'Living here is a dream come true'

Kirsty Grieve has transformed her grandparents' former home, making it fit for modern family life while retaining a few nods to the past

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Visiting her grandparents' imposing Victorian house as a child, Kirsty Grieve never imagined that one day she would live there herself. 'We used to spend our Christmases here and the house was just amazing to me at that age,' she says. 'My grandad was a bank manager so the house came with the job. When he retired in 1977, he got the option to buy it for under £20,000- a crazy amount!'

Sadly, Kirsty's granny died at the start of the pandemic, and her dad inherited the house. 'I'd often driven by with Gordon and thought how amazing it would be to have a house like that, and luckily my dad was willing to sell it to us,' she says. 'With two young children, the location by a park with primary schools across the other side was just perfect.'

GETTING STARTED

Four months before the sale completed, the couple started renovations while still living in their new-build house five minutes away. 'We decided to get the rewiring done and turn one of the bedrooms into an en-suite,' says Kirsty. 'This meant we'd have one nice bathroom when we moved in and could replace the main bathroom later on.'