Nicola Helgesen’s love for old buildings and objects was formed as a child, visiting her grandmother’s “crumbly flint cottage” on the north Norfolk coast. She recalls how “the smell was old and papery, with a wonderful scent from the open fire – a soulful atmosphere that is totally lost with modern building materials. She had Thonet chairs, seagrass matting and creaking, painted stairs. That is all ingrained in me”.
Helgesen has created her own version of those rustic seaside interiors that she grew up with in the home she shares with her partner, Andreas Bleckmann, in the Sussex town of Hastings. Built as a bakery in 1835, the three-storey listed building spoke to the couple because of its lovely proportions and location in the heart of the old town, a warren of narrow streets full of historic pubs and a profusion of vintage and antique shops. They bought it in 2017, but the property was in far from move-in condition. “It had been dreadfully neglected. The damp and decay were appalling,” says Helgesen. “The roof had been disintegrating for decades and water ingress had caused so much damage, but we could just about see how much potential the house had.”
