There are doors and there are doors. And, lovely readers, today I give you the latter, slam dunk, or as they proclaim above, Docker Dunk the best little cupboard doors I’ve seen in ages. More of our adventures in the gorgeous Kent seaside town of Whitstable coming up next week, but any restoration lover will agree that these beauties deserved a dedicated write up all of their own!
During my 48hr stopover I needed a large space to work from, as spreading 16 A4 files across a bog standard hotel bedroom would have resulted in both me & Mr M sleeping on the floor. Airbnb always comes up trumps and Captain’s Cottage was no exception: quaint, perfectly located and full of interesting design touches.
Lots of the features in the cottage are part and parcel of the fabric of the building. The sturdy timber beams. The original open fireplaces. The winding, well trodden staircase. And when adding features or furniture to a property like this, it’s easy to play it safe and opt for traditional choices. What I love about these two chimney recesses is the clever and fun way that the vintage drawer fronts have been used to create the four perfectly fitting doors.
Aren’t they just the coolest doors ever? They’re brilliant!
Quiet simply a stack of old drawer fronts have been glued to equally vintage planks of timber and then simple hinges added, but the real skill is the wonderful symmetry on all four doors, as well as the setting out of the pattern.
One set of doors is ceiling height, concealing a deep set of crockery shelves. The second is a shorter pair designed to hide a utilities area. 
You might have seen this done before, but I hadn’t and just loved them! Do you think they come from an old haberdashery unit do you think, redesigned to make the doors? 
Obviously it’s a shame they don’t still form part of the original furniture they were part of, but life morphs and changes doesn’t it, so I just think it’s fabulous to see beautiful timber repurposed into something so wonderfully practical yet also such fun.
Finding little short term rental treasures like Captains’s Cottage is the wonderful thing about Airbnb and is why I adore it as a traveller. Yes, I was working, yes my head was buried in papers and plans for 90% of the time, but when I did look, there were things to inspire me and feed my design searching soul.
As I travel round the country helping with these telly reno babies, I’m determine to see a little of the area around each home. They’re spread from Margate (where I am today!) to Wiltshire to Yorkshire to Stirling – that’s a whole heap of cool Airbnbs to work through isn’t it?! More on our seafood filled escapades in Whitstable this week but if you’re not a big seafood fan, here’s something else to make you smile. All drawers need to henceforth be given titles of daftness don’t they?
If you’re planning a trip to Whitstable (and I HIGHLY recommend that choice), then you could do far worse than see whether the Captain’s Cottage is available. No they haven’t paid me to say so, or given me a discount. It’s just me telling you that it’s fab x
