques shops and art galleries, it was the perfect place to make his mark as an artist. After training at West Sussex College of Art and Design, Andy became a freelance graphic designer and spent the following decade as a sign writer. “You’ll see some of my signs around town even now,” he says.
On arrival in Arundel, an old Georgian townhouse soon caught his eye and he bought it for the modest sum of £15,000. “The building had serious problems, with holes in the walls and a roof that needed replacing, thus the price,” he recalls. “Even though it was falling down, I liked the building, its position in the town and, in those days, the delightful views to the river.” He has lived here ever since, and for the past 20 years has shared it with his wife, Willow. Originally a wine merchants from 1780 to 1800, the property has retained the side entrance and the separate space used for business transactions in those early days. The front entrance stands at the top of a flight of stone steps in a street of handsome early architecture on one side and later Victorian buildings on the other.
When Andy moved in, a long passageway ran from the front of the house to the back, so the hall and staircase were fairly dark. To bring light inside, a series of small rooms, incorporating a kitchen, various pantries and a small dining room, needed opening up and simplifying. While doing this, the idea was to replace the solid
kitchen door at the far end of the passage with a glass window, and the back door by glass doors to the garden. Further work removing inside walls to open up the now much larger kitchen-dining room, and the installation of an Aga for cooking, meant that the space was now comfortable, warm and light. The original built-in storage cupboards have been kept and the old fireplaces at each end of the room have been brightened up with paint, as have the wooden floorboards.
Furniture from Eastern Europe and India sits happily alongside English and French country pieces. Colour and patina from textured wood on table tops and old chairs, plus collections of vintage ceramics and Victorian tiles used as a splashback above the kitchen sink, create a collage of interest and creativity. Adding another decorative level is Andy’s collection of angels. Two figures that were found in Norfolk reside in the hallway, making a strong impact as you enter the house. “They are made of plaster, and aren’t old, but are very beautiful nonetheless,” he says.
The garden room at the very back of the house is also original. Joined to the kitchen now by a handsome set of double glass doors found by Andy, and furnished with distinctive old tables and chairs, it provides an ideal place for entertaining suppers in the late summer sunlight. Brick walls have been painted and the ceiling decorated with hanging parasols and baskets. A huge mirrored cupboard and an old sign found in the attic, believed to be the wine merchant’s sign, add extra interest.
Generous space and good lighting made the first-floor front room the obvious choice as a studio for Andy. Spanning the entire width of the house, old painted cupboards from various antiques shops in the town provide good display surfaces for paintings either completed or waiting for additional work. A large wall space on the landing next to the studio accommodates a grand canvas
above a Hungarian bench with a colourful selection of Indian petrol tins beneath. The bathroom next door has been decorated in a soft shade of pink, which Willow mixed. Warmed by the afternoon sun, the colour glows and makes the room inviting. Keen to have an interesting washbasin, the couple searched for the right-sized bowl to fit a stand they already owned. Willow chose a bath that could be placed centrally and a pink painted chest of drawers to hold toiletries.
The top floor houses all the bedrooms, each one individually decorated with vintage fabrics as curtains and covers, painted floors and collections of paintings and objects collected over the years to cover the walls and the original mantelpieces.
Andy began showing his paintings in 1989, when 50 artists joined together to hold the first Open House art fair in Arundel and he was invited to join them. Three streets in the town – all a walkable distance from each other – were the first participants and Andy’s studio was well placed to be included. The next one was even more of a success and this continued until the year 2000, when he decided to experiment with new ideas. He has been described as ‘A contemporary landscape painter in oil with an emotional and painterly engagement, which connects to the Romanticists. His work is a celebration of the nature of the earth and sky.’ “When we have exhibitions here, the entire house is taken up as wall space for my pictures – three floors of paintings,” he says. “Of course, sometimes people come out of curiosity just to see the house.”
For more information about Andy’s business, visit andywaite.net. Open House is part of Arundel Festival’s Gallery Trail; Andy Waite’s Open House, 18-27 August 2018, 12pm-5.30pm (arundelgallerytrail.co.uk).