Take a peek inside this stunning White House in Hamble

Celia and Stuart Baxter transformed a dark and cramped riverside cottage into a bright and airy coastal home

Celia Baxter, a recently retired nurse, used to jog along the banks of the River Hamble past what is now her home frequently and she always admired it. ‘We were living in a newer house nearby and there was something that always drew me to this old cottage,’ explains Celia. ‘There was something that I really loved about it and I said to Stuart, if it ever comes on the market, I’d love to go and look at it.’ 

The white backdrop gives the whole home a serene feel (Image: Rachael Smith)

One day, back in 2004, that day came. Seeing the ‘for sale’ board, Celia urged her husband, a local artist, to come and view it with her. ‘When we stepped inside, we found it was dark and full of lots of little dingy boxy rooms. There were three small rooms downstairs and three very compact bedrooms upstairs. We’ve always loved interiors and doing up houses and we knew that this was a fantastic project for us,’ says Celia.  

Not much longer after that, the couple had the keys to the Grade II listed Georgian cottage and they were faced with the challenge of bringing it into the twenty-first century, while retaining its period feel and keeping within the constraints that come with working on a listed building.  

Stuart’s artwork can be seen in every room in the house, the subject is often the nearby coast (Image: Rachael Smith)

‘We took professional advice about what we could and couldn’t do and we found that we could remove some of the internal walls to create a more open-plan feel upstairs and downstairs, then we got an architect to draw up plans accordingly,’ says Celia. ‘We replaced all of the windows, which we had to have made from wood to meet the period listing requirements, and we wanted to make sure that we could enjoy the lovely view out onto the river from all over the house, so we removed the back wall, which had a small door out onto the terrace and we replaced it with wooden framed bifold doors. That was the best thing we did; it’s really made the house.’ 

An additional window was added upstairs too to bring in more light and provide another peek at that view and a wall was removed to create a master bedroom, dressing room and bathroom.  

A mix of floor and table lamps throw a cosy glow over the living space as night falls (Image: Rachael Smith)

Celia and Stuart have lived in several homes together over the years and they all have one thing in common, they’ve all been decorated in various shades of white. They opted for the same palette here too. ‘All of our homes have been very white and full of light. We find white, bright interiors very calming and peaceful,’ says Celia.  

The terrace is a quiet haven for Celia and Stuart (Image: Rachael Smith)

While builders were bought in to do all of the structural, electrical and plumbing work, Celia and Stuart did all of the decorating themselves. The existing B&Q kitchen was painted white, the ceilings were all painted white, the oak floors were stripped and painted white and the walls were all painted in various shades of Farrow & Ball white. 

A desk has been snuck in under the stairs and the gas fire does a great job of impersonating a wood-burning stove in the fireplace (Image: Rachael Smith)

While the terrace has been made to feel like a natural extension of the house, a very white outdoor sitting room with trellises to obscure the neighbouring houses, ensuring that nothing detracts from the harbour views.   

Although the house is small, Celia and Stuart have made the most of every nook and cranny. Squeezing a cloakroom in under the stairs and a window seat looking out over the river at the top of the stairs. And Stuart has created a canvas that fits snugly over the TV so that when it’s not in use, it’s concealed behind one of his lovely seascapes.  

The wall between the kitchen and the living room has been removed to bring more light into the back of the house and a mirror above the stove ensures that anyone cooking can still catch a glimpse of the harbour outside (Image: Rachael Smith)

‘The house is furnished with pieces that we have collected over the years, it’s a mix of old and new,’ says Celia. ‘The chest, which we use as a coffee table, was my great, great grandfather’s and the dresser in the lounge has been taken from house to house and of course, with our obsession with white, we have a lot of accessories from the White Company!’ 

The couple wanted to be able to see the water from everywhere in the house and mirrors play a big part here. They even placed a mirror above the hob in the kitchen, so that Celia, who is a keen cook, can still get a glimpse of that view when her back is to it. When they’re not looking at the river, Celia and Stuart can be found on the river. They have a motorboat moored a few minutes’ walk from the house and they go boating most weekends. ‘I’ve always felt at home in and around water and we have the best of both worlds here,’ says Celia.    

Panelling the first third of the wall in tongue and groove injects a coastal feel into this dining and living space (Image: Rachael Smith)

Stuart and Celia have done everything they can to their home now and it’s exactly as Celia envisaged it would be all those years ago when she was jogging by. ‘We’re all done now,’ says Celia. ‘The only thing that changes is the artwork, which Stuart moves around when he paints something new.’ 

The bifold doors ensure that the terrace feels like a natural extension of the dining and living space on sunny days (Image: Rachael Smith)