The Simple Life

Rose Lam and Jos Lowette have renovated a Regency apartment on the seafront at Hastings with a cool coastal colour scheme and an inspiring collection of vintage finds.

- Maxine Brady

After a Valentine’s weekend in Hastings in 2014, Rose Lam and her boyfriend Jos Lowette felt inspired to find their own coastal retreat by the sea. ‘We came down from London for a rainy, cold weekend in February and fell in love with the place. We liked it so much we kept coming back to explore the town’s vintage shops and to walk along the seafront,’ says Rose, who previously worked in HR at a property company. ‘We hadn’t planned to buy a place down here but the more often we came to visit, the more we liked the idea of having our own space with a sea view, so we started to look for a property of our own.’

Not knowing what they could afford in the area the couple looked at more than 60 flats until they found the right one. ‘It had an amazing view right out over the sea and across to the pier. It’s on the seafront – a great location. and the space had potential to improve.’

The two-bed, third-floor apartment, situated in a Regency crescent in the centre of Hastings, had been rented out for years and lacked homely touches. ‘the place was unloved and hadn’t been looked after properly for a while,’ explains Rose. ‘It wasn’t a home. It had been carpeted throughout and the layout wasn’t for us.’ on the plus side, the flat had two roomy bedrooms but the bathroom was in a poor state, and there was a windowless kitchen in the centre of the property.