Sea Pink, St Just Cornwall

A Coastal Cottage Retreat

Sea Pink is a three-bedroom terraced house located in Saint Just-in-Roseland on Cornwall’s South Coast. Purchased as a second home, my clients wanted a space for escapism, where they could unwind and enjoy the pleasures of coastal living.

After seeing my recent décor design at a holiday home in Mawgan Porth, the owners of Sea Pink wanted a contemporary coastal style with lots of stripes.

The brief was simple: the clients loved the interiors in the house at Mawgan Porth and wanted to create something similar, but with a unique twist.

A coastal living space:

On visiting Sea Pink, I knew I could replicate the coastal design from the holiday rental on Cornwall’s North Coast, choosing key elements to incorporate in the interiors. However, the sleek contemporary beach chic look needed to be modified to suit the cottage style interior of Sea Pink.

As the cottage is on the Roseland Peninsular, which is famous for its sailing waters, I wanted to incorporate iconic sailing boat silhouettes into the interior design.

The house boasts the most stunning views of the creek at Saint Just-in-Roseland, with moored yachts and a quaint waterside church.

With the open plan living room being so open and bright, I knew we could be fun with pattern. I opted for a gorgeous wallpaper of hand-drawn boats resting at anchor from Little Greene. This wallpaper works perfectly for reflecting the views from the windows, bringing a sense of the outdoors inside.

To keep the design minimal in the open plan living space, I adopted a Scandi style approach to the scheme. We sanded the floors and applied an off-white lacquer to lighten the boards. A soft grey fabric was chosen for the sofa paired with a pale blue/grey linen for the curtains. For a cool twist to the décor, I added a touch of red, dark blue and black, through throws, cushions and lamps. Accessories are great for adding texture and colour to a room.

Kitchen & dining:

A bright red, maritime style pendant light was added to give a little charm to the dining area. To finish the look, I added a painted dining table and chairs along with bespoke sisal rugs with a blue and red cotton binding.

The original kitchen was in good condition but was rather outdated, so I advised my clients to replace the units and tops. We chose simple pale blue doors and white Silestone worktops. These muted muted colours transformed the space to feel open and light.

My clients had always loved the idea of an Aga so we made provision for one to fit in the new kitchen. However, not realising how difficult it was going to be to get it in position! As the Aga was so heavy, and the kitchen is down a flight of steps from road level, we had to have it craned in! It was scary watching the Aga, literally fly through the air to get down to kitchen level, but I’m so glad we did it. The Aga looks at home in the newly decorated kitchen.

Nautical bathroom design:

On the first floor, the bathroom really needed replacing as it was so dated. I first chose the Cobalt blue tiles and then used a terracotta coloured grout to inject an extra punch of colour into the room. The brushed bronze brassware works fantastically with the blue and terracotta on the walls. Finally, we chose a white vanity unit with a sit on bowl and white bath.

Seaside bedroom décor:

For a touch of luxury in both front bedrooms, I had bespoke wall to wall headboards made.

In the master bedroom we went for a dark blue woven fabric and a feature wall painted in Mazarine. The striped fabric for the blinds and cushions were chosen for their nautical style. The cosy wool throw really added to the coastal feel of the room. To complete the look, natural wood table lamps were added to the décor.

The second bedroom had a similar padded headboard fitted but this time it was upholstered in a teal and white striped fabric from Zoe Glencross. The fabric ‘Bolin Bird’ was used for the curtains and cushions. A gorgeous wool throw and coastal art pull the teal/neutral scheme together. Stunning oversized teal, white and pink table lamps add the final touch of luxury.

Finally, the house needed a grand entrance to do justice to the stunning new rooms. I added a bespoke shoal of glass fish from Jo Downs to the walls and chose a gorgeous three-light pendant, which echoes all the colours used in the space.

The house is now finished and I absolutely love it! The location, overlooking the creek is just stunning and the interior now does justice to the amazing views.