BEST LAID plans

Georgina and Joe used their renovating skills to transform make-do rooms into the perfect home for their young family to grow up in

- ALISON JONES

First homes are often dubbed starter homes with good reason. They’re the start of getting your foot on the property ladder, and where you start developing your skills as a painter, decorator, even builder, as you make it your own.

Georgina Raine and her husband, Joe, did the majority of the work themselves on their first renovation project – a three-bed semi. And what they learned gave them the confidence to tackle a more ambitious makeover when they moved to a bigger home after having their two children. ‘We never intended to have another renovation project – we said absolutely no way with two young kids,’ says Georgina. ‘But we stumbled across this house and knew we could make it something special. The rooms were good sizes and there was lots of light. Also, this area of Telford was close to where I’d grown up as a child, with lots of nature reserves and dog walks.’

Their plans to move were paused for several tense months during the Covid lockdowns, but they eventually completed in June 2020. ‘Then there were delays in getting anything to do any work with – it was the time of the great plaster shortage,’ Georgina recalls.