GARAGE MUSIC
A former motor spares yard has been turned into a stylish contemporary home with some very individual touches
What began as little more than a financial investment almost 20 years ago has since evolved into a dream home for musician and DJ Russell Small. After success in the music business in the 1990s, Russell was keen to ensure his royalties were put to work and decided property was the way to go. ‘I reckoned that would be a good long-term investment, as well as giving me a house in the meantime. I was after somewhere that could be a home, somewhere to escape to when work was getting too manic, and somewhere that could evolve with me over the years,’ he explains.
It was actually a friend who spotted the property for sale. ‘He lived around the corner from me in Brighton and knew I was looking. The property was in the perfect spot, central to everything and close to the sea. It was a large mews house and tucked away, which appealed to me, and it had a real sense of ‘home’ too, which is really important. It began life as a car accessory shop in the 1920s and then became a scrapyard until the early 1990s when it was converted into a house.’
As the property had already been renovated, most of the hard work had been done. ‘It was a busy time in my career so at least I didn’t have major structural work to worry about,’ says Russell. ‘The existing layout was perfect, too – I loved the big open-plan living and dining area, but there was still enough scope for me to put my stamp on the place and make it very much my own,’ says Russell. ‘To begin with, I exposed a brick wall in the dining room. This area is famous for its ‘bungaroosh’ brick walls – a particular pattern of brick and mortar – you don’t get them anywhere else in the UK. So when we started chipping back the plaster on the dining area wall we exposed the bungaroosh brick beneath. Unfortunately, it was pretty patchy so I decided to build a new wall in front of it but as close to the original as possible. My friends and local builders, Pete and Eddie Savage, undertook the project management as I was away a lot of the time, travelling. Pete built the wall and even researched the style of
pointing used – I think he did a great job. As we were removing the plaster we also uncovered a little fireplace, which we brought back to working order,’ says Russell.
Next in his sights were the bathrooms, and Russell had specific requirements. ‘I wanted the look and feel of the hotel bathrooms I stay in when touring, especially the ones in Asia. ‘We gutted the existing bathrooms and turned them into wet rooms using wedi boarding, designed specifically for this. I had all the fixtures and fittings shipped from Bali, which I’ve fallen in love with,’ he says. ‘The bath is carved from a native timber and the basin is honed from a stone we found by the roadside there. However, we had to re-build the main bathroom as the floor wasn’t strong enough to support the weight of the bath when filled with water. For added wow factor I wanted the bath to fill from the ceiling in a waterfall effect, which looks amazing, but the result was that it all cost around £35,000 – but it’s worth it!’
Having splashed out on the bathrooms, Russell looked to make some savings in the kitchen but still sought a designer look. ‘I love organic materials so for the kitchen I wanted wooden doors and stone worktops but, with an eye on the budget, I opted for birch doors from Ikea then chose high-quality, matt granite worktops, designer taps and ceramic sinks. When people see it, they assume the whole thing’s a designer kitchen!’ he says.
In terms of finishing touches, Russell has been heavily influenced by his travels. ‘I’ve been lucky enough to travel quite a bit so I’ve bought pieces of furniture and art back from overseas. Plain white walls are the perfect backdrop for my collection. I also buy things in the vintage shops in Brighton, including a Michelin Man who sits in the living area as a reminder of the house’s heritage,’ explains Russell.
‘It’s important to me to have a house that
I can really relax in, a place where I can reconnect with friends and family and just kick back, away from work, airport lounges and deadlines. What started as a sensible investment has become so much more than that and that’s what a home is really all about.’