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My Houzz: A Restored Train Carriage Makes a Unique Home on a Kent Beach
This former guard’s carriage on a wild beach in southern England has been beautifully restored and furnished by its creative owners
Not many people can count a railway carriage as their ideal place to get away from it all, but when Mark Hampshire and Keith Stephenson want to escape, they head to their converted Victorian guard’s carriage on the Dungeness headland in Kent. In the early 20th century, employees of Southern Railway were allowed to buy rolling stock and drag it onto the shingle to use as holiday shacks. Now the house is this couple’s haven away from London, where they run their interiors company Mini Moderns.
‘We bring an iPad with a few films on it and have the record player and my vinyl collection here, but no TV or broadband,’ says Mark. ‘It would ruin the magic of it. We do a lot of thinking down here, and usually come back to London buzzing with ideas.’
‘We bring an iPad with a few films on it and have the record player and my vinyl collection here, but no TV or broadband,’ says Mark. ‘It would ruin the magic of it. We do a lot of thinking down here, and usually come back to London buzzing with ideas.’
Mark and Keith got the keys to the house in March 2012. Their first four months were what Mark calls ‘exploration work’. They pulled up carpet to reveal a mishmash of wooden and concrete flooring and ripped off the hardboard that boxed in walls and hid features, such as the carriage windows in the living room.
Builders then worked for around six months to reconfigure the space, sandblast bitumen off the floors and lead paint off the walls, and install new plumbing and heating. Then Mark and Keith could start decorating, using predominantly white as a backdrop. ‘We were thinking of a Scandi cabin,’ says Keith. Painting took months. ‘The wood soaked up the paint,’ he says, ‘and we were only working at weekends. Sometimes we would get a new coat done, leave it to dry, then it would be time to leave.’
Builders then worked for around six months to reconfigure the space, sandblast bitumen off the floors and lead paint off the walls, and install new plumbing and heating. Then Mark and Keith could start decorating, using predominantly white as a backdrop. ‘We were thinking of a Scandi cabin,’ says Keith. Painting took months. ‘The wood soaked up the paint,’ he says, ‘and we were only working at weekends. Sometimes we would get a new coat done, leave it to dry, then it would be time to leave.’
The house is compact, so maximising the sense of space was crucial. ‘Painting it all white allows for more flow through the house,’ says Keith. ‘Separate colours in all the rooms would make the place feel really tiny. It means we can add our own paint colours and wallpaper as highlights.’
The couple decorated much of the house with Mini Moderns products, including paint, wallpaper, bedding, cushions and kitchenware. The company’s Darjeeling cushion is seen above.
The couple decorated much of the house with Mini Moderns products, including paint, wallpaper, bedding, cushions and kitchenware. The company’s Darjeeling cushion is seen above.
Most of Mark and Keith’s existing furniture wouldn’t fit in their compact beach house, so they had to shop for new pieces. ‘We chose midcentury designs because they tend to be made to a small scale,’ says Mark. ‘We also wanted furniture with thin legs that allow you to see underneath. When you can see the floor beneath a chair or sofa, it creates a sense of space.’
1960s Guy Rogers sofa, eBay.
Discover five essential pieces for a midcentury mood
1960s Guy Rogers sofa, eBay.
Discover five essential pieces for a midcentury mood
‘Sticking to one wood throughout was another way to unite the rooms,’ says Mark. He and Keith opted for teak. ‘The key thing was to not be bitty,’ he adds. ‘It doesn’t work in small spaces. The house is compact and we needed a consistent look.’
1960s Guy Rogers chair and footstool, eBay.
1960s Guy Rogers chair and footstool, eBay.
Vintage Swedish tealight holders in the vibrant orange Mark and Keith love serve as plant pots in the living room.
Mark loves this corner of the living room. ‘It’s my favourite place in the house,’ he says. ‘I have all my vinyl in that little cupboard, including music for relaxed Saturday afternoons, but also for drunken evenings!’
Pieces from Mark and Keith’s Mini Moderns interior design company pepper their home. These ceramic beakers and carafe were based on their Darjeeling design.
Although compact, the dining table can extend to seat eight people. The wall light can be pushed back against the side when not in use to help keep the space uncluttered. The shelf was originally in a Metropolitan Line Tube carriage. ‘We got it from the London Transport Museum when we were doing a design collaboration with them,’ says Keith.
Light, Twentytwentyone.
Light, Twentytwentyone.
From the open-plan living and dining space you can look towards the spare bedroom. Mark made all the flex and bare bulb lights that hang around the house. ‘You can buy all those components and it’s easy to wire them all together,’ he says. ‘There’s lots of orange nylon wire and netting on Dungeness, so this looks a bit like that.’
‘The kitchen is a modular design our builder modified to fit the space,’ says Keith. ‘We had to re-level the kitchen floor to fit it in.’
Mark and Keith stocked the kitchen with a basic set of utensils and kit. ‘You need to have two of everything,’ says Mark. ‘You can’t constantly be thinking, do I have a whisk down in Dungeness? It would drive you mad.’
Kitchen units and worktop, Ikea.
Mark and Keith stocked the kitchen with a basic set of utensils and kit. ‘You need to have two of everything,’ says Mark. ‘You can’t constantly be thinking, do I have a whisk down in Dungeness? It would drive you mad.’
Kitchen units and worktop, Ikea.
Mark and Keith have added ceramics and enamelware to the range of products they design and many of those pieces live at their beach home. ‘The house is only small, though, so we have to be quite disciplined about what we bring down here,’ says Mark. ‘We just have things we need and love, and the great thing is that it’s 50% tidier than our London live-work space.’
Keith laughs: ‘I’d say more like 100% tidier! We haven’t overfilled it and we are very careful about leaving it in good shape, so as soon as we come down here on a Friday night, that’s it! We can switch off, relax and enjoy it.’
Keith laughs: ‘I’d say more like 100% tidier! We haven’t overfilled it and we are very careful about leaving it in good shape, so as soon as we come down here on a Friday night, that’s it! We can switch off, relax and enjoy it.’
The stainless steel worktop in the kitchen acts as a nice contrast to the teak used elsewhere in the house. ‘It also looks a bit like the worktops in a fishmonger’s,’ says Mark, ‘so it feels fitting.’
Bold colour and 1950s references feature in Mark and Keith’s designs, with their signature bright tones standing out beautifully against white painted walls.
A trolley salvaged from the bins outside the duo’s work space and wallpaper from their Dungeness range brighten a corner near the entrance. ‘We designed this wallpaper during 2013 after we had renovated this place,’ says Mark. ‘It’s a way of archiving the landscape. The old Edwardian shacks and sheds on the beach are becoming dilapidated. No one’s ever going to put one up in their place, so it’s nice to catch this moment.’
See inventive ways to work in a little wallpaper
See inventive ways to work in a little wallpaper
Bright blue fabrics inject personality into the couple’s white bedroom. ‘Before, it had zero character and looked really anaemic,’ says Mark. The bed is another teak piece, found on eBay and cut down to fit the space.
All the prints in Mark and Keith’s bedroom share blue tones and sea references. The fish prints are by American artist Charlie Harper, while the shipping news print is by James Brown. The Fresh Local Fish sign is actually one of the couple’s tea towel designs, framed so it can fit neatly across the small window at night.
This sideboard was created by Margate artist Zoe Murphy. ‘She is a genius at upcycling,’ says Mark, ‘and used our Darjeeling wallpaper to make this chest personal. It really fits the space and has the same wood tone as the bed.’
When it came to personalising the house, Mark and Keith deliberately avoided anything too ‘seasidey’ in style or feel. ‘Living here, we have started to understand real sea and real weather,’ says Keith. ‘This is not a pretty seaside village. We are so in touch with the beach — we’re on it — so we don’t need driftwood and those kinds of references.’
That said, Mark and Keith have found that a lot of their designs take on a new relevance when placed in a coastal context. ‘The backgammon wallpaper in the bedroom can also be read as the sails on yachts, for example. ‘It suddenly has a regatta feel,’ says Mark, ‘so it all fits.’
That said, Mark and Keith have found that a lot of their designs take on a new relevance when placed in a coastal context. ‘The backgammon wallpaper in the bedroom can also be read as the sails on yachts, for example. ‘It suddenly has a regatta feel,’ says Mark, ‘so it all fits.’
The spare bedroom is just big enough to hold a double bed. ‘But it has sea views,’ says Mark, ‘so guests don’t tend to complain.’
Bed, Conran for M&S.
Bed, Conran for M&S.
During the building work, Mark and Keith had a boiler fitted so they could heat water for a bath. ‘There was a rather perfunctory electric shower in here before,’ says Keith, ‘but it was a bit of a trickle, so you felt cold when you were in it.’ The windy, wild weather makes a bath even more appealing. ‘You want to come home to a hot bath,’ says Mark. ‘And down here, we have time for a soak, too.’
‘There are five different widths and periods of tongue and groove panelling around the house,’ explains Mark, ‘but we used new stuff in the bathroom and fitted it to cover most of the wall to make the room feel taller.’ A small Belfast sink serves as a neat basin.
Belfast sink, Twyford.
Belfast sink, Twyford.
Keith and Mark’s home is one of around 25 in Dungeness that were converted from railway carriages. ‘It’s basically just a series of little wooden structures fitted together and sat on the beach,’ says Mark. The lantern roof was used by the guard to look down the line. Now fully restored, it floods the core of the house with light.
The duo painted their home in smart black. Many of the homes on Dungeness, including the one that belonged to film director Derek Jarman, wear this striking colour. ‘The winters are harsh and there’s always a wind, so the exterior takes a beating,’ says Keith. ‘You need to totally repaint about every other year.’
The duo painted their home in smart black. Many of the homes on Dungeness, including the one that belonged to film director Derek Jarman, wear this striking colour. ‘The winters are harsh and there’s always a wind, so the exterior takes a beating,’ says Keith. ‘You need to totally repaint about every other year.’
Keith (left) and Mark love the wild landscape of Dungeness, but the area divides opinion. ‘There are no half measures with it,’ says Keith. ‘People who love it really love it, and people who don’t like it, hate it!’ But these two have always adored this piece of coastline. ‘It’s the big sky and vastness of the place we love,’ says Keith, so when they spotted the house for sale in 2011, they snapped it up.
TELL US…
What do you think of this unique beach home? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. If you would like your home to be featured, please send information and photos to ukeditor@houzz.com.
TELL US…
What do you think of this unique beach home? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. If you would like your home to be featured, please send information and photos to ukeditor@houzz.com.
Who lives here Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire, who run interior design company Mini Moderns
Location Dungeness, Kent
Size 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom
The living room sits within the original railway carriage. ‘This space had been divided into two rooms when we first saw the house,’ says Keith. ‘You couldn’t look right along the beach like you can now.’ At night, beams from the nearby lighthouse flash across the room and a wood burner keeps the place warm. ‘Our friends sometimes beg us not to light it, as it gets too hot in here!’ says Keith.