Cool, calm and collected

Having just finished transforming a semi-detached house in 2017, you’d think Fiona Brass would be sitting back and enjoying the fruits of her labour, but instead she was keen to find a new challenge.

‘I spotted a house for sale locally that had been left empty for eight years,’ she says. ‘It had been owned by just one family and still had all the original Art Deco details: panelling in the hallway; stained-glass windows; decorative shell fireplaces; Bakelite