A COUPLE added £100,000 to the value of their home by using cost-cutting renovation hacks – and explained how.
Kate and Chris Sandhu perfected the art of DIY and renovated almost all of their home without skilled professionals.
5
5
5
The couple bought the three-bedroom terraced home for £745,000 in June 2017.
But, they’ve added £105,000 to the 1800s property’s value with their handy work – and upcycling – alone.
While the couple could see the potential in their home when they splashed out on it, they “hated” every room and decided they wanted to entirely revamp it.
Kate, 38, admitted: “The house was ghastly, like a living room for hobbits with pokey bedrooms.
“It’s taken us a while to finish, but then again, a renovation is never really finished.
“While we had builders to complete the main build, we did everything that we could possible between us – from painting to decorating and building a home office.”
She said the revamp became a family affair as her parents helped with everything, adding: “I’m from a family of renovators and grew up in mid-renovated period properties.
“As we didn’t have loads of money, my mum and dad did everything, and they taught me all I know.
Most read in Money
“We wanted to use our skills to completely transform the house on a budget and make it our own, while also making a profit – both of which we did.”
Kate and Chris, 37, rebuilt the kitchen entirely, then removed the downstairs toilet to make more space.
She said: “We made it much more light, open and airy – but our one big splurge was on the Crittall doors at the end of the kitchen.
“Everything else we had to do on a budget and we went for a Wren kitchen, as we could get some interest-free credit and a ton of IKEA bargains for shelving.
“We also made shelves from some reclaimed timber from a guy down the road, which we get lots of comments on, as they only cost around a fiver.
“A family friend also made us a table out of scaffolding boards and the legs are from my parents’ old dining table, which I painted.”
The pair knew they wanted a downstairs toilet, so converted their old dining room – on their own.
She said: “The whole thing was built from scratch and I knew I wanted wild wallpaper in there, as it was a tall ceiling, so although it was a small space, it could take it.
“We then built some panelling on the bottom half, so we didn’t overwhelm the room and it’s a super fun space.
“In the living room, it used to be tiny and grey – totally grim. We decided to rip out the internal walls and make it into one big room.
“We added in an exposed brick wall to separate out the front door, as the hallway had been removed, and this tied in with the kitchen.”
The couple found some reclaimed boards from old apartments for flooring, and managed to score a second-hand sofa, too – this all helped keep the costs down.
Kate said: “We cut out doors under the stairs so we could use that as storage and then we used an old internal door, which was painted.
“I wanted some bling, so I upcycled an old TV stand and also the stairs, doing them both in black paint and gold leaf to tie in with the rest of the room.
“In the spare bedroom, we ripped out the fireplace, which was sad, but it wasn’t functional and we made the room a proper double bedroom.
“In the third bedroom, we extended this out so it doubled in size. When we moved in, it was just a white room and I knew I wanted it to be a playful and fun space for our son, Raf.
“In the end, I landed on day and night as a theme, with lots of colours and things to look at like rockets and rainbows.”
Overall, the transformation took them six months to complete, and they spent £223,000 on the entire revamp.
The home has been completely modernised.
Now, they want to take on a new renovation – this time a rural Georgian farmhouse after selling this 1800s property for £950,000.
5
5
