SECOND TIME LUCKY
After missing out on her dream home, Karen Jones Russell didn’t waste any time securing an identical place
For this fortunate owner, the chance to buy a semi in a Manchester suburb, after missing out on a similar one, was a dream come true
Favourite room ‘We love how the living area flows into the garden. It feels calm and grown-up enough for us to enjoy when the kids are in bed’
There’s a photo that pops up on my Facebook Memories every year,’ says Karen Jones Russell. ‘It’s the hallway of an amazing location house that I saw 10 years ago. I had simply written, “I wish this was my house”. Fast forward a decade and my hallway is uncannily similar…’
Karen, a fashion director, stylist and co-owner of creative agency represented by. me, and her partner, Samuel Moore, thought they’d found their dream home back in 2014. ‘The property was twice the size of our house plus, it was on a lovely street only a stone’s throw away from where we lived,’ says Karen. ‘And thanks to its generous proportions and rear extension, it offered the potential for us to hire it out as a location for film and photography shoots.’
Unfortunately, Karen and Samuel were outbid; but amazingly, two years later, the same agent called to say that the adjoining house had become available. ‘He explained that it had been extended to mirror the house next door, so I told him to consider it sold,’ says Karen.‘i was six months pregnant with our second child so I was determined not to miss out again, even if we had to stretch our finances to their limits!’
A couple of months later, the couple moved in with their then five-year-old daughter, Coco, little over a week before her
brother Bodhi arrived. Knowing that she would have very little time once the baby was born, Karen couldn’t resist getting to work with a paintbrush. Along with Samuel, she stripped and whitewashed the entire house.
With a blank canvas to work with, Karen was able to think more clearly. She gradually went through the house, choosing colours from a palette of off-whites and soft greys to form the perfect backdrop for her interior style, which she describes as ‘Scandi mid-century meets Californian boho, with a touch of sentimental thrift!’
During the renovation, Karen and Samuel discovered some unexpected ‘hidden’ jobs that needed to be done, in particular the wiring, the drains, and the windows. ‘We love the finish on our Ventrolla-refurbished sash windows; it was an unfortunate expense we could have done without, but you are always going to have these surprises with old houses!’ says Karen.
Having dealt with the quirks of the house over the last four years, the couple have no doubts that moving here was the right decision. ‘It is giving us all we ever wanted – space for the children to grow and a way for me to have a better work-life balance,’ says Karen. ‘I even get to combine work and home if I can book this as the location for one of my fashion shoots – then I definitely have the best of both worlds!’