Rooms With A Hue

Nicki Conn and Christopher Peabody wanted a small cottage by the sea but fell in love with a grand Georgian villa ripe for a colourful makeover

- Sarah Ward

Nicki Conn and her husband Christopher Peabody had their hearts set on a small seaside escape when they began looking for properties. ‘I’d had my eye on the East Kent coast for a while,’ says Nicki. ‘Our children were going back to school and I wanted another project. We’d visited various coastal towns, none of which felt right, but then in February 2017 we decided to view some houses in the small town of Deal. As soon as we arrived, the town just clicked with us.’

After seeing some two-up, two-down cottages, the couple happened upon a grand Georgian property set back from the sea. ‘It wasn’t what we were looking for, and it was twice our budget, but I fell in love with it,’ says Nicki. ‘It just felt like our home and we could instantly imagine ourselves living there. Best of all, the owners had already carried out the renovations, so we just had to tidy it up and decorate it.’