Rebecca and Mark Bethell infused an unloved and dilapidated townhouse that was previously divided into bedsits, with colour and warmth
For Rebecca Bethell, the worst houses make the best projects, so she was delighted to come across an Edwardian semi that had been empty for years. The four floors of living space, large, square rooms, high ceilings, and location close to shops and her sons’ school ticked all the boxes. The first viewing revealed the property’s true condition. ‘Seventeen people had lived here in nine bedsits. There were holes in the walls and floors, and I could see straight up to the roof,’ Rebecca recalls. ‘But I wasn’t put off by the horrors; I absolutely love a ruin.’
Unsurprisingly, few period features remained, but the original staircase caught Rebecca’s eye, reminding her of the Edwardian properties she had lived in as a student in Edinburgh. ‘It wasn’t quite as grand, but had the same feeling and somehow the feature struck a chord with me,’ she says. ‘Then, at the second viewing, I discovered the revolting basement. I was delighted: the extra space completely sold the house to me.’
Rebecca is a project manager and interior designer for her business, Bethell Projects. She took on the renovation of her family home with great enthusiasm, using trades she knew and trusted – much to her husband Mark’s relief. With all the space the couple needed, it wasn’t necessary to extend, although the basement ceiling was too low – Mark is 6ft 4 and Max, at 15, is already 6ft 3.
‘We dug down a metre to make the new ceiling height three metres,’ Rebecca explains. ‘We tanked the whole floor and fitted lightwells. Now it is a teen den that opens onto the garden, with a guest bedroom, kitchen and laundry. The separate entrance is useful, too, particularly when film crews use the house for location shoots.’
Before they could begin the basement remodel, however, there was plenty of work to do upstairs: stripping walls to reinstall new electrics, plumbing and heating while period-style cornices and dado rails were reinstated. New windows were matched to the originals, as were cast-iron radiators. The parquet on the ground floor, however, was a huge disappointment. ‘I thought we had this amazing original floor but it was actually some kind of vinyl,’ says Rebecca. ‘A flooring suppl
