Surrey Homes | SH50 | December 2018 | Health & Beauty supplement inside

Above: The enormous chandelier in the dining room is from Hastings Antiques Centre in Norman Road, St Leonards. The table was
bought at an auction and the chairs from an antiques shop in Hastings Old Town. The gingerbread reindeer are from Judges Bakery,
also in Hastings Old Town
from a variety of eras and sources that aren’t at all
true to the Gothic Revival style – but they work.
Take the French bed, acquired from La Maison in
Islington. Fit for royalty, Kim has dressed it with a faux
fur throw that she made, topped with a sumptuous blush
pink 1930s satin quilt from Eras of Style in Bexhill,
another of their haunts for vintage and antique finds.
Curly sheepskin cushions from TK Maxx, add texture and
cosiness to the overall feeling of luxury – and decadence.
A fringed pelmet above the bed has been pimped with
tassels and feathers, adding a theatrical flourish: very much
Kim’s signature. She has also attached mini antler plaques
to the bedhead, along with some chubby gilded cherubs.
Part of the original clock tower, the boudoir has a
beautiful sitting area, with huge arched windows that
overlook the garden and park. A generously proportioned
decorative French sofa from Fortress, has been re-covered
in leopard print fabric – the perfect place for perching, to
admire the view, both interior and exterior. At either side
of the sofa are two brass lamps from a Venetian gondola.
The seating area is flanked by two colossal plaster
caryatids found in a vintage shop in The Lanes, Brighton.
Other delights include a marble and metal table from a
vintage shop in LA, a pair of pale blue and gold upholstered
18th century French dining chairs and a bedside chest of
drawers from the French Depot in St Leonards, a mecca
for reclaimed French furniture and architectural salvage.
But the real knockout has to be a pair of crystal chandeliers,
which wouldn’t look out of place in any palazzo – probably
because they really do have a royal history. ‘These
chandeliers belonged to the Romanovs,’ reveals Paul. ‘The
Russian royal family. They were exported to England from
Russia when the remaining Romanovs were exiled. They
were still in their packing crates when we found them.’
From the boudoir, we move into the bathroom. Steeped
in luxury, it incorporates bookshelves laden with Kim’s
fine art and fashion book collection, decorative French
ceramics and heaps of faux flowers. A chandelier hangs over
the freestanding claw foot bath that has been installed in
front of a cast-iron fireplace with a tiled hearth, all of
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