Everyone who stays at the hostel will be known as ‘Jones’.

A storied Sliema townhouse is about to begin a new chapter as a hostel furnished with recycled materials and decorated with street art.

Owners Trevor Diacono, 31, and Keith Montanaro, 30, have put their hearts and souls into turning Shamrock House at Dingli Circus into Hostel Jones.

“We spent a year looking for the perfect place. This house has history and a great location. Piece by piece we have been transforming it,” said Mr Diacono.

Talented street artists have been let loose on the rooms to decorate them in any way they saw fit.

One large dorm room has a huge purple dragon running across its walls, the work of Danish graffiti virtuoso Chris de Souza Jensen.

Around 14 street artists have left their mark on the hostel so far.

“We didn’t give them any directions about the designs. We wanted them to be completely free to express themselves,” said Mr Diacono.

The hostel’s name indicates our guests are part of the family

“People are now coming to us because they want to scratch their mark on it,” he added.

The recent Sliema Street Art Festival proved to be a boon for the creative proprietors, as the participants gathered at the house, exchanged ideas and provided artwork.

Sitting in the outside garden at a table made from wooden pallets, Mr Diacono points at a mural on the wall.

“Keith and I created it ourselves out of recycled tiles,” he explained, under the watchful eye of a Buddha statue. Elsewhere the garden is adorned with driftwood from Golden Bay and plants from abandoned houses.

“We would go to walk the dog and find inspiration everywhere. We want to change people’s perceptions about recycling materials,” Mr Montanaro said.

Almost all of the furniture in the rooms is second-hand, salvaged or self-made.

The house itself is well-known in the area. Perhaps its most famous past resident was John Mifsud, who introduced the National Lottery in 1948.

“People knock on the door all the time to see who lives here now. We have even had people wander in off the street,” laughed Mr Montanaro.

Mr Diacono actually worked in the building 10 years ago when it was used as offices.

“When I walked into my old office as the owner, it felt like a victory,” he said, smiling.

The hostel scene is growing slowly, with several opening in Sliema in the past few years.

Hostel Jones’ owners want their guests to see it as a home from home. Although they have day jobs, they plan to spend almost every evening there, entertaining their guests and making new friends.

‘Jones’ is the moniker that the owners and their circle of friends have given to each other.

“It indicates a high level of trust. We call our closest friends Jones and the name of the hostel indicates that our guests are part of the family,” they explained.

Guests’ names will even be changed to ‘Jones’ when they check in.

The hostel is almost ready and the owners are awaiting their final permits so they can begin to fill the 29 beds with guests.

“Chris de Souza Jensen told me that we’d never finish this place,” said Mr Montanaro.

“At first I took it the wrong way. Then I realised what he meant. That we would always keep adding to it. It’s an ever-changing creative space.”

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