Inspiration of the Week: top tips for timeless decoration, as seen in a seaside house in East Sussex

The question of how to honour a historic home while making it fit for the 21^st century preoccupies us more than any other. The good news for everybody, as evidenced by the sheer breadth of the beautiful houses we sell, is that there’s no definitive solution. Instead, we discover different ways to do it every single day. This week, we’ve been admiring the gentle coaxing and clever touches of this house in Bexhill-on-Sea, now on the market, that make it living in it today simply lovely.

Much of the six-bedroom former farmhouse’s liveability come from its sensitive décor. Throughout its rooms, nods to the past combine with more contemporary flourishes, creating a classic layered look. We particularly love the dark-brown furniture set against the dining room’s inky-blue walls (the perfect foil for pictures, as Annie Sloan recently taught us), and the enviable array of milky mantel vases by Constance Spry and Oliver Messel that adorn the kitchen. Made in the 1930s for Fulham Pottery yet very much of the moment, they’re every wannabe florist’s fantasy.

Throughout the house, row upon row of books ­lend the place an enduringly distinguished air, bringing colour and texture that chimes cheerily with the bonny printed fabrics dotted around. The blue bedroom’s Blithfield blind, a mid-century block design by Peggy Angus, reminds us that really good things don’t date – a sentiment echoed by the upstairs landings’ seagrass carpet, which would look as good against medieval flagstones as it would in a modernist masterpiece.

Ultimately, however, none of this would matter a jot if the building’s bones weren’t so well looked after. Here, wonderfully wonky plaster walls have been left as they are, not smoothed and flattened with modern renders. Original doors remain in situ and historic fireplaces have been kept clear and in good condition. This is a house that has been loved and, therefore, lives on. Therein lies the answer.