SEA CHANGE A coastal cottage in East Sussex
Helen Robinson has transformed a dark and unloved cottage into a bright and inviting home with a seaside feel
It’s hard to imagine that behind the doors of a quaint Victorian cottage set back from the sea in St Leonards, East Sussex, lives a pioneer of the New Romantics fashion movement. Helen Robinson’s story is a fascinating one. Friends with big names on the 1980s music scene, including Visage’s Steve Strange, Helen was part of an influential group of young designers in London, including Vivienne Westwood, who changed the face of
British fashion. It’s little wonder, then, that she has been equally adept when it comes to designing interiors.
Helen moved to Hastings from Deptford, south-east London, in 2000, after splitting up with her partner. She opened her homeware store, Shop, in St Leonards in 2011, which she runs with her daughter Holly, 33, who previously worked as a visual merchandiser for Topshop.
Having lived in several properties dotted around the area, Helen bought this pretty terraced cottage in 2016 and was fascinated by its history. ‘Four families once lived in here,’ she explains. ‘They would have had no possessions, just a bed – and would have gone to work, eaten in the pub and come home.’
The cottage has undergone an incredible transformation. ‘When I bought it, everything inside was painted custard yellow and there was lots of orange pine,’ Helen says. ‘It was incredibly dark, so I stripped absolutely everything back.’ She replaced the kitchen, bathroom, windows and roof, as well as having the property rewired, replumbed and redecorated throughout. The ceiling in the main bedroom was opened up and extended into the eaves, to give extra height and increase the feeling of space. ‘I chose everything myself, pretty much down to the screws,’ she says.
On the ground floor, the house features an open-plan sitting/dining room, with part of the original sandstone brickwork exposed, plus a utility room and bathroom. Stairs lead down to the kitchen, with its pale units and open shelving, colourful crockery and tableware. On the first floor there are two bedrooms, decorated with vibrant oil paintings and
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colourful fabrics. Helen’s use of a simple white backdrop throughout allows the bold accessories to really sing. ‘I gave the house an English coastal feel,’ she explains. As well as a small garden with boxed greenery and a seating area at the front of the property, there’s also a patio at the back with a sandstone wall at the rear, which lends a feel of sunnier climes.
Helen’s knack for sourcing accessories, many of which she now sells in the shop or has at home, is a long-held talent. ‘When I started my clothes shop, PX in London’s Covent Garden, in the late 1970s, I remember being in a taxi and seeing the old MI5 building being gutted. This was way before architectural salvage, but I went in and bought a few things from the site, such as the ducting tubes and cages, and fitted them in my shop to give it an industrial vibe,’ she recalls.
Such intuition has served Helen well and her hard work in the cottage shows at every turn. ‘I think with the money I’ve spent I couldn’t have done better,’ she says. The project wasn’t all plain sailing, however. She had to call in specialists to render the exterior to cope with the harsh sea air and, as the house is built of sandstone, it soaks up a lot of moisture. As a result, in the kitchen, a gap had to be left behind the tongue-and-groove panelling to allow the walls to breathe. The roof also had to come off twice to repair timbers in the vaulted main bedroom.
The renovation work took her team of builders around four months to complete and Helen is delighted with the results. ‘I wouldn’t do anything differently – I’m really happy,’ she says.
While Helen loves living so close to the beach, she’s pleased that her house is set a few roads back from it. ‘The sea can get very grey in winter. I like that I can hear it and walk to it, but don’t have to look at it all the time. Then in the summer I can go for a swim,’ she explains. St Leonards also suits her sociable nature. ‘I can sit outside the front of the house when it’s warm and within 10 minutes someone will walk by and come and join me for a glass of wine!’ she laughs.
Shop can be found at 32-34 Norman Road, St Leonards,
East Sussex TN38 0EJ; 0776 357 9908