25 Beautiful Homes May 2023

EDITOR’S LETTER Taking on a dilapidated home and giving it a complete overhaul – is that your idea of heaven or hell? It was the DREAM of first-time property owner Elly MacDonald, whose Victorian apartment is on the cover this month. Elly had the INCREDIBLE VISION to see beyond its neglected state and has turned it into the wonderful SHOW-STOPPING home it is today (page 37). Such vision and energy is always ADMIRABLE, but if your plans are a little more low-key, you’ll love our bathroom case study (page 112). Owners Pauline and Andrew Leat bought their Grade II-listed house after all the rooms had been renovated except the bathrooms. This left them free to focus on upgrading the fixtures and fittings to a LUXURIOUS level and complete their…

HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Detached listed house on a Victorian square ROOMS Sitting room, kitchen with dining/living area, family room, pantry, playroom, boot room, study, utility room, cloakroom, six bedrooms, five bathrooms LOCATION Dublin ‘LAYER YOUR LIGHTING – THINK BRIGHTER OVERHEAD LIGHTING TO INSPIRE FOCUS AND SOFT, WARM LAMPS WHEN IT IS TIME TO RELAX’ The sheer scale of the spaces was something that Lara Wasson had to learn to adapt to when she began renovating this detached Victorian house in Dublin for her young family of five. ‘We don’t have lots of rooms, but each one is very large,’ affirms Lara, who opted to project manage the work. ‘I used to be a fashion buyer and the two skill sets are not dissimilar,’ she explains, adding – ‘It meant…

HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Detached village house, with parts dating from the 16th, 17th and 20th centuries ROOMS Sitting room, snug, kitchen-diner, six bedrooms, two bathrooms LOCATION Wiltshire The classical, Georgian-style exterior of Sam Dascombe and Jeremy Flindall’s village home gives few clues to what lies beyond, but once inside it is clear that this property has a unique history. The airy reception hall narrows into a cosy, low-beamed snug, before opening out to a spacious kitchen-diner. ‘The front part burned down and was rebuilt in the 1700s and the snug in the middle is probably 16th century,’ says Sam. ‘The kitchen was in a huge, 100-year-old barn, converted by the previous owner.’ With five children between them, Sam and Jeremy had been looking for a characterful six-bedroom house, with…

HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY A detached house, built in the 1930s LOCATION Hertfordshire ROOMS Sitting room, dining room, kitchen/living area, family room, laundry/boot room, two cloakrooms, four bedrooms, three bathrooms After living in Vancouver, Canada, for a dozen years, it was time for Rebecca Rutter and her husband, David, to return to the UK with their daughters, Mabel, 18, and Isadora, 16. ‘David was offered a job here and we wanted to be closer to our elderly parents, so it made sense to move back,’ explains Rebecca of their return to Hertfordshire, where they had lived before departing for Canada. After researching properties online, Rebecca made a journey back to the UK to see six houses. ‘I viewed several that were immaculate and entirely suitable, but just didn’t make me…

HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Grade II-listed 17th-century farmhouse which has been extended and renovated many times ROOMS Sitting room, dining room, kitchen-diner/living area, study, games room, boot room, four bedrooms, four bathrooms LOCATION Surrey WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS HOUSE? My background is in property development: buying properties that I can renovate, upgrading the bones of the building and transforming the interior. I am drawn to properties where simple changes can be hugely effective – very much the case here. TELL US YOUR PRIORITIES. The house was not fully used, as the previous family’s children had moved away. My priority was to make each room usable, creating dedicated areas for different activities, with the kitchen as the central hub. WAS THE HOUSE IN GOOD CONDITION? It had been added to…

HOME TRUTHS THE PROPERTY Apartment in a converted Victorian villa ROOMS Sitting/dining space, kitchen, two bedrooms (one doubles as a home office), two bathrooms LOCATION Surrey When interior designer Elly MacDonald was moving back to the UK, after five years of living and working in Singapore, she was determined to find a place she could do up and call ‘home’. ‘I’d been living in a rental apartment abroad and I wanted to get on the property ladder and do my first extensive renovation,’ explains Elly. ‘When I first saw this property – a two-bedroom apartment in a converted Victorian villa – I loved its high ceilings and large sash windows. I could also see there was scope to reinstate even more period features and wanted to create a modern take…