Its dazzling colour schemes, period fixtures and fittings and tented ceilings might hint at the work of an expensive interior designer.
But what the marketing agent describes as a ‘bespoke home that effortlessly honours its Edwardian roots’ was a run-down house of multiple occupancy before Rita and David Wagstaff set to work.
Earlier this week the Daily Mail told how the semi-detached property’s unassuming exterior belied the ‘showstopping entrance hallway’ and the rest of the elaborately decorated home.
And, after the property was put on the market following the death of widower Mrs Wagstaff, the story behind the home’s incredible interior can now be outlined.
The former college secretary and her husband bought the four-bedroom property in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, in 1984 and immediately set about restoring it to its former Edwardian grandeur.
Mr Wagstaff, an engineer, worked on the house each evening and through the weekends, even replacing a rotten bay window himself.
Both keen bric-a-brac and antique shop browsers, the couple also sourced most of the furnishings themselves, and usually bagged a bargain – including a slate fireplace for £10.
In the 19 years since the death of her husband in 2006, Mrs Wagstaff, 92, lived in the property on her own with a succession of rescue dogs and her beloved cockatiel, Percy.
But hours after the 25-year-old bird had to be put down in March, the pensioner is thought to have suffered a massive stroke and was found unconscious at the property.
Police forced entry after her daughters, Francesca Cox, 59, and Caralyn Wagstaff, 68, were unable to contact their mother. She passed away in hospital in Coventry without regaining consciousness.
Ms Wagstaff, a fashion designer, told the Daily Mail this week how her ‘fashionable’ mother and father were ‘so, so proud of what they created in their house’.
She told how a cast-iron fountain in the courtyard garden was sourced from Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.
‘It was originally a wash stand where factory workers would clean their hands,’ she said. ‘I have no idea how my father managed to move it to his garden in Nuneaton!’
At the front, the house looks out on a main road and features an ordinary walled and railed front courtyard with a traditional tiled path leading to the front door.
But Ms Wagstaff, who runs a bridal boutique, said of the house’s flamboyant interior design: ‘People are a bit shocked when they see it – it’s certainly not to everyone’s taste.
‘It’s very Marmite. The estate agent couldn’t get over it.’
Ms Wagstaff said she arranged for a photographer friend to take pictures of its unique interior so the family would always have a record of what her parents had created.
Some of these pictures have been used by Carters Estate Agents to market the house, which is now for sale for £320,000.
Ms Wagstaff added: ‘My mother has always collected antiques, but since taking the pictures we have cleared out the items of value.
‘She was a character. There was a tailor’s dummy in the entrance hall and another one on the landing.
‘Mum was the artistic one but it was my Dad who did all the work on the house. They did it with love.
‘It was just their dream house. They made it how they wanted it.’
Ms Wagstaff said her parents met at a party and settled in Nuneaton because they couldn’t afford to buy a house in her mother’s home town of Solihull, West Midlands.
She said their first home in the Warwickshire town was also ‘smartly decorated’, but that things went up a level when they moved to the property which is now for sale.
At one point an air raid shelter in the garden was repurposed into a garden room, while the main bedroom was originally two rooms which were knocked through, making the house a three-bedroom property these days.
The home featured in House Beautiful magazine in December 1997 and the Wagstaffs also showcased their home on a television programme in the late 1980s, their daughter said.
‘But Mum didn’t live in the past’, Ms Wagstaff, who lives with partner Richard Parsloe, 66, an engineer, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, added.
‘There was a dishwasher, microwave and TV in the house.
‘Mum was still driving. She just had style and taste. Even though she was in her 90s she would still do her make up and would even wear knee-high leather boots.’
The grandmother-of-four ‘loved animals’, Ms Wagstaff added. ‘Mum always had rescue dogs and was well known in her local area.
‘She would stop to talk to the neighbours when she was out with the dogs.’
Carters describe the period home, built in 1905, as a ‘masterclass of heritage revival…with bespoke, artistic flourishes and meticulous craftsmanship throughout.’
The agent adds: ‘Entering the property, you’re greeted by a showstopping entrance hallway, where original Minton tiled flooring, plaster wall panelling, intricate cornicing, and picture rails immediately set the tone.’
Other highlights include a ‘beautifully restored period fireplace’, galleried landing and a ‘period-inspired family bathroom featuring a corner bath and vanity unit with tiled surrounds’.
The agent said: ‘Viewing is essential to appreciate the incredible character, craft, and uniqueness this remarkable home has to offer.’
