Looking for a property in Brighton can be a nerve-wracking business, as Ella Wells and her husband Marc discovered. After waiting (and waiting) for a particular house to hit the area’s competitive property market, the couple heard a whispered rumour that another was about to be listed.
‘When we found out there was going to be an open house, I went straight to the owners and persuaded them to let us see it first,’ Ella remembers. Captivated by the home’s family feel and its abundance of natural light, hands were soon shaken and keys exchanged.
The couple moved into the Victorian villa, in the city’s Fiveways neighbourhood, back in 2015. It was in a liveable, if slightly loveworn, condition. ‘The house has great bones and we ended up living in it for four years before doing any real work,’ Ella explains.
By the end of that period, some of the original drawbacks had become substantial problems: not only had the layout become tricky for the family’s everyday life, but the rooms felt permanently cold and several were affected by damp.
Just two weeks before Ella gave birth to her second baby, the family decamped to a nearby rental property. ‘It was the easiest way for us to do everything all at once and it felt like a good idea at the time,’ she laughs. The renovation took six months, with structural changes at the top of the list.
Walls were knocked through to create an L-shaped living space, while the family bathroom upstairs was split to accommodate an ensuite for the main bedroom. The loft was converted, adding two bedrooms and bringing the total to five. Ella can still recall the excitement of moving back in: ‘We were all squeezed together in a little rented flat and then came home to somewhere that suddenly worked.’
The kitchen, originally isolated at the back of the house, is now the star of the show. ‘I’m a terrible cook,’ admits Ella. ‘Marc is wonderful, though, and loves being around people when he’s cooking. This has become our centre point, where everyone instinctively gathers.’ The couple chose Ikea cabinetry, complete with an island, and customised it with bespoke cupboard fronts and quartz surfaces.
The dining table, positioned directly opposite, comes from Ella’s childhood home, and is matched with vintage chairs bought from a seller on Instagram. ‘I actually found two of them on the street,’ she explains. ‘In Brighton, there’s a real culture of leaving out things others might like, rather than binning them, and these fit in perfectly. They’re even painted the same colour.’
This treasure-hunting spirit imbues the rest of their home too. In the lounge area, art collected from favourite exhibitions, vintage shops and online marketplaces hangs on the walls, while shelves and surfaces are lined with trinkets old and new.
‘I’ve always been drawn to things with a story, and Charleston House [the colourful country home associated with the Bloomsbury Group] nearby has been a real inspiration,’ says Ella. ‘I love adding the odd hint of the unexpected.’
The giant corner sofa plays host to afternoon slouching and family movie nights, as well as the younger children’s den-building and football matches. ‘It’s great to have somewhere all six of us can sit together, but I do wish I’d listened to Marc and gone for washable upholstery!’
At the front of the house, a calm and quiet space is reserved for reading, jigsaw puzzles and special occasions. In a moment of daring, Farrow & Ball’s Lulworth Blue was chosen for the walls. ‘Everywhere else is so neutral that we don’t call this the sitting room or the drawing room, it’s just “the blue room”,’ explains Ella.
‘When Marc and I got married, our freestanding shelves were groaning but neither of us could face giving up any of our books.’ As part of the renovation, local joiners created units to house the couple’s collection and disguise radiators underneath. ‘It almost feels like a library,’ says Ella.
Upstairs, the main bedroom’s custom-built wardrobes reflect the couple’s past life as fashion entrepreneurs. ‘We have rather a lot of clothes, so these made sense.’ The rest of the space is filled with characterful finds, from a vintage Swedish rug to a chest of drawers picked up for next to nothing online. In the children’s bedrooms, a vintage bed was free from Gumtree, one desk came from Ebay and another chair was rescued from a neighbouring road.
‘Some might say that things in this house don’t match or shouldn’t go together, but everything just feels charming to me,’ says Ella. ‘We’re so lucky to live somewhere that inspires us and makes us all feel happy.’
See more of Ella's home
