How Deb transformed her 1950s semi-detached home | Reno Club Spotlight
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Fiona Duffy
Working on projects across the UK, specialising in affordable renovations & timeless design
Leaving a family home after living in it for 18 years is never going to be easy! Throw in some lockdown woes, a few planning concerns, and a couple of furry-friends to manage, and you’ve got a recipe that would put most people off renovating a home! But not Deb and her husband William! They dove head first into an adventure of a lifetime, and me being Miss Nosey McGee, I just had to find out all the details…
Deb, an ex Project Manager, and William, a business consultant, decided to embark on a journey that would see them turn their 1950s semi-detached home into a modern renovation miracle. What makes their story even more impressive is that it started during the height of lockdown when prices were rocketing, materials were sparse, and they had a handful of trees that’d been slapped with some TPOs to juggle!
But despite all of these obstacles, the couple successfully transformed their home into a stunning contemporary space that’s worthy of a magazine feature. It's amazing to see how Deb and Williams’ vision, passion and dedication have inspired them to create something so beautiful, even when challenges threatened to turn their project sour.
So whether you’re in the midst of a renovation project and need some inspiration, or you’re thinking about jumping into the reno world, read on to see how Deb and William’s renovation played out.
Deb and William enjoying a cuppa in their new kitchen.
Deb, tell us about yourself and your family :)
Hi! I’m Deb (@deb@no27), and I’m an ex Project Manager who’s having a bit of a mid-life crisis and about to start retraining as a yoga teacher! I live in my house with my husband William, who has his own consultancy business and also dabbles in vintage and antique dealing.
We’ve been married for 21 years and have two grown-up children. Our son, Josh, left home and bought a house with his girlfriend during lockdown, and our daughter, Amelia, lives here with us, although she’s been travelling in Asia since the renovations started… Very sensible!
Can you tell us about your home?
We moved here in February 2022, having downsized from the home where we’d raised our family. It’s a 4-bed, 1950’s semi-detached house in a typical 1950s development. We loved the area because it’s lovely and quiet compared to the busy road we were moving from. It’s also in a great location and near everything we need.
front of 1950s semi-detatched house before renovation work began.
The house had been owned by the same family since the early 50s, and it had clearly been a well-loved family home. So although the decor, kitchen and bathroom were outdated, the house was still in good condition. It had been previously extended in the 1960s with a garage and bedroom above, so size-wise, it was just what we were looking for.
We chose this house in particular because it had such a welcoming, homely feel to it and for the garden, which is south facing and quite private compared to most town gardens.
There’s also an unusual band of huge old pine trees that run through the centre of the local area, down the side of the house and into a neighbour’s garden, and I absolutely loved the idea of living beneath the pines! Little did I know the planning headaches they would cause…
Post renovation - new dark framed windows have been fitted throughout the house.
What was your vision for your new home and your lives together?
When we decided the time was right to sell our family home, I knew that I wanted a project. Our last house was a beautiful 3-storey, 5-bedroom 1930s house that we had renovated when we first moved in, 18 years before.
With a 3-year-old and an 8-month-old, we had to relocate the kitchen, convert the loft and add a small side extension to the house. And in later years, we redecorated and repurposed the rooms many times over to suit our family life.
I’ll never forget yelling at a builder’s apprentice for throwing breeze blocks down the stairs rather than carrying them and one narrowly missing 8-month-old, Amelia, crawling in the hallway below. I phoned the boss and told him I didn’t want this young guy back until he knew how to follow simple instructions, only to be told by another builder that he was the boss’s son, whoops!
Leaving our home of 18 years with all its memories was definitely a wrench, so I knew I needed to throw myself into creating an ideal space. Although we loved the old house, there was much about it that wasn’t ideal, so this felt like a great opportunity to make some changes. My husband, on the other hand, needed some convincing that downsizing was a good idea!
We knew that we didn’t need the three reception rooms we had, but that we would like more space in the kitchen for family gatherings and entertaining. We knew that we wanted a larger and more practical utility area that could accommodate our two dogs without the constant stepping over their beds that we were used to.
We also knew that we wanted the house and garden to feel more connected. And finally, although we were losing our en-suite shower room, we wanted the space to create a family bathroom with a separate shower and bath, which hadn’t been possible previously.
Having fewer rooms meant that we had to carefully plan our storage needs, but starting from scratch with our ideal in mind was very exciting! Is it sad that the pantry, coat cupboards and built-in wardrobes are some of the best bits of the project for me?!
I guess our overall vision for our new home and our lives here is that we feel like we are still building and creating something together. I feel like downsizing is often seen as leaving behind everything good and then settling for something smaller and somehow less than you had before. We very much see it as a continuation of creating a home together, and it’s just as exciting as the move from our first home together to our large family home… The number of bedrooms may have decreased again, but we are still moving forwards, not backwards.
What was the biggest problem you faced in the early days?
The pandemic had a huge impact on our move, as anyone who’s moved in the last couple of years knows. Starting back in the summer of 2021, when we decided to move, I spent a couple of months getting the house ready to go on the market, finishing all those little jobs that hadn’t been done for the last few years! Then it sold within 24 hours to the first couple that viewed it, and it felt as if I needn’t have gone to any effort at all!
There was such a shortage of properties at the time, so we struggled to find something suitable. Then when we found our house, it needed to go through probate, which was taking an average of 5 months at the time. By the time we moved in early 2022, there was a perfect storm of materials shortages, construction worker shortages, and a booming property development market caused by people deciding to extend their current properties, and by some households having savings to spend post-lockdown.
Deb’s doggies have their very own bedrooms in the utility room - such a clever idea to put dog beds in a cabinet!
In the autumn of 2021, we spoke to a builder friend of ours to get a top-line idea of how much it would likely cost us to extend across the back of the house, have a loft conversion, do some remedial works to the 1960s extension, add a new kitchen, bathroom, windows, and generally updating everywhere.
Using his costs and various online sources, we estimated we were able to renovate the whole house for £100k. By the time we were ready for detailed quotes in the late spring of 2022, that estimate had gone out of the window! Where previously new windows throughout for a house this size would have been around £6k, we now struggled to get them for under £10k. And the average cost of a loft conversion increased from £20-25k to £40k+, so our building works budget went from around £50k to over £60k for an extension, which was around a third of the original proposal.
At the same time, our planning application got a bit complicated because the beautiful pine trees that I loved all had Tree Protection Orders (TPOs) on them, something we were made aware of during the purchase. Despite the fact our surveyor and solicitors both provided advice on buying a property affected by protected trees (you need permission from the LA to prune them), they both neglected to advise us of the real impact they would have.
Essentially, the roots of the trees are also protected, which means you are prevented from carrying out any work that might affect the tree roots. To address this head-on, we employed a tree surveyor who carried out a full survey of each tree and its root protection area. In the end, he liaised with our local tree officer, who visited the site, and based on the survey’s results, we were told how far we could extend out at the rear of the house. Needless to say, this was not as far as we had planned!
To add to our budgeting challenges, the planners also rejected our initial application to raise and replace the flat roof on the existing side extension. So we had to make a choice between either keeping the very low ceiling height in that room or spending more money on a pitched roof.
Whilst all this was happening, still pre-planning permission, we were trying to get a selection of quotes together from a variety of companies, so we could compare costs, get references, and decide who we’d like to work with. The problem was that no one was interested! I used word-of-mouth recommendations, Facebook searches, and websites like Trust a Trader to find and approach businesses, and 95% just didn’t reply. Of the handful I managed to get to turn up, only half got as far as giving me a written quote.
It was around this time I wondered if we’d made a huge mistake! Being a project manager in a previous life, I had previously managed budgets of up to £800k on commercial refurbs and had never had a penny overspend. But being faced with cost and supply issues that seemed impossible to control was really daunting.
the velux windows and bifold door will allow plenty of natural light into the new kitchen extension.
I remember asking questions in the Reno Club Facebook group, and it definitely put my mind at rest knowing we were not alone and that everyone had felt the effects one way or another. It really helped when I was told that others in the group had faced issues, such as fixed-price contractors who had come to them to say they were increasing prices…Something we also faced later in the process and would have been even more shocking if we didn’t know the issue was widespread.
Something that stuck in my mind from the course that helped our thinking at this stage was that Fi and Neil had scaled back their own project and made the existing space really work for them for far less.
I had a friend remind us that we were downsizing for a reason and that we didn’t need the biggest extension possible (good reminder!). This helped us to rethink our ideal layout. We worked within our new limits set by the trees and took the increased cost into consideration, and came up with what we have now, which is absolutely perfect.
I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and it all works out in the end.
Tell us about how you phased your project
In terms of phasing, we planned everything around getting the rear extension and the new roof complete. We planned to do as much as we could pre-extension, so that included the windows in the rest of the house, getting the electrics sorted (we didn’t need a rewire, thankfully, but did need a new consumer box that was big enough for the new extension and up to current regulations), stripping out where we could, and doing things like replacing the skirting boards, and generally trying to get the rooms ready for decorating.
We were limited on what we could do by the fact that we were having a new boiler and radiators fitted, and the boiler was going on a new wall. So in terms of final decor, most rooms had to wait until after the extension was complete.
We prioritised bedroom storage and the home office even before we’d started the extension. It was really nice to be able to keep things tidy upstairs, even when downstairs was carnage!
My husband works from home and has lots of Zoom calls, so it was good to get rid of the floral designs in the new office space!
To be honest, we probably should have changed the radiator first and then redecorated the room because doing it the other way around created much more work. We had to clear the room for the plumbers to take up the floorboards and then again a few weeks later for it to be carpeted. Plus, there was some touching up behind the old radiator to do, which actually meant that we had to repaint the whole wall because the paint didn’t match. But it’s very nice to have it completely finished now, and it inspires us to get on with the other rooms!
The other small thing we prioritised was sorting out the open fire in the living room. This was an absolute godsend throughout the winter, especially when we had no boiler in January and the back of the house was missing! I would definitely recommend an alternative heat source if you’re renovating during the winter. If you’re planning on getting a log burner, it’s definitely something you should get early on.
Our main building works took around 5 months. The builders left in March, so just over a year after we’d moved in. The next phase will take about 12 months, and this is when we will decorate the whole house and do the bathroom.
We’ve decided to have a break from having people in the house, so we will leave the bathroom until later this year. It’s very brown, but it works. And now that we don’t have to wash up in the bath, maybe it will feel more like a bathroom again!
Why did you join our home renovation course?
I joined the course right at the very start when we’d only just moved in. Although at that time, I felt like I knew what to expect (I didn’t!). I liked the idea of working through a structured course that would give me a deeper understanding of the renovation process and the pitfalls to avoid.
I think what the course helped me with most of all was my confidence in decision-making.
For example, after reading the advice about architects, I felt more confident about saying “No” to an architecture firm that I was tempted to go with and to say “Yes” to the architect technician who was £10k cheaper. I knew that we were already quite clear on our plans, so I just needed someone competent to draw them out and do our planning application. But I would have been far more anxious about going down that route before doing the course.
What surprised you the most about renovating?
We’ve been surprised by how laid back we’ve been, whilst basically living in one room downstairs! The living room was our kitchen and sitting room. The dogs also slept in there, spent all day in there, and ate in there!
I’d never have believed you if you’d told me we would be ok with that arrangement for several months. All we had was a chopping board for a worktop and a microwave and toaster to cook our meals. But even when things got stressful during the renovation, it was cosy and relaxing in there… Although it has also been amazing to get the huge dog beds out and to reclaim the space!
We very much took the view that the work happened when it happened. We tried not to look ahead constantly, and we tried to remember that we had chosen to do this, and it was supposed to be fun! I’m surprised that we managed it all quite successfully. And it definitely made for a more enjoyable process, if you can call losing access to the kitchen, the dining room, the sink, the washing machine, the downstairs loo, and the boiler for weeks and months on end enjoyable.
Would you like to share a few details about your budget with us?
The two biggest expenditures for us were the rear extension and the new roof and improvements to the existing side extension.
Here’s a breakdown of some key costs:
New hipped roof (size of an average garage) to match existing roof £10,800.
Extension build (3m x 6m), including removing the existing extension and stripping out the kitchen, knocking through, creating a new utility area, all building works, electrics, relocating plumbing, insulation, plastering and so on, to create an empty shell. Supply and fitting Bifolds, picture window, 3 x Velux windows. Fitting costs include kitchen, utility and cloakroom. All finishes except flooring. £65,000.
Steels for kitchen extension and roof £4,000.
Kitchen & utility units £7,500.
Worktops (quartz 30mm) £3,900.
Appliances (2 ovens, fridge freezer, boiling tap, dishwasher, hob, extractor, and sink) £1,990.
New boiler £4,000.
Flooring (LVT through downstairs except living room) £4,990.
Windows throughout the rest of the house £9,700.
Shutters for the whole house £4,600.
Radiators throughout £1,400.
Repipe and fit radiators throughout (not including extension) £1,500.
Log burner in kitchen £5,700.
Architect technician (x2) £1,797.
Structural engineer £1,380.
Planning & BC £1,130.
Tree survey & report £1,480.
Heat Calculations (for BC) £295.
Total: £127,166
What date did you start renovating, and when do you expect to complete the renovation work?
We moved in February 2022, and the major works started in October 2022 and were completed in March 2023. We aim to finish the whole house by March next year, so around 2 years from moving in.
What route did you take for the build, and why?
After our initial problems with finding tradespeople to come and give us quotes, we decided to go the main contractor route.
I originally thought that I would be the one doing the day-to-day project management, and I was happy to coordinate the different trades at the right time etc. It was more expensive to have a contractor who managed the process and was responsible for bringing in all the associated trades, but in this situation, it was the best solution.
It worked for many reasons, including the sub-contractors all had a working relationship with the main contractor that they wanted to maintain, and I found them far more reliable than anyone I found directly.
We had a really good working relationship with the main contractor, who, although he was rarely on-site, always kept us up to date on the progress and plans for the coming week. He had different teams for each stage, and all of the guys were really easy to have around, which is important when they’re in your house for months on end!
I know that a common stress point is that some tradespeople start work and then disappear. Our main contractors were on site when expected every single day, which I think was amazing, and it really helped to keep things on track.
Taking it easy after keeping an eye on the renovation work!
In fact, the only times I felt stressed during the project were when the roofer, who was incompetent, stripped off the flat roof, leaving the area exposed to a week of rain in mid-November. The ceiling collapsed in the bedroom below, and he was nowhere to be seen for days. He took five weeks to complete a five-day job, and almost every day of that was challenging in one way or another.
And the plumbers were also extremely difficult to work with. The owner made a great sales pitch which was extremely convincing. The quality of their work was fine, but their lack of communication and availability to actually do the job they’d been paid for caused me a lot of stress.
Just after we’d got our new boiler fitted and we were enjoying having heat again, they ripped out all of the upstairs radiators and left us without heating for over a week because they hadn’t allocated enough days to complete the job. The owner just refused to take my calls. In fact, I’m still waiting for him to call back now!
So the fact that those two trades caused ALL of my stress confirms to me that we made the right decision to go with a main contractor. And we would actually do the same again for a peace of mind.
Seems like the doggy has the best seat in the house! A great view of the garden and right by the fire.
How did you keep control of your costs?
I found the budget spreadsheet that’s included in the course really useful. I liked that the Renovation Course spreadsheet could forecast overspending.
You absolutely have to put all the numbers in and be honest about them! I spent many hours putting numbers in and taking others out to try and get things to balance. It’s tempting to underestimate your figures so you can make the numbers fit, but in the long run, it’s better to see the worst case on paper.
I think because we were using capital from the sale of our last house, we were a bit more relaxed about the budget. We definitely weren’t good at choosing the affordable options or cutting back. If we felt that extra expenditure would improve the final result, then we went for it. That is not a good budgeting strategy!
Do you have any tips about renovating with pets – your dogs are lovely! How are they coping?
Our dogs have been absolutely fantastic throughout. I was really worried initially about how they would cope with limited access to the garden and all the noise, plus strangers being in the house.
Betty was a bit of a lockdown dog (we got her in 2019), so she wasn’t great with visitors and used to bark at everyone. But now she’s far more relaxed with people coming and going, so it’s actually really helped her!
The dogs were literally constrained to the living room for most of the extension build, but they took it all in their stride. I definitely think having a dedicated space for them really worked. I often closed the shutters if there were lots of people up and down the driveway, and we had the TV on to distract them from the noise.
On days when there was really loud work going on, I would take them to my parents, who would kindly dog sit for the day, which also really helped. I would make sure that I took them out to the garden when the guys were having their lunch break, so we tried to balance the fact that they needed to get on with the work without dogs in the way, but also the dogs needed to get out for a few minutes.
To be honest, after a long run in the morning, the dogs were really happy to curl up by the fire for the day!
The garden is a work in progress. but just look at that chimney and those pine trees!
Did you do any work yourselves?
We are mostly just doing the decorating, and small bits of DIY, like replacing the skirting boards.
I attempted to fit some new interior doors to the bedrooms, but after buying a new circular saw and watching a few YouTube tutorials, I started the first one and spent several hours cutting it down and fitting hinges. I realised then that it was more difficult than it looked.
In the end, I called a local carpenter out, and they fitted all four doors in half a day. They charged £250. I regret not calling them out in the first place!
We are doing the whole garden ourselves, including a new patio area, decking and greenhouse base, so we will see how that goes!
What has been your biggest challenge so far that other renovators need to be prepared for?
One of our biggest challenges has been to make decisions quickly, and to actually stick to our vision for the house, and to not be waylaid by what’s easier to do or what others might think is better.
Builders, plumbers, electricians, roofers, and plasterers all have their own ideas of what works best… Mostly based on what’s easiest for them! It can be really tricky to think on the spot about what you want, and also to hold onto your design decisions that are being questioned. The course really helped us to solidify our thought process in the first place, which definitely helped with holding onto the vision.
The bathroom is the next big prOject on deb and william’s list!
What are the first steps you’d recommend to a newbie renovator who’s about to start a renovation project?
I think I would say… Live in the house for a few months before making any big decisions.
We had thought about what we wanted to do for months before moving in, but once we were in the house and had had a chance to settle in, we realised that (other than being completely unaffordable!) some of the things we thought were essential were not.
For example, we had a really big porch previously, and this is where I would put my coat and boots on, ready to go for a walk. Our current house has a teeny porch, and before moving in, I just couldn’t see how I’d be able to get ready to go out for a walk in it. After living in the house and trying different morning routines, I’ve come to realise that I don’t need a porch extension at all, and I’m perfectly happy to get ready in the hallway.
I would also say don’t rush into ripping out all the carpets and curtains. I notice that this is one of the first things lots of renovators on Instagram do when they move in. If carpets and curtains are dirty or smelly, then go ahead, but otherwise, I’d keep them because old floorboards are really draughty and noisy. And it’s much easier to hoover up dust from an old carpet than have it blowing around and settling on floorboards.
We kept all of our carpets until we were ready to lay the new flooring. In fact, we still have the lovely blue 1970s carpet on the stairs! It will be coming up in the next couple of months because we know we’ll be decorating before next winter.
Another thing that really helped our initial thinking was going to see our neighbour’s extension. Seeing what others have done in the same house is really useful.
I also look regularly on Rightmove at the interior pictures of other houses in our area. I’m still collecting ideas on how others have knocked through between their bathroom and loo, and how they fit everything in. It’s amazing how many different options there are for the same space.
Quick-fire questions! :)
What are the strongest emotions you connect with renovating your house?
Patience and satisfaction.
What one tip would you give our readers who’re thinking about renovating a house?
Go for it! Don’t be put off by others.
What did you go over budget on and why?
Lots! Some things we hadn’t included in the budget, but it was mainly due to cost increases. Also, we were very bad at choosing the more affordable options.
What was the most rewarding aspect of your project and why?
Seeing our vision come to fruition, especially the picture window in the kitchen. It was hard work to have it in the size and height that I wanted. But it is exactly how I imagined and hoped it would be now.
What was the most difficult decision you had to make while renovating?
There were so many difficult decisions that I can’t remember! I’m very much of the view that the stresses of each day are left behind at the end of that day. Things change, and some disappointments happen along the way, but we love the end result, and that is the important thing.
Knowing everything that you know now, would you go through your renovation again?
Yes, absolutely.
Where are your kitchen, worktops, lighting and flooring from?
Kitchen - DIY Kitchens.
Worktops - Godiva Granite, Coventry.
Lighting - Atkin & Thyme (island and utility pendants) and Industville (wall lights).
Flooring - local supplier. Polyfor Camaro LVT in Cambridge shade.
Sockets & switches - Corston Architectural.
Deb and her Doggies relaxing in the picture window.
A huge thank you to Deb and William for sharing their story with us! I’m sure your story will inspire so many and motivate those who are in the middle of renovating their homes now.
And thank YOU for reading too. Don’t forget, if you’re about to embark on your very own journey, you can join our Home Renovation Course, where you’ll learn how to manage and budget your renovation, as well connect with other Reno Club members like Deb & William for a sense check on costs and challenges.
Thanks again Deb and William!
Fi xxx
