One of the great joys of writing about houses for this magazine is meeting the owners, because people who have lovely homes are generally lovely themselves – so it’s always exciting to see who opens the front door.

This house was a special case in that regard though, because as a devoted follower of BBC competition show Interior Design Masters I already knew exactly who was going to be there.

Homeowner Craig Masson, a giftware designer, was a contestant on the most recent series – and a very talented one too. From the first episode Craig’s design solutions stood out, with his confident signature style combining a comforting retro feel with modern sophistication.

So having seen him design new interiors for a stationery shop in Rye, a hospitality box at Twickenham stadium, a shipping container-turned-office and – my favourite space in all six series of the show – a training room for Battersea Dogs Home, I was fascinated to see how this would be reflected in his own home.

But it turns out, Craig isn’t the only resident of this house with a very special back story likely to inform his home style.
Before becoming a successful gentleman’s barber, Craig’s husband Jason Fellows worked as a butler for no less a person than her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Indeed he spent several years actually living at Buckingham Palace. Now that’s going to give you certain standards…

In a quiet and leafy corner of Hastings, the property is entered down steps via a gate from the road above, giving an immediate impression of entering a special enclave – with a pretty brick-paved potager straight ahead and characterful outbuildings to each side. The garden then falls away in lawns down to a stand of mature trees, with the house at the mid-level to one side.

Built in 1923, it’s a charming half-timbered Tudorbethan, very much in keeping with Craig’s taste for early 20th century style and, as is the case with so many happy homes, seemed destined to be owned by this couple.
Originally based in Tooting, near where Craig had a homewares shop, wittily called Kitschen Sync, they bought a flat in Warrior Square, St Leonards. This was after first renting there for a year, when a visit to a friend – who had already made the move down to the coast – gave them a taste for some weekend seaside living. Then they saw this house.

“We were having a drive around, exploring,” says Craig. “We didn’t know this part of town and then we saw a For Sale sign outside this house.” Jason continues: “At the time we couldn’t afford it and we weren’t sure about moving down fulltime.”
But that changed when Jason, who had a barbers shop in London, decided to open one in George Street, in Hastings Old Town. It immediately took off and they made the move, selling the London place. A year after that they saw the house was for sale again – and this time they were cash buyers. “It was like it was waiting for us until we were ready,” said Jason.

Seven years later, it looks like they’ve always been here, because although they have made some structural changes to tailor the space better to modern living priorities, they haven’t changed the fundamental character of the place.
The biggest changes are in the kitchen, where they turned three rooms into one, taking out a lean-to extension with white PVC windows and knocking out the dividing wall to the former dining room. “We wanted an entertaining space big enough for ten people, to have drinks and chat, while we are cooking,” says Jason.
With the addition of three supporting RSJs, this is exactly what they now have, flooded with light from three sides, with the extension now a fully integrated part of the whole, finished with black Crittall windows.

But while that is a very contemporary detail – and the units are equally 21st century IKEA, painted a bold royal blue – unlike some jarring Sputnik extensions to period homes, it still feels like a seamless part of the house. As Craig puts it: “It still has the bones and character of the original kitchen.”
This is largely because of the way they’ve furnished and accessorised it. The island unit, for example, is the top half of an Edwardian library cabinet. “We had it in our flat and it was so big we had to saw it in half to get it into this house,” explains Craig.
This lovely piece, with glass doors revealing glassware and china, an old enamel lemonade sign on one side and vintage scales (from Hastings Old Town emporium A G Hendy & Co Home Stores) on the top, sets the tone.

The effect is enhanced by a smaller wooden cabinet on the wall off to the left, but while it looks vintage, it’s actually a repro Post Office cupboard. Another wooden dresser against the side wall adds to the ‘brown furniture’ theme, so appropriate for a house of this vintage.
But these lovely pieces – and three staggered-level 1950s Perspex shelf units – also have another crucial purpose: displaying The Collections, which are many and marvellously varied and bring a sense of fun and generosity to every corner of the house.
Indeed the urge to collect and collate was one of the reasons they were drawn to Hastings and St Leonards in the first place – the plethora of wonderful vintage, antique and just plain junk shops.

In this part of the house alone, there are the egg slicers, the 1920s Berylware, the Murano glass, the cruets and the sets of surf-and-turf illustrated plates, yet it never feels cluttered – which is where Craig’s design eye comes in. The sweet spot where collecting and curation meet.
In the dining area of the space the other half of the Edwardian library cabinet is in use as the bar and to display collections of china. But the possible busy-ness of both is set off by a large vintage advertising poster on the wall above and a huge plastic Mr Whippy ice cream to one side – found at a car boot fair, another source of treasures that the Hastings environs is well served with.

Going from here out into the hall, you are hit by a welcoming shade of sunshine yellow, set off with a border of William Morris wallpaper, which Craig cut to size from normal rolls – and anyone who watched him on the show will already be familiar with his prodigious skill at such tasks.
This was honed at Chelsea College of Art and then through working as a prop maker and dressing Selfridges windows, before he became a giftware designer, creating stylish and witty home décor accessories, which involved many trips to Chinese factories to perfect.
At the back of the hall is another testament to Craig’s many craft techniques. The downstairs loo houses a collection of taxidermy pieces that he created himself after doing a course – not for the faint hearted.

The tiny space is a perfect showcase for all his display and curation skills, with a wall of framed butterfly specimens set off by bold green wallpaper with an oversized fern print – and the loo a classic wood-framed ‘thunderbox’, which looks original, but they built themselves. The finishing touch is an oversized brass leaf-frond light fitting, adding the final punch of drama, that makes a trip to the loo a little bit of theatre.
Back through the hall we come into the sitting room, which at first glance seems a more conventional space, but then you start to notice the details. The Arts & Crafts-style 5/6th panelling, with a picture shelf at the top on two of the walls looks as though it was original to the house, but they put it in – and then painted it a bright pea green. The walls above are papered with the same William Morris willow pattern, in one of the recent new colour ways.

The ocelot ‘skins’ thrown over the green velvet ottoman, started life as a fake fur coat and the apparently classic rattan peacock chair is actually made of PVC, from a range Craig designed to be used as outdoor furniture. The life-sized ceramic figure of a leopard is wearing a jaunty fez.
Apart from the sofa – one of their few new pieces – the furniture is all pre-loved. The 1920s armchairs were found in Norman Road, St Leonards, with new loose covers made by Craig. The matching set of glass-front bookcases are from much-loved Hastings resource, French Depot. “We always try to shop local,” says Craig.
Although the light fittings at the top of the stairs are tempting, we first headed back outside to look at those intriguing garden buildings. To the left of the steps up to the gate is what is possibly the world’s most stylish potting shed, which they created during lockdown from pieces gathered on eBay, including original Crittall windows – in pink.To the other side is a larger structure, built in a similar fashion with the front wall entirely made from recycled Crittalls – this time painted cream – with a lovely reclaimed wooden floor (eBay) and tongue and groove halfway up the walls.

This is the Studio and it’s a fully-formed iteration of Craig’s finest nostalgic design. “The idea was to create the atmosphere of a cricket pavilion, a station master’s office, or somewhere you would hold a WI meeting…” he says and so perfectly has this been achieved, with arsenic green paint up to the factory-brown dado stripe, then retro cream above, that it’s impossible not to stand there smiling like a fool. It’s like being in a time machine back to the sunlit days of the Famous Five and Just William.
There’s a large table for Craig’s projects – and a vintage barber’s chair, which Jason uses to do haircuts for friends, now he has retired from having a formal shop. With a large collection of souvenir tin trays over vintage kitchen units on either side of an under-sink curtained cupboard, plus carpet beaters and feather dusters, it could be put into immediate use as a film set. Although its main function apart from projects is as an overflow when guests visit, with a handy bathroom tucked around the corner. Back inside it’s up the stairs, where three tin light fittings have been glamourised – by Craig – with extra long fringing, each a different colour. So simple and so effective.

The main bedroom has an en suite and dressing room concealed behind the wall abutting the bed, created by sacrificing the third bedroom. A good decision. Painted a rich dark brown this glorious suite is like being in a cigar box (with the cigars still in it) and with windows onto a densely leafy outlook, it’s a very restful and nurturing combination.
In the bathroom/dressing room the handbasin sits atop what was part of an old wardrobe (again from French Depot) while the wardrobe is a wonderful sliding glass-doored furrier’s cabinet from Monarch Antiques in West St Leonards (keeping it local).
Over the claw foot bath, beyond the cowskin rug, at the far end of the room, is a sign saying ‘Gentlemen’s Club’. Which is really the perfect description of this whole happy home.