‘We turned our seaside retreat into our forever home and now we run a tea room too!'

Once a family home, this 1900’s built former fisherman’s cottage in Queensborough Harbour, Kent had lain empty for 10 years before the home owners decided to take the property on and renovate it.

‘My husband’s grandparents lived here originally,’ says the home owner, ‘and my husband was born in the back bedroom. Although it hadn’t been used for 10 years we decided to buy it back from family to use as a holiday home before planning a major renovation. When my husband retired, we then decided to make the move from Surrey full time.’

Kitchen

‘The renovation works involved the demolition of the existing conservatory and downstairs bathroom, to create a bright open-plan extension with renewed joists, skylight windows and bi-fold doors opening out from the kitchen onto the harbour side terrace.’

‘An old boat shed has been converted into a garage with an integrated utility and downstairs loo. Upstairs, we transformed the third bedroom into a bathroom and the second bedroom into my craft room.’

‘With my husband’s experience working in the building industry, he had the skillset required to design our plans to pass planning permission in a conservation area and we used the checkatrade.com website to locate a builder, who was great and managed everything from plumbing to electrics, carpentry and decorating.’

‘In keeping with the cottage’s coastal surroundings, we selected blue gloss units from Wren Kitchens, where I also found the quartz worktops, spray tap, sink and all the appliances.’

‘I love my Aga that I affectionately call ‘Betty Blue,’ which was relocated from our previous home in Surrey and took three days to move, reassemble and install here. If I want to bake something last minute, I just leave the butter on top to soften up. We have roasting, simmering and baking ovens – the temperatures are different for all three and always stay the same. Betty bakes the best and most seriously moist cakes!’

‘We have instant heat all winter long and I miss her when we turn her off in the summer. I belong to the “I love my Aga” Facebook group - it’s packed full of useful tips and I’ve seen people on the group having theirs re-enamelled. Aga’s really do last forever.’

‘My beloved KitchenAid mixer takes pride of place in my kitchen and I bake almost every day for our café and community centre, whether it’s fairy cakes for a Mother’s Day tea or iced lemon cake for the bereavement café. My mother collected old vintage cookery pamphlets that I’ve bunched together in a crate to flick through – I love the fact that there isn’t much you can’t make with Nestlé condensed milk!’

‘I also adore my walk-in larder created from a disused corner of the existing kitchen. When I suggested this to our builder instead of overhead kitchen units, he thought I was incredibly old-fashioned but larders have really made a comeback recently.’

‘Cosy nooks have been inspired by everything we love, including a coffee corner and our ‘terrier area,’ full of terrier-dog inspired ornaments and art. My favourite has to be the watercolour painting of dogs in front of the blue aga by illustrator Sally Belinda. I also created the chicken wire cupboard full of black chalk labelled jars containing baking ingredients lit up with fairy lights – what’s not to love?’

Living room

‘In the open-plan living room and dining space we replaced the old gas fire with a toasty log burner and put a wood store with decorative logs near the dining table.'

‘The sitting area is open plan to the dining area and has two fireplaces. The wood-burning stove adds warmth and comfort and I buy all my logs from logsdirect.co.uk.’

Bedroom

‘The most recent change was the painted inky-blue feature wall in our bedroom. I painted over my beautiful Cath Kidston wallpaper which took three coats of paint! I’m so pleased I took the plunge with a dark colour, despite it being out of my comfort zone. It's a very soothing shade to live with and feels more calming than it did before.’

Bathroom

‘The bathroom has received a makeover too – the previous shower was so small that if we dropped the soap we couldn’t bend down to pick it up! I had always held on to a vintage Cath Kidston wallpaper with this room in mind and then we sourced all the fittings online.’

‘I love the oversized mirror that came from our old house – there’s nowhere else it will fit except in the bathroom!’

Craft room

‘I’ve been a keen crafter all my life, so a dedicated craft room was a must. I upcycled my parents vintage mahogany cabinet, painting it in chalk paint and lined it with Cath Kidston wallpaper. The cabinet now stores away all my fabrics and wools and a Project Life scrapbook full of house renovations, which is lovely to flick through.’

Harbour-side terrace

‘We spent a very busy lockdown renovating our little beach hut on Minster Beach and also faced our biggest labour of love: just a stone’s throw from our cottage, we transformed a Grade II listed former boat chandlers store into a dog-friendly tea room, gift shop and holiday cabin called Bosuns @bosuns_of_queenborough. We love welcoming guests to this special place that means so much to us.’

Additional words: Natalie Flaum