DO IT YOURSELF

With no renovation experience, Orima and Joel took up the challenge to transform their first house into a stylish family home

- 

I grew up in Bristol so, after a few years of living in London, my husband, Joel, and I decided to move back to be closer to my mum. We wanted to put down roots and start a family. I didn't see this house before we made our offer because it was during Covid-19 when the property market was fast-moving, plus it was hard to visit places because of lockdown restrictions, so Joel came to view the house by himself. But we knew the location was perfect, and the images online showed a house that didn't need too much work, which suited us because at the time neither of us had DIY skills.

EARLY LEARNING

When we moved in, the walls and carpet were white, which wasn’t suitable for us, especially as we have a dog, but the previous owner had done a lovely extension at the back and had looked after the property really well. The main issue was that the original galley kitchen was closed off from the living room and dining area, so we decided to open up the space to create one large, open-plan room.