Wealden Times | WT186 | August 2017 | Wedding supplement inside

Above left: Helen has planted wooden box tubs of succulents and lavender at the front of the house, enclosing a patio area with
a table and chairs – a perfect spot for her to sit and watch the urban world go by Above right: Many of the items that Helen has
furnished her home with have come straight from SHOP
example of Helen’s lifelong skill for finding beautiful things
in unexpected places. Long before architectural salvage
became big business and a regular source of homewares,
she rescued the mirror from the old Lloyds building in
the City of London, when it was being demolished in
the late 70s. She’s always been ahead of the game.
The large English storage cupboard opposite was
from Heathfield market and is a crucial item in a
house much smaller than Helen’s previous three
residences. “It’s got my life in it,” she says.
Leading on from the corner of sandstone wall
next to it, she did the same thing in the courtyard,
stripping back render to the bare rock and decorating
the space with driftwood and pebbles collected on the
beach and bunting from – where else? – SHOP.
Upstairs, Helen’s bedroom is a gloriously pared back
‘homage to a Greek bedroom’, with white walls and
shutters, a bed by Loaf, an Indian quilt and Romanian
cushion and painting from a fellow Norman Road
(definitely WeNor…) trader, Andrew Hurst of Wayward.
The spare room next door has a wonderful ‘arsenic
green’ vintage shelf with pegs, which just happened to
fit perfectly into the space over the bed, although Helen
has had it for years. “It’s been in all my homes.” The
lovely floral painting on it is another old Greenwich
market treasure. The bed was a Friday Ad £50 special.
“I had some friends coming and needed one quickly. It
was brown pine, so I painted it and got a mattress from
wealdentimes.co.uk
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