{"id":5458,"date":"2022-03-15T10:10:43","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T09:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=27695"},"modified":"2022-03-15T10:23:16","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T09:23:16","slug":"robert-amstads-georgian-townhouse-renovation","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/robert-amstads-georgian-townhouse-renovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Amstad\u2019s Georgian townhouse renovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Molly Malsom\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 15 March 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Just as he\u2019d begun to despair of ever finding a suitable new home, antiques dealer<\/a> Robert Amstad realised the solution had been staring him in the face all along. \u2018I\u2019d been looking at all these tiny box-like properties and then, one day, while I was visiting a friend who lives in a place with lovely spacious rooms, it dawned on me that I wanted somewhere like that.\u2019 And then the penny dropped, he says: \u2018I already owned somewhere with exactly that kind of space.\u2019<\/p>\n

Robert\u2019s business, Hastings Antiques Centre in St Leonards-on-Sea, was based in a three-storey Georgian townhouse. \u2018I\u2019d bought it nearly 30 years earlier and the whole building was filled with antiques. You couldn\u2019t move in there,\u2019 he recalls, explaining how he\u2019d grown blind to its potential. \u2018It was so full of stuff, I\u2019d stopped seeing it.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Having decided he could easily run the business from the ground floor and convert the upper storeys into the spacious home he\u2019d been looking for, Robert edited his stock and sold off the pieces he no longer wanted at a local auction house.<\/p>\n

With the space empty, he was then confronted with layers of ill-considered additions to the original interior \u2013 badly divided rooms, old carpets laid on top of even older ones, and walls clad in layers and layers of paint, plywood and wallpaper. \u2018I wanted to get right down to the bare bones, so I stripped it all back, ripped the roof off, pulled up the floorboards, and removed and restored every window.\u2019<\/p>\n

As work progressed, Robert unearthed original features that, in 30 years of owning the building, he had never seen before, including part of a wall that dates back to Norman times. \u2018The church next door is the third one to have been built on that site and this would have been part of the original church,\u2019 he says. \u2018You can tell which stonemason shaped which stone because they used their own tools and so their markings vary. It\u2019s incredible to have history like that in your own home.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Above a false ceiling in what is now the sitting room, Robert discovered the original ceiling rose, which he painstakingly removed, restored and reinstated. The work was lengthy and hard. Both staircases were stripped by hand, each one taking two weeks, although he was careful not to take the process too far. \u2018I wanted to leave a sense of their history, so I stopped before they were perfect,\u2019 he says. \u2018You have to know when to stop restoring \u2013 you have to listen to your gut instinct.\u2019<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t all plain sailing, however. When the specially cut glass for the conservatory roof arrived, it was too big. \u2018That was probably the worst thing that happened in the whole project,\u2019 says Robert. \u2018But you just have to get over it and work out a solution.\u2019 In the end, he decided to extend the wall on which the roof would sit. \u2018Funnily enough, it actually looked better.\u2019<\/p>\n
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Despite the stress of such mishaps, Robert admits that he enjoyed the renovation, not least because of the sense of achievement at the end. \u2018The nicest thing was getting so much for so little money, especially when compared to what I would have got if I\u2019d bought something else.\u2019<\/p>\n
Once the work was finished, Robert whitewashed everything, \u2018just so I could see it properly, and it evolved from there. I didn\u2019t really plan anything.\u2019 Although he was influenced by the country houses<\/a> he visits through his work as an antiques dealer, Robert also wanted the interior to feel fresh and modern. One of the most striking rooms is Robert\u2019s upstairs bathroom<\/a>, which is painted black with gold and white accents. \u2018The whole room is inspired by the painting hanging in there. All of the colours in the bathroom are taken from that one artwork.\u2019 Black is a distinctive and bold colour, he concedes, \u2018but sometimes you have to take risks and I think it works.\u2019<\/p>\n
When it came to furnishing the apartment, Robert didn\u2019t have to look too far to make a start: a French daybed in the living room, which doubles as a spare room, was picked up on a local house clearance job, as were many of the rugs, pots and small pieces of furniture. Cushions and soft furnishings came from a neighbouring interiors business, Shop, while other items were bought at fairs and flea markets<\/a> in Germany and France<\/a>, which Robert visits in the course of his work. The overall look is a charming mix of old and new, the aesthetic a blend of French country and English country house.<\/p>\n
\u2018Somebody said my flat looks like a New York loft apartment<\/a> and I can see that, too,\u2019 he says. \u2018I see so much stuff in my job, but I know what I like and what I want in my house. It\u2019s about how you want to live. My home is really just me in building form,\u2019 he laughs. \u2018I think that\u2019s why I feel so comfortable here.\u2019<\/p>\n