INTERIOR STYLE ON A BUDGET

We meet Cathe at her gorgeous town house just off Camden Road, her street is tucked in between the bustle of independent shops that have recently appeared in the area. Her home is an eclectic mix of colour, texture and intrigue, this emporium of quirky furniture and whimsical trinkets make for a super stylish interior. She talks to us about her style and why buying second hand or up-cycling is so important.

What brings you to Tunbridge Wells?

We are Cathe & John and we were in the midst of renovating a tiny Victorian cottage in Bromley in 2015 when our builder to be, suggested we head down to Tunbridge Wells for inspiration, it was already our go to place for the restaurants and Saturday markets, but after driving down and having a coffee & cakes in the lovely Juliet’s we had an epiphany! Or as our kids would suggest… another mad idea of let’s move here instead! So we went home that Saturday, stopped the renovation, cancelled the builder, put the tiny cottage on the market and bought a Victorian townhouse off Camden road within a few weeks, for the start of an even bigger renovation project… we finally moved into TW in April 2016.

Tell us a bit more about yourself… 

We are respectively from New Zealand and the North East of England, so no ties to TW. We have 5 grown up sons between us, and a mad old dog called Mr Mont.

Moving to a new town in our 50’s and doing a major house renovation wasn’t really a plan we’d had, but it was an adventure that beckoned and besides we love to travel and take a chance on new things, from food, meeting people and now renovating a house from scratch and it gave John free rein to exercise his hobby of redesigning spaces, whereas I prefer to prettify them.

Tunbridge Wells in three words?

Foodie, Arty, Housie
How do you make a living?

We have our own consultancy practice in the healthcare, education and social housing sectors advising clients about their businesses across all aspects from commissioning, compliance and operational improvements (nothing to do with interiors!)

What’s your favourite things to do at the weekend?

On a fantasy weekend we’d love to start with breakfast at Hatton’s – on the Pantiles and visit all of the charity shops for inspiration and some real bargains, although John likes to visit the local hostelries for his inspiration…

Later popping into Rustic Cafe for lunch or picking up some real local produce at Locality or Foodies and call in for a chat with Gerald at Camden Road Butchers who always has a ready smile and good meat for us. Mr Mont, our terrier, also likes to walk on Camden Road and sometimes gets bought a new fluffy toy, from a charity shop, if he’s been especially good, which is rare.

Then maybe a wander back along Camden Road on an evening, for food or to Trinity to see local bands or a play.

In reality our house renovation has taken over our lives since we moved here and we are doing it room by room, so that is how the majority of weekends have been spent, painting or repairing or clearing up after the builders and getting the paint off Mr Mont’s paws on occasion….

Your home is fabulous, tell us more about your style? 

Our style is a bit eclectic and a mix of Moroccan and Scandi styles and what we find on our travels. We try and mix in old and new items and especially anything handmade or up-cycled that we spot. I also have NZ prints and ceramics dotted around which is probably why we end up with mad tropical colours in some rooms.

Where to you draw inspiration from?

Seriously we do draw inspiration from charity shops and vintage wares and we have up-cycled pre-loved furniture as many people do, revamped with Annie Sloan chalk paint and lots of imagination. Our travels have inspired us and I’m drawn to anything that is a one off design or handmade.  Colour in the house is important to us and replicates as closely as possible to some of the moods conjured when we are travelling and a lot of our prints, paintings and artwork has been gathered from far and wide.

We loved the cool stuff that Dassie Artisan – a Tunbridge Wells based company makes and sells, which is sourced in Africa and is a mix of wood and ceramics and patterns…

Oh and Instagram is a great place to borrow ideas from….

How can we ‘get the look’?

Since moving here we have really tried to patronise local shops in the town, buying our big woollen armchairs at Hoopers, plates from Dassie Artisan and lots of vintage gems from Ellenor on Camden Road. We bought our one off bakers rack in the lounge from Jamie who owns Bicycle Bakery too…

What tips would you give for anyone taking on a restoration project?

PLAN, the form and function must come first but the décor can be experimental, try what you think, be daring, be mindful of what you want from the room, not what others think of your house. You live there 100% of the time so it has got to suit your personality.

Oh and in our experience it may take twice as long and cost twice as much as you planned for!

Do you have any hobbies?

We like to travel and have the luxury of having grown up children, so we go whenever we can and it could be jumping on Eurostar at short notice or a long haul to Vietnam or Sri Lanka – two countries we have been in the past couple of years and we are off exploring Australia in 2019. It does link a bit with interiors as we bring back ideas from homes we stay in and try and replicate them and artwork or ceramics if we can squeeze them in.

We are trying to grow herbs and also have had some success with tomatoes due to this wonderfully hot summer, so slowly starting a cottage garden in our muddy patch of green.

Best coffee in town? Black dog & Bicycle Bakery for a coconut milk flat white

What was your biggest project of 2018? Any big plans for next year?

This year we finally finished installing a new bathroom, replacing the 1970’s avocado horror we had to use and finally we have a his and hers wardrobe, such luxury… so no more building works this year.

We also held an open house event at ours in July, as a way of supporting a local charity Ellenor, we showed how to mix and match vintage charity wares in a modern house. We had about 60 local people pop along and we raised circa £200 for the charity, it felt great doing something for our new town and also hopefully we encouraged other people in our position who are renovating on a budget to consider recycling and up-cycling before buying new. 

What do you love about Tunbridge Wells?

1. We like to see the new shops appearing on Camden Road, especially start ups and small independent shops, like Foodies, Plant base and Bicycle Bakery - as small business owners we know how important every sale is.

2. Trinity Theatre - it’s so nice to be able to walk and see comedy, music or movies locally and its such an amazing venue.

3. Ellenor the fabulous charity shop that has vintage sales and has the coolest staff in town (and it’s supporting a great cause funding a hospice in Kent)

4. Camden Road Butchers where Gerald the butcher, gives great cooking tips when you buy his meat.

5. Pop up supper clubs, we have tried three different ones in the town and have made some good friends by rocking up and meeting new people.

 Anything you’d change about the town?

Definitely look to the council to be lenient on start up shops and independent stores in the Camden Road area and provide much needed support and incentives such as free first hour parking to help the local businesses in the Real Tunbridge Wells areas.

If you’re not in TW, where are you? Marrakech

What’s the best thing about coming back to TW?

Local shopkeepers are friendly and remember us and take time to have a chat…

Funniest thing you’ve overheard in TW?

I overheard someone saying they were planning on buying a great Dane with a red neckerchief and calling it Scargill

Follow @mr_mont_owner for her latest interior finds and check out if you’d like to know more about Cathe’s business The Results Company

Cathe is a regular customer in Ellenor where she always finds trinkets to add to her home, if you’re in the area do pay them a visit - you never know what you might find!