You can tell someone’s heart and soul has gone into this busy but beautiful family home in Brighton. “I love collecting things, I love shopping and I love clutter,” says owner and designer Kate Powell. She admits these are some of the reasons she opened a shop, after running out of space at home. Upcycled, restored, reclaimed, inherited are all key to her distinctive style.
Kate and her husband, Toby, bought the dilapidated listed Regency townhouse 10 years ago, with its “big, square imposing rooms, which are easy to make look beautiful”. The couple loved the area and proximity to the beach, plus the house rare find of a propertyhad a garden and drive. However, they hadn’t realised the enormity of the project, the house being “pretty grotty and in need of a complete overhaul. We got the survey and I almost had a nervous breakdown looking at it.” A team of builders moved in for a long eight months while the family remained at their old home round the corner, “a huge stretch financially”, so that everything from flooring to fireplaces could be restored. A basement flat was renovated and re-introduced to the main house, which now has five bedrooms and two bathrooms.
