Surrey Homes | SH51 | January 2019 | Wedding supplement inside

Above: A sitting area on the first floor. The sofa is by Ligne Roset and the photograph of Pueblo Laguna in Mexico is by Boyd &
Evans. The skull and crossbones rug is from Sunniva in Tunbridge Wells
But on closer inspection Ian must admit to a bit of
hoarding too. There’s a collection of Star Wars toys and
jigsaws, Lego pieces and a large amount of Harley Davidson
memorabilia, from boxed Harley Davidson Barbie dolls
to mini metal-display bikes – all indisputably his.
There’s also a picture of Ian meeting the actual Queen,
not just the neon version hanging in the hallway.
“She was really chatty. I thought she’d just shake my hand
and move on, but she talked and talked. She was wonderful.”
The cavernous shelves are also home to Lisa’s collection of
Penguin classics. Ian does a quick count and stops at 500.
“She’s been collecting them for years. I think she’s probably
singlehandedly driven up the price on eBay,” he jokes.
Developing the building themselves meant a few perks. The
only outside spaces – a 400 square foot roof terrace at the top
and two smaller terraces - Ian and Lisa added to their own
house. The tiled terrace, planted with pots of pretty seaside
grasses by local garden designer Tony Howard of Harborough
Nurseries, is littered with scores of crab and mussel shells.
“It’s the seagulls,’ explains Ian. “They drop crab
and mussels from the sky onto hard surfaces, so they
can break the shells open and eat them. It was a bit
odd at first, but we’re completely used to it now.”
The gulls clearly aren’t scared off by a fabulously
fun fibreglass Jaws head which Ian picked up
in a junk shop in Tunbridge Wells.
Also on this floor are three good-sized bedrooms
and two bathrooms, which only exist as they do
because Ian was able to get planning permission to
rebuild and raise the original roof by a metre.
The master bedroom suite is a masterclass in discreetly
minimal storage designed by Ian and built by local tradesman
Wayne Kent. A sleek wall of oak-panelled built-in cupboard
boxes line one wall, the warm walnut mirrored on the
internal doors and bookshelves elsewhere in the house.
The bedroom is styled with cheery cushions and
throws in clashing yellow patterns, a green cocktail chair
and a little kidney shaped table with brass topped legs
that looks like a mid-century find, but Ian confides
is from Ikea, and some fun 1950s style prints.
The two guest bedrooms are equally cosy and inviting, one
housing more of Lisa’s collection of decorative chickens.
Less impressed though are Ian’s grown-up children. He
jokes, “We were only able to move from our old family
home into this place because we had an empty nest and the
children had left home. But when they visit, they are all
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