WATER COLOURS
A considered mix of delicate wallcoverings, understated furnishings and misty hues form a calming palette in Lucia Poel’s chic seaside home
It is New England style rather than British seaside in this cottage on the Suffolk coast
Having a home by the sea can provide endless interior design ideas – you only need to step outside to feel inspired by the colours and textures of your surroundings. But interior designer Lucia Poels and her partner Paul Johnson were keen to avoid the beachside decorating clichés for their house in Southwold. ‘I set out to add a touch of coastal freshness to the renovation but I didn’t want the full-on nautical look,’ says Lucia. ‘We wanted a clean, calm feel, but I looked to colonial and New England styles rather than the British seaside.’
From the outset the house needed a total refurbishment. Paul feared that revamping the property would be a Herculean task as it hadn’t been properly touched for over 60 years, but Lucia says that its ramshackle nature was part of the attraction. ‘It still had charming Bakelite switches and old lead gas pipes and a 1950s kitchen. There was no central heating and it had so much damp,’ she says. ‘But it was also the dream challenge for me as I could use my creativity and design skills to do a whole house from top to bottom.’
Working with her new floor plans, colour schemes, furniture design and electrical plans for all the rooms, Lucia employed local builders and tradespeople to sand floorboards, take down internal walls, close off two doorways, install wood burners and fit a new kitchen and two new bathrooms. Upstairs, they took out a redundant chimney breast from a bedroom and knocked through to the master bedroom to create an en suite. They also blocked up the old doorway to the room and brought it
further along the landing to create a new linen cupboard.
‘Paul and I stripped layers of old paint from the door and window furniture,’ says Lucia ‘The temptation was to just replace them, but we felt it was important to work with what we had. So we used really good paint stripping products, which remove paint without any damage. We ended up with lovely original latches and handles. We also stripped some beams in the attic rooms, which revealed beautiful wood with original carving marks.’
At the end of the eight-month refurbishment, the room Lucia feels happiest in is the kitchen. ‘I love the colour scheme in here. It feels so cosy and cottage-like when I’m chopping away with the radio on. I wanted to maximise the space with as much work surface as possible and add as many units as we could,’ she says ‘The exterior wall originally had a large pane of ribbed glass with an extractor, but we fitted a smaller window, which gives me a view while I prepare food.’
Even after all the work that has been done, Lucia always has her eye on what to do next. This involves finishing the exterior of the property by laying new paving and removing the rails. In the meantime, the couple are content to relax in their seaside cottage and enjoy all they have achieved.