THE VIEW
FAMILY VALUES!
Siblings Scarlette and Stuart Douglas have always had a passion for property and their interior design and renovation business has proved to be highly successful for over 15 years. The third series of Worst House on the Street for Channel 4 has just finished and they have an exciting new series coming to Channel 4 this summer, called Can’t Sell Must Sell . They talk to Lynda Clark about their fascinating careers, their first homes and have some very good advice for first time buyers
Photos: Mike Prior Hair and makeup: Lisa Joseph @lisaloothe_mua @creativeartistshairandmakeup
I t is very hard to keep pace with Scarlette and Stuart. They are not just busy, they are seriously in demand and how they fit everything in is beyond me! Scarlette and Stuart were brought up in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. Scarlette was always passionate about performing and Stuart and their other brother, Andrew, were both professional footballers. Andrew played for Arsenal and Stuart for Luton Town. As the boys were avid sports enthusiasts, Scarlette wanted to be like them and played basketball, hockey and football for Arsenal girls, briefly. She said, “I wanted to play rugby too but that wasn’t allowed.” She went to Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom, Surrey, when she was only 16 and stayed with a host family for the first year. “It was a very tough course and we worked a 12-hour day and they were very, very strict about everything.” Her first job was assistant choreographer and dance captain for the pilot show of Thriller Live and she then travelled to Switzerland for eight months playing the role of Tina Turner in We Will Rock You . She was in great demand and appeared in many different musicals, made a fitness DVD called Street Fit and won a competition for MTV in conjunction with Freedom to become a presenter for a week, a win that was not only a great experience,
profit when I sold it and by then I had the property bug and decided to buy another place in Enfield, which was a first floor apartment. I completely renovated that and created a lovely space.” Since then, Scarlette has bought and renovated many different properties and said, “I get such a buzz from each property I buy.” Stuart became a professional football player at the age of 17 and even though he earned a lot of money, he was always keen to save. “It’s my passion to save and I really thank my parents for encouraging us to get a good education and not squander our money on fast cars, but instead to save for the future.” He also has a passion for property and bought his first home at the age of 21. “It was in a converted hat factory in St Albans and was very quirky. I redesigned it and did some renovations; put in a new kitchen, bathroom and flooring and of course completely redecorated it. I really loved it but when I changed football clubs I decided to sell it as I needed to buy somewhere nearer the new club, a decision I have always regretted. “Apart from really liking the place, I truly believe that there is no better return than bricks and mortar and so my interest in property grew and grew. I made a good profit on it and it proved to be the catalyst for me to buy and develop in the locations
but also landed her a presenting agent. She was one of the presenters for A Place in the Sun for nearly seven years, which she describes as a dream job, and has been all over the world finding homes for people who want to buy abroad. She was a regular reporter for The One Show on BBC as well as fronting her own prime time Channel 4 show, Holiday Secrets: Is Last Minute Best? Having always been interested in property and interiors, Stuart asked her what she was planning for the future as she had no pension. Stuart was a footballer at the time and had developed a few properties over the years and so suggested she invest some money that her mum had given her, along with her own savings, to buy a place of her own. “My first property was a one bedroom ground floor Victorian conversion in Barnet. With Stuart’s help, we eventually turned it into a two bedroom apartment but it was a big learning curve. “We had builders who were not up to scratch and didn’t complete works as planned in the schedule. As a result, we hired an independent builder to work on his own as his standard of finish was high, however, he physically moved into the property which was really unacceptable. In the end, I finished it off and I lived there for about eight months. “We re-did the garden and I made a good
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