The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - The Telegraph Magazine
Interiors
The renovation that went from disaster to triumph.
Artist and interior designer Russell Loughlan is naturally cautious about most things in life, but when it comes to property he is as impulsive as it gets. A road trip to Deal on the Kent coast back in 2005 triggered an ongoing obsession with this pastel-coloured Georgian town, and in particular the historic Dolphin Street – home to the first of three renovations that Loughlan went on to undertake in the area. But his latest project has undoubtedly been the most dramatic.
When this four-storey, Grade Ii-listed house was going up for auction, Loughlan was able to get a sneak preview thanks to a friendly relationship he had with a local agent. Built in 1768, it sits in a row of former fisherman’s cottages, 10 yards from the beach. He saw it in the summer of 2019, immediately offered the asking price of £290,000, and it was accepted on the condition of a non-refundable £10,000 holding fee. ‘I remember running in and out of the house intoxicated with excitement,’ he says. ‘It was the bravest and most spontaneous decision I’d ever made.’
The house had been owned by the same family since the 1960s, until its 96-year-old former owner decided to sell, and
‘Every ceiling, rafter and floorboard had to be removed. It was like a scene from the Blitz’
had been untouched for 50 years. ‘The interior was a sea of thick peach carpets and dirty white walls, and it was devoid of all period features, apart from one panelled wall,’ says Loughlan. Work began in earnest in October 2019. ‘It was a massive undertaking as the house needed gutting, rewiring and replumbing, along with a new roof, kitchen and bathroom.’ With a strict budget of £70,000 and no contingency, Loughlan ran the site like a military operation. However, a month into the renovation, with everything apparently going smoothly, a single phone call changed everything.
‘The plumbers, who were installing new pipework, told me that they had drilled through a rafter, which disintegrated into dust and caused the whole top floor to move,’ he recalls. ‘We discovered live woodworm
was endemic throughout and the entire internal framework of the house was coming away from the walls and floors, held up only by tired plasterwork, wallpaper and carpet.’ The woodworm hadn’t shown up on the survey due to several layers of lino, carpet, chipboard and wallpaper. ‘Every ceiling, rafter and floorboard had to be removed – it was like a scene from the Blitz,’ says Loughlan.
The worst thing about the discovery was that the ground floor was already complete. It meant the new kitchen had to be removed – the cabinet doors, Belfast sink and cooker hood were scrapped, at a cost of £2,500 – and Loughlan had to start again from scratch. This, he admits, was his lowest moment, but stopping the build was not an option, as the house would have been unsellable as it was, and he had already committed so much to it. So he made the snap decision to remortgage, negotiate bank loans and borrow on credit cards to fund the rebuild of the interior and stick as far as possible to his original plan for the renovation.
He also had to crash on supportive friends’ sofas to be close to the site, because he couldn’t afford to rent elsewhere. The carefully planned 16-week project turned into 12 months, with
‘It’s very atmospheric and feels reminiscent of Dickensian days’
a £60,000 overspend. ‘It was an incredibly stressful time,’ says Loughlan, ‘but lots of lessons have been learnt, including the importance of full surveys and the need for emergency funds.’
Decoratively, he has transformed the interior by reinstating period features and using bold paint colours to create a sense of drama. ‘This area has a rich and colourful history,’ he says. ‘Under each house in our street, there are interconnecting storage cellars and hidden tunnels that used to link smugglers to secret out-oftown locations.’ So it feels rather apt that as you enter the house, it evokes the mood of a dark drinking tavern, painted in Farrow & Ball shades such as Preference Red, Picture Gallery Red, Hardwick White and Mouse’s Back: ‘Lit only by candlelight and soft wall lights, it’s very atmospheric and feels reminiscent of Dickensian days.’
Throughout the ground floor, replica panelling has reinstated a sense of authenticity and grandeur. A 1960s kitchen partition has been rebuilt with bespoke glass windows, which can be folded back, so that the kitchen can be opened up to the living and dining areas. ‘It works brilliantly as a bar at parties – and natural light now flows through the downstairs, from both sides of the house,’ says Loughlan. An affordable Wickes kitchen has been painted in Farrow & Ball’s Hague Blue and Oval Blue, and blends perfectly with the period look.
As you move up the winding staircase, the walls echo the palette of the sea and indulge Loughlan’s obsession with stripes, which he has hand-painted in soft blues and greens – no mean feat with such wonky walls. ‘DIY
is not my strong point, so this was a true labour of love and the one project I was happy to undertake myself,’ he says. ‘The bedrooms are incredibly calm. Listening to the sounds of crashing waves, I have never slept better, and it always feels like I’m on holiday.’
Throughout, furniture, art, vintage textiles and decorative objects have been carefully curated, again with a limited budget. ‘I have a few special paintings from Arthur Neal, Ned Kelly and some precious heirloom seascapes, but most of the simple furniture comes from local dealers, sales or markets.’
The house has since doubled in price, which has ‘softened the blow’ of the experience. And the journey doesn’t stop here: the striking interiors, the creation of which he documented on Instagram,
have caught the eye of several local property owners, who have commissioned him to plan and manage the redesign of their own tired spaces.
‘The house has brought out a bolder side to my style,’ he says, ‘and despite the dramas, I still have the urge to do it all again.’ @thehouseondolphinst
‘Most of the simple furniture comes from local dealers or sales’