Some houses have a special ambience and soul that not only inititally captivates people but seems to enchant them too - could it be property magic? One house that seems to have a hold over the very few people who have owned it during its life is a double fronted period property near Roath Park, Cardiff.
From the Second World War to present day the house has only had three owners, so it seems that once property love has struck here it lingers.
Many Cardiff residents might remember it as a McTimoney health clinic. During its time as a clinic the house welcomed hundreds of customers, who relaxed in the rear waiting room, flicking through glossy magazines and gazing at the wicker furniture and spider plants, until their appointment time came, by which time they were probably also entranced by the property.
READ MORE: The two Welsh seaside villages named among the most beautiful in the UK
The current owner, 51-year-old Rebecca Attoe-Butt, thinks the property has a special magic and it certainly cast a spell on her over 15 years ago. It was 2005 and she was living in Sussex but working in Maesteg and was on the hunt for a special abode in the capital. As soon as the alert for this property came up on her phone and she saw it, she was smitten.
Rebecca said: "It looked like a surgery, with basins in every room and woodchip everywhere. There was just a Belfast sink on bricks and a dresser in the kitchen. The bathroom was done in the 1970s. All the fireplaces had been ripped out downstairs, but they were in place upstairs. There was a lot of dark brown carpet going on."
But Rebecca could see past the dated decor to what the property could become and could not stop thinking about the house - her determination to secure it as her new family home was unshakable. She said: "I phoned the estate agent every day for a week to get a viewing, but it was hard because it was being used as a clinic. It wasn't the ideal viewing because it was dark, so we couldn't see outside, and wouldn't see many of the rooms as they were being used for treatments. But I loved everything about it."
But Rebecca isn't the first owner to have fallen under this home's special charm and it appeared she might have to wrestle the property from the owner back in 2005. She said: "I think everyone must have felt something special about it, so much so that the owner at the time who owned the clinic interviewed me and my husband about what we intended to do with it."
She added: "I think there had been interest to convert to an old people's home, but the owner was keen it went to a family. With our five and six-year-old children we fitted the bill, and I think he could tell I was in love with it!"
The house certainly had Rebecca under its spell, with her determination to buy so unbreakable she made a snap decision that she later thought was rather rash, and made an asking price offer there and then.
She said: "I was so excited, and it didn't seem to bother me that I'd only seen it for about 45 minutes, and only spent very limited time in Cardiff. I phoned up the mortgage company on the way home and told them to get to work! I still remember to this day arriving at the house on the day of completion about 7am, after driving from Sussex. The lovely owner had said he would leave a key for me in the porch so that I didn't have to wait for the official completion time."
She added: "It was so much bigger than I remember and I just couldn’t believe that it was ours. It was the first time I had seen a few of the rooms as they were being used for treatments when I viewed."
It's taken years for Rebecca to update the house to the home that she could see in her vision, starting with a basic makeover when she first moved in, and then into the unique home with stunning interior design that reflects her taste and personality.
But it also took a while for the people of Cardiff to realise it was now a private home and no longer a clinic. Rebecca said: "For years it was still known for years as the natural health clinic. I'd often have people knock on the door having arrived for a chiropractor appointment! Once I had someone park their bicycle in the hall and wander into the sitting room to sit down to wait for their massage!"
So the renovation project to transform the house from clinic to a very special home began, but only really went into orbit when Rebecca met her second husband Tony. She said: "W e realised we were a dream team when it comes to house renovation. He is ridiculously practical and creative, especially with wood, and, providing we keep to our roles, we work amazingly together."
She added: "I come up with an idea, we refine it together to make it workable, he builds it, and then I do the painting and decorating and styling. Our only issues come when If he suggests colours or design, or I suggest a simpler (or as I would say better) way of making something, it then works less well!"
And they have lavished love and care and hundreds of hours on each room over the years to produce a property that visually stands out from the crowd, but from the start of the total transformation in 2014 the couple knew that for the structural and specialist elements they needed to call in the professionals.
Rebecca said: " We bit the bullet and decided to pay for a builder to come in and open up the back of the house and make the hodge-podge of rooms - a small kitchen, a glass pantry, and toilet, a shower room, a built-in shed accessed from the garden - into one big kitchen with a rebate extension with a glass roof."
When it came to creating the interiors, the couple started with the dining room where Rebecca began her love affair with panelling which she has indulged throughout the home. She said: " I have always really liked panelling and Tony did it to match the panelling around the windows at the front of the house. The whole panelling thing became addictive - I can't stop myself!"
The couple worked from room to room with Tony creating and Rebecca hunting bargains on eBay and Gumtree for fireplaces and furniture, fabrics and finishing touches. But for the bathroom they decided to take indulgence as their inspiration and the room is now Rebecca's favourite space in the large house.
She said: "I'd seen the copper bath in the window at Taylors in Cardiff and everything went from that. Tony created a panelled wall to put it against, and built in cupboards to replicate it. He got a piece of salted beech wood and got it cu t in a saw mill to create the surfaces and window sills. We couldn't find taps or a towel rail that we liked so Tony built them himself."
The kitchen and utility room were next on the list, with Tony's dad building the chimney breast for the cooker while Tony got busy building the kitchen cabinets, worktops and shelves using reclaimed wood and scaffold boards and Rebecca said this room's now sociable layout, flooded in light and directly connected to the garden, had totally transformed the house and how they used it.
Over the years Rebecca has created rooms that have evolved into eclectic and visually engaging spaces and her driving forces have been to keep the budget down and to fill her home with things that she loves rather than follow interior fashion.
She said: " I think I'm an old fashioned girl and have never been big on trends, although I see a lot of panelling and dark blue since we did ours back in the mid 2010s! I try not to do a room in one go, with everything from one place, but let it evolve. That way, if it was never in fashion, it will never be out of fashion!"
Rebecca also suggested always considering other people's unwanted items as an option as you might find a real gem amongst them, but only to choose what speaks to your interior taste. She said: " The orange cooker was from someone who had just moved into a house and felt they could not live harmoniously together! And I' m a big fan of second hand - I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t buy on eBay, Gumtree or Facebook. I have done a lot of miles over the years collecting random objects!"
There were many low points during this epic renovation project but the worst was when the builder went bankrupt, putting all their plans in jeopardy. Then there was the moment when Rebecca was on her hen do and heard the news that the top section at the back of their house was unsafe.
She said: "Tony had got in a renderer to do the back of the house. As he chipped off the render, it was found that there weren't any bricks at the top of the house! He had to spend that weekend building the back of the house with his dad; I was in a spa."
Through the process Rebecca has learnt many things but the one golden nugget of advice to pass on to anyone embarking on a similar journey is all about speed - don't take too long to create your dream home.
She added: "The family room off the kitchen was the last room to finish. It's a real shame it's come into our life so late, as it's an absolute joy to be in there and still be part of what is happening in the kitchen. Until this year, it was where Tony did all his woodwork. We always wanted it as a family room - the irony is that our children left home just as it was completed!"
Other tips that she is keen to pass on that might help other people with big interior design ideas is to live in a space for a while and let the ideas play out in your head for a few months before you then get to work. She said: "Nothing looks right when you first put it in a room. You have to get used to it. If it still doesn't look right after two weeks, it's probably not right! Be brave with paint- if you don't like it, you can paint over it and also if you want a more eclectic look, d on't buy everything at once, and not from the same shop. It will date and people will be able to tell exactly when you furnished and decorated.
"If you're going down the second hand route then be choosy and buy quality stuff. But above all remember it's your home - it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks if it makes you happy!"
And what Rebecca and Tony have created behind the facade of this pretty period property is an interior design scheme that not only makes them happy but surely enthrals everyone as they wander through the rooms and discover pops of colour, panels of patterns and special items that make this house unique.
Rebecca said: " One of the most common comments we get from visitors is that the house has a unique quality of being special but also homely and welcoming. Tony moans that it's embarrassing when people stop him outside to ask for photos of the front of the house, whilst I love it and have regularly showed complete strangers around, much to the children's dismay!"
Now the house is totally finished with every room just how Rebecca has envisaged, it is ironic that Rebecca doesn't get to live in it as she has relocated to Amsterdam for work - but this home's magic can stretch across countries.
She said: "It's so beautiful now- everything that I wanted it to be and had imagined- but I'm not enjoying it day-to-day. In Amsterdam I've chosen a completely modern apartment, as I didn’t want to compare with what I've left behind." The house is still working its enchanting magic welcoming visitors to stay as a holiday let but it isn't about to welcome a new owner any time soon - Rebecca isn't ready to break the spell just yet.
She said: "Now that it's finished, we know that with the children leaving the nest the house is way too big for us, but the reason we are letting it rather than selling is purely down to the fact we are still too emotionally invested to let it go fully."
Find out more details about staying in Rebecca and Tony's eclectic masterpiece via Sykes Holiday Cottages here, and don't miss the best dream homes in Wales, renovation stories and interiors, join the Amazing Welsh Homes newsletter, sent to your inbox twice a week.
READ NEXT:
-
Super stylish home named among the best in the UK goes on the market in Welsh seaside town
-
Modern lodge with grand hallway and a paddock in the garden is the ultimate coastal dream home
-
Farm with outbuildings perfect for renovation nestled in pretty river valley is going to auction
-
Former bank with locked safes that ended up as a cannabis factory is going to auction
