Photographer Paul Massey's latest house project…
Paul Massey's house has had quite a year. Bought by the photographer – whose name you may have seen in Livingetc magazine – last summer, it has gone through a classic ugly duckling transformation from a poky collection of nondescript, neutral rooms to an open-plan, pure-white wonder. Despite the property's initial shortcomings, Paul knew 'it had the shape and the space, even though it was all divided up wrongly'. And his vision, combined with project coordinator Mark Lewis's expertise, was enough to set that straight.
A veteran of house renovations (this is his 10th), Paul knew what he was getting into. 'I allowed twice as long as the builders said and I added another 50 per cent to their original quote,' he explains. 'If you start with a realistic idea, everything is less stressful.' But as this was the largest project he'd undertaken, the house was still a challenge. 'In the past, I've tackled rooms one at a time, but with this place I did it all at once,' he says. That meant several weeks of no hot water, no electricity and no floor to stand on. Fortunately, Paul had a secret weapon to see him through the tough times: a Sixties VW campervan.
The plan was to head for the hills (well, the Continent, actually) while the worst of the work took place. So Paul and his 10-year-old daughter, Daisy, took off for a five-week adventure, leaving the builders to get cracking. They collected various treasures along the way – sidra glasses in Spain ('for about 10p each'), all sorts of enamelware from France and, naturally, plenty of photographs.
In fact, the only downside of the trip was when they got back to London and discovered the building work had only just begun. Time to get back in the van, then.
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