SECOND TIME LUCKY

After missing out on her dream home, Karen Jones Russell didn’t waste any time securing an identical place

- NAOMI JONES

There’s a photo that pops up on my Facebook Memories every year,’ says Karen Jones Russell. ‘It’s the hallway of an amazing location house that I saw 10 years ago. I had simply written, “I wish this was my house”. Fast forward a decade and my hallway is uncannily similar…’

Karen, a fashion director, stylist and co-owner of creative agency represented by. me, and her partner, Samuel Moore, thought they’d found their dream home back in 2014. ‘The property was twice the size of our house plus, it was on a lovely street only a stone’s throw away from where we lived,’ says Karen. ‘And thanks to its generous proportions and rear extension, it offered the potential for us to hire it out as a location for film and photography shoots.’

Unfortunately, Karen and Samuel were outbid; but amazingly, two years later, the same agent called to say that the adjoining house had become available. ‘He explained that it had been extended to mirror the house next door, so I told him to consider it sold,’ says Karen.‘I was six months pregnant with our second child so I was determined not to miss out again, even if we had to stretch our finances to their limits!’