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By Beverley Nielsen | The Royal Naval Hospital in Great Yarmouth was originally built in 1811 to house Nelson’s seamen. In the 1980s it was sold off for conversion into apartments with spacious rooms, high ceilings and generous, elegantly arched windows.
Susan taught young children in San Diego California, and Mary has worked for the Methodist church since her call to the ministry in East Berlin at the age of 18. She’s worked in many places, including as a chaplain at the Royal Naval Hospital, where she now lives. More recently she was the Superintendent Minister of the Brighton and Hove circuit.
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Stylish and practical: Mary's bathroom featuring Fired Earth Encaustic tiles | Following diagnosis of a serious illness and two subsequent operations, her sister, Susan, moved back from California so they could live together in Great Yarmouth.
“I started to think more about design,” says Mary, “and how it could help improve the quality of my life. I re-designed my bedroom and bathroom with this in mind.
“In my bathroom I needed to be able to accommodate a wheelchair and to move from that into the shower. The room had to provide me warmth, the greatest degree of safety possible and at the same time enable me to move around in its relatively confined space.
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Access all areas: wet floor and Cathedral shower frame from Fired Earth | “Ellie, the Fired Earth Home Designer, came over to help me with this challenge. She was excellent, talking with me to understand my particular requirements and how we could meet these needs. Together we came up with something which looks really lovely, meets my needs, is really practical making the most of the space I have and is a pleasure to live with.
“We took out the bath to make more space in the room. We decided to use Fired Earth Encaustic tiles on the floor with under-floor heating. I used blue tiles with a vine border and white tiles to remind me of the sea. I used cream Moustier tiles on the wall and Lavender coloured Fossil tiles with leaf imprints. These remind me of the lavender grown around Norfolk. I used Blue Ashes and Passion Flower paint on the walls and ceiling to echo the colours in the tiles and because that was the year we won the Ashes in cricket!
“I didn’t want to have to step up into a shower tray so we installed a wet floor and placed a Cathedral Shower frame around it – which seemed appropriate – together with a Classic wall mounted shower with handset and cradle. I’m really thrilled with the products and the results.”
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A place to relax: Mary's sitting room | Fired Earth Home Designer Ellie says: “I took a lot of samples with me on my visit to Mary. I worked hard with Mary to ensure we designed a room to meet all her needs. I suggested a wet floor with the shower enclosure so that Mary wouldn’t have to step up into the shower. I’m so delighted with the results and seeing Mary’s quality of life so improved by our products is a wonderful experience.”
Mary adds: “In choosing my colour schemes and products I linked back to stories, places and people from my life. As my brother and Susan were all educated in Dover and I worked in Dover. I chose Chalk White paint for my bedroom. I used Glass Samphire in the sitting room simply because it was closest to the colour already there and I liked that very much. In the kitchen we used Umber and Marble paints and worked these in with a mixture of Hawthorn, Barley, Nettle and Willow tiles from Fired Earth’s beautifully delicate Ciel collection.” |
