CREATIVE CONVERSION

A collaborative approach helped Eunice Locher and Mark Sewell transform a 1980s bungalow into their dream home – on time and on budget

- KATIE TREGGIDEN

There’s an old adage that you can’t self-build on time, on budget and to a high quality, and that one of the three always has to give. Happily, Eunice Locher and Mark Sewell proved otherwise, converting their bungalow into a house in nine months for £375,000, and to an incredibly high standard.

Returning to the UK after living in Portugal, Eunice and Mark were looking for a plot that would enable them to build an open-plan ‘inside-outside’ home like those they had enjoyed overseas. The first house they saw was a 1980s Scandia Hus bungalow. ‘I stood outside and said, “Not in a million years”,’ says Eunice. ‘It was overgrown and neglected, and the thought of a bungalow at our age was just too much.’ Ten months later, she came back and this time, made it past the gate. ‘It was a light-bulb moment,’ she says. ‘It was rundown, but it was south-facing and right on the edge of the Ashdown Forest. I suddenly realised that this was the one.’