This Damp and Dark Basement Flat Was the “Worst House on a Nice Street” — Now It’s a Peaceful (and Dry!) Sanctuary
Ru and Holland describe their home’s condition before they moved in as the “the worst house on a nice street.” The main building their home is located in was built in 1897, and the cellar was converted into a living space in the 1970s.
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When the couple bought this basement flat in 2019, it hadn’t been lived in for several years. Ru and Holland described it as “pretty wrecked” and a “very damp and dark basement that hadn’t been properly dealt with since the 1980s.”
“It was the cheapest place on a super nice street in Seven Dials, Brighton,” Holland continues. “We lived in it, with the rats under the clattered floorboards and decaying, mouldy walls for five years until we were able to remortgage and redesign our home.”
“House maintenance in this city has been slack and piecemeal for decades, so we demanded from ourselves to have the place totally renovated from the earth up to deal with the real problems and to future-proof it as a home for ourselves and future owners,” Holland explains.
The couple fully renovated the space in 2024. The original house price in 2019 was £235k (around $316k). The renovation cost between £150k and £160k (or around $215k). The total planning took over a year, and the build took nine months. They designed the entire home themselves and did all the painting, as well.
“We have no plans to leave, and we designed the whole place totally bespoke and uncompromising to our needs based on the knowledge we gained over the years we spent living here before renovation.”
Resources
PAINT & COLORS
- Paint — Bauwerk “Alabaster” for the living areas and “Malibu” for the bedroom
- Bath — Appliances Direct
- Sofa — John Lewis (via eBay)
- Worktop — Fenix Comodoro (solid!!!) and matching sink, which was discontinued but we managed to find on eBay about a week before kitchen install day!
- Mint tap and matching strainer — Neo Mint tinkisso
- Kitchen cupboard handles — Amazon
- Lots and lots of 15mm Birch Plywood Throughout B/BB 2440mm x 1220mm (8′ x 4′) FSC® — buildingmaterialswholesale.co.uk
- Kitchen base units — DIY.com
This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
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