Wealden Times | WT175 | September 2016 | Education supplement inside

Previous page: The red dog in wellies is by Belgian pop/surrealist sculptor William Sweetlove. Sebastien added the necklaces Left:
The 1950s butcher’s block cabinet came from a Paris delicatessen and was sourced from 20th Century Funking Junk in Hastings Old
Town Right: The blue fish ‘gluggle jug’ is from Harborough Nurseries. The bronze candlesticks were a gift
This resulted in the couple taking out every interior wall
except one and dividing up the space to serve their lifestyle
– and to make the very best of that spectacular view. The
next step was to turn the house round the right way, with the
main living area being brought to the back and given a wall
of glass opening out onto new decking with the view revealed
by clearing the surrounding hedging. This living space then
became an open-plan drawing room, dining area, snug and
kitchen – the latter accommodated by a modest extension.
Another small extension for a lobby was added halfway
up the front of the building on the level with the drive,
accessed by a ‘drawbridge’ over the steps down to the original
entrance. High above the new front door is a magnificent
metal stag’s head by Hastings sculptor Leigh Dyer.
The new lobby has a dynamic feel with stairs straight
ahead leading up to the bedrooms and two flights
down – one right, to the coat closet, the other left to
the living area – making it the first in Sebastien’s series
of expanding vistas, each grander than the last.
Its floor is of herringbone parquet reclaimed from a
1960s Doncaster school gym floor. Sebastien bought
the whole floor of 16,100 pieces and has taken on
the Herculean task of renovating each one himself
before laying them throughout the house.
The second vista is the wide downstairs hallway that
leads past a huge wicker bowling pin lamp, a large chunky
Indonesian mirror and, opposite, two curving antelope
horn lights topped with ostrich egg shell shades, flanking a
painting, above an elegant oak bench. In one corner stands
a fairground dragon’s head and in another a fairground
child’s motorcycle. It’s a taste of things to come.
Off the hallway is Sebastien’s office. A stuffed hawk
fixed to a window pane was an Ardingly antiques fair find.
“His feathers were falling out so I got him for a fiver,” he
says. Above is his ‘porn star’ light, which he made from a
large circular mirror. Hanging vertically from the ceiling
is another light he made from a wooden model ship.
At the end of the hallway is a floor-to-ceiling digital picture
of a lovely lady from a German old master. All, however, is
not as it seems. The wall behind the painting slides away
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