A Home by the Sea: Inside Caroline Briggs’ Edwardian House
05 Sep 2025
When photographer and writer Caroline Briggs first set foot inside the tall Edwardian house that now sits so firmly at the centre of her family life, she knew instantly that it was the one. “I remember putting my sleeping son’s car seat down on the Minton-tiled hallway floor while we looked around,” she recalls. “Sometimes I still glance at that very spot and think back to that moment. It feels like both five minutes and a lifetime ago. That baby is now twelve.”
Time flies, it seems, when you’re breathing the bones of an architectural beauty back to life – not least given the winding journey to finding both the project and the rhythm they had for so long craved. Caroline and her husband had returned from London a few years earlier, longing for more space and a slower pace of life after the birth of their daughter. “Once we’d narrowed down our ideal location, I was on Rightmove in a hot minute,” she laughs. “My husband had just one stipulation: he wanted to be able to see the sea. I was happy to oblige. Amazingly, this was the very first house I spotted online, so it felt like fate.”
From that first viewing on a cold day between Christmas and New Year, the house cast its spell over them, its time-worn glories ripe for falling for hard. “On first impression I was swept away by her wonderful bone structure – the Minton floors, original fireplaces, ceiling roses, a cast-iron bath, and views of the Bay to die for. Luckily, my husband felt exactly the same. She was ours.”
Now, eleven years on, Caroline describes the house as a constant work in progress, as only true labours of love tend to be. “It’s never been about stripping things out,” she explains, “but about working with what was already here and building on it with care and intention.”
In the early days, practical work took priority. “Thanks to the skill and materials of the Edwardian era, the house was in pretty good shape when we moved in – daily North Sea batterings notwithstanding! There were a few areas of damp that needed attention, so we had her repointed quite early on.”
“I had sleepless nights over it,” Caroline admits. “They’re obviously very contemporary and a huge departure from the period. But they open the space up to those incredible views of the North Sea in a way that feels utterly magical. In the end I figured, if the Edwardians had the chance to bring in something like this, they would have jumped at it too.”
The family’s approach has always been about layering character, adding and augmenting rather than every erasing. “We’ve been careful to keep every Edwardian detail possible while adding elements that feel like they’ve always belonged here, or reflect our own history,” Caroline says.
A case in point: a Victorian kitchen that her sister stumbled happily across in a local antique shop: “It brings that warm, authentic soul to the heart of the home,” she says, the familiar connection, and the fact that it had by chance ended up just down the road supplying extra layers to its already abundant charm. Elsewhere, reclaimed glass partition doors, wall cladding found on eBay in the early hours, and even a 100-year-old loo sourced fifty miles away tell a story of care, patience, and persistence.
“I love pieces with history,” she explains. “They add character and soul. Looking around, I often feel a sense of accomplishment and emotional connection because I’ve put so much of myself into it, whether that’s the bannister I stripped, or the modest family heirlooms like my great-grandma’s stool, or the chandelier I made over the winter months while my children slept, it all comes together feels deeply rewarding."
As a photographer and writer, Caroline’s creative eye is instinctively and finely attuned to space, light, and detail – and the house has naturally evolved to become both muse and canvas. “Just like with photography, my obsession with space and light is ever present. I place furniture and hang art according to where the light lands best. I even turned my attic bedroom into a camera obscura once – seeing the sunrise and sea projected onto the walls was surreal and magical.”
The sea itself, meanwhile, is a constant and ever-shifting source of inspiration. Caroline often presses seaweed she collects on coastal walks, using the specimens for cyanotype prints made in sunshine. “Searching for the perfect specimen keeps me absorbed, and I often come home with pockets soggy from the delicate finds.”
Living on the north-east coast, Caroline has learned to adapt to the elements. “There’s only one season here: winter!” she jokes. “The wind can be fierce. Sometimes it takes two of us to close the front door.” And yet it is the weather that truly shapes the way the family live at home. “In winter, the open fires are everything – cosy, flickering and atmospheric. I’m still tempted to go all in and get a log burner. This year I’m planning to hang a thick curtain behind the front door to keep the draughts out, which will come down again in spring when the light returns and the house starts to open up.
Caroline is drawn to natural materials that bring warmth and character: marble, wool, reclaimed wood (“wood is a real golden thread running through the house – especially reclaimed wood – and I love how it links the rooms together with quiet warmth and character.”). It is no surprise, then, that Rowen & Wren’s pieces have found a happy place here. Her brass bath caddy is a favourite.
“It’s stylish and timeless, and one of those pieces that blends beauty with functionality so perfectly.” The Edwin Floor Lamp, meanwhile, casts its glow in the drawing room. “It feels like a piece of art in itself,” she says. “It’s the perfect companion for evenings spent reading or painting.” And soon, the Grafton Wall Light will take its place at the bottom of the staircase, the final flourish on a long-awaited project.
Despite her eye for detail, Caroline keeps her styling instincts simple. “I have a few quiet rules: Do I love it? Will I still love it in ten years? Am I wanting it because it’s a trend? Does it feel right?”
She follows a broadly coastal palette to keep things connected and calm, but otherwise resists rigidity. “It’s about creating a rhythm through the house that feels relaxed, natural and true to the architecture as well as the environment.”
A slow day at home begins, as many do, with tea. “Preferably on the front step, if the weather is playing ball.” From there, the rhythm is gentle: pottering with small projects, coffee by the balcony windows, perhaps a visit to a flea market. “In the evening, I’ll cook something in my Le Creuset Dutch oven, then we’ll walk along the shore and share a bottle of wine. Sometimes our teenager will even bless us with her presence!”
Her favourite spots? “It’s hard to choose. I love sitting at my desk in the drawing room, or stepping onto the tiled path in the newly planted garden. But the balcony window, with its view of the sea, is where I always pause. It’s the perfect place to watch the day begin.”
But for now, life at the edge of the sea, in a house layered with history and love, feels just right. “Home is where I feel completely myself,” she says. “It inspires me daily, but it’s relaxed too. That mix of comfort and creative energy – that’s what makes it feel truly like home.”
Interview by Nancy Alsop.
