A FEARLESS adventure

BEING BRAVE ALLOWED LISA AND LEE TO BRING THEIR NEGLECTED PROPERTY BACK TO LIFE, WHEN OTHERS MIGHT HAVE FOUND IT OVERWHELMING

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Then Lisa and Lee viewed their home-to-be, they weren’t put off by 40 years of neglect and the amount of work that needed to be done, unlike other potential buyers. ‘We were bonkers enough to go for it,’ says Lisa. The house had a traditional double-fronted layout with a narrow kitchen extension at the rear. Their builders removed the existing extension and, using the same footprint, created a new two-storey extension as wide as the house for the new kitchen-diner/living area plus, above it, a double-height apex ceiling main bedroom with en suite.

BARELY HABITABLE

‘When we first walked into the house it smelled bad and had red spongy carpet, but we could see the space had potential,’ says Lisa. The couple lived in the house for a year before building works began, making the best of a shower and kitchen combined in the music room, which meant that life was rather intimate for a while. ‘The old kitchen was dilapidated,’ explains Lisa, ‘plus a dense line of conifers had turned one side of the house dark and damp.’ Removing the trees allowed light to flood into the house. The couple were adamant that a standard box extension wouldn’t feel right, so they tried to add much more character in the plans they submitted, which were highly praised by the planning office.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE ‘The house hadn’t been invested in for such a long time, so we had to repair many elements, such as floor joists – Lee taught himself using YouTube,’ says Lisa. During the early days of the renovation, a damp floorboard gave way and Lisa put a foot through it, but she says that since starting work, ‘I’ve become good at DIY and see it as a challenge.’