Blank canvas A rundown terrace transformed
A small, dilapidated property gave one couple the opportunity to buy their first home together
Even though they both already lived in a seaside town in Dorset, Anna Town and her partner Ian Smith dreamed of sharing a home in their favourite holiday resort of St Ives in Cornwall. Both previously married, they owned separate houses in Weymouth but took regular holidays together in St Ives, a place to which Ian had been drawn ever since a visit 25 years ago.
‘I’d been a single dad for years, but when my sons left home I decided to sell my house and buy in St Ives,’ Ian explains. ‘Anna kept her house in Weymouth as that’s where her family is based.
As we take our responsibilities to our children and elderly parents very seriously, we agreed we’d let out the St Ives house when I visited my parents in London or when Anna and I were at her house in Weymouth. We realise it’s not particularly conventional, and it may change as we get older ourselves, but we wanted to give it a go.’
After months of scouring the internet and making visits to St Ives to view properties, Ian spotted this Victorian terrace. Untouched for years and partially derelict, it had an outside toilet and was structurally unsound. However, he saw its potential. ‘The house was badly in need of modernisation, but was still charming,’ he says. ‘I was thrilled at how close it was to everything in St Ives and yet not in the noisy thick of it. Perhaps the best thing is that it’s just around the corner from my favourite place: the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden.’
Renovating the house was a complex challenge, and took about 14 months. The biggest problem was extensive subsidence at the rear, meaning that the back of the
house had to be held up internally with scaffolding, while steel supports were put in and the rooms largely rebuilt.
As the ground floor was originally divided into two tiny reception rooms, several internal walls had to be removed and the staircase relocated in order to create a more generous open-plan living and dining space. Meanwhile, a small bedroom upstairs was converted into the main bathroom, while the ensuite shower room was reconfigured and refitted.
Ian and Anna were living almost 200 miles away at the time, so couldn’t get very involved in the build. Instead they employed interior designer Kerry Knight, of Beaten Green Design, who’s known for her creative approach to renovations. She worked with the couple on the plan for the interior spaces, and then supervised the whole renovation using local builders. When it came to the interior design, she chose the colours and furnishings to Ian’s brief. ‘I simply told her that I love three artists: Rothko, late Picasso and Barbara Hepworth, and then left the choices to her,’ he explains.
Kerry used a range of gentle, earthy colours that echo Hepworth’s love of the natural world, found secondhand furniture at auction and in specialist shops that she upcycled by repainting and reupholstering, and chose a range of prints that reflect Ian’s taste in 20th-century art.
‘I think what she’s done is amazing,’ says Ian. ‘We particularly love the main bedroom with its ensuite, and the open-plan living space with the woodburner. Anna and I feel as if the house reflects who we are perfectly, and the only extra thing we might do is to display some more artworks.’
Having entrusted the project to Kerry, Anna was happy not to see the house until it was completed, so only Ian was involved. ‘I looked forward to the moment when Anna would see it all finished for the first time. It was a risky decision – but I thought it was quite romantic too!’ says Ian.
When she eventually looked around, Anna was, quite literally, speechless. ‘I couldn’t say a word for ages,’ she says. ‘It’s so beautiful. The colour scheme is so calm, and the furniture is such a relaxed mix of old and new – I love the way something bought cheaply at auction can be transformed with a few coats of paint. Everything works on a practical level too. What’s nice is that we’re not surrounded by impersonal, expensive new things. It feels like a house that has evolved over the years and been lived in and loved. When I walked through the door I felt instantly at home.’
Now the couple are relishing their new life in Cornwall. Ian loves swimming in the sea and jogging on the coastal paths, while Anna is pursuing an interest in alternative health therapies. ‘What St Ives gives us is horizons, fresh air and, of course, the sea,’ says Anna. ‘We enjoy eating the local seafood and going to art galleries and the jazz club. St Ives is such a magical place. We can’t believe we’re a part of it.’
‘It feels like a house that has evolved over the years and been lived in and loved,’
SAYS ANNA