A couple added £156,000 to the value of their homes after spending £80,000 on renovations on Worst House on the Street, but viewers were not convinced by the new look of their snug and conservatory.
Parents Tim and Laura bought their four-bedroom 1830s cottage near Swansea for £302,000, but had to renovate it in order to move in, with a budget of max £75,000.
With the help of brother-sister duo Scarlette and Stuart Douglas, they spent £80,000 to give their home and its outdated attached conservatory a modern indoor-outdoor feel.
The couple added significant value to their home and were delighted with the results, but viewers were left unconvinced by the colour of their snug, which they called ‘revolting,’ and the conservatory, which they said looked ‘awful.’
With the help of brother-sister duo Scarlette and Stuart Douglas, parents-of-one Tim and Laura, near Swansea, spent £80,000 to give their home and its outdated attached conservatory a modern indoor-outdoor feel. But not everyone was pleased with the result, with some viewers saying the colour of their snog was ‘revolting’
Before the renovations, pictured, the snug looked very dark and had a derelict stone wall. It was in dire need of updating to feel more homely
After the renovation, the new conservatory, which cost £19,000 to put in place, was a sun-filled room that welcomed plenty of space for family life
Accountants Tim and Laura, who had just moved from Bristol to be closer to Laura’s parents revealed they were living with her family during the renovation, and wanted to move in as soon as possible.
They had big plans for the house, which they said had lots of potential, but Tim admitted he ‘didn’t appreciate how much work there was to do.’
The house, which had an outdated stained yellow paint job on its exterior, was the couple’s first renovation project, and while confident Tim said he was not ‘worried,’ Laura admitted she was ‘terrified.’
The couple’s house had been untouched for several years and they had a lot of work ahead.
Tim and Laura also painted their daughter’s room green and furnished it with a modern cabin bed and white furniture, and made the layout work for them
Before, the bathroom had a standard, outdated bathtub and sink and the walls and carpeted floor needed updating as well to feel more modern
After, they put green wooden panelling in the upstairs bathroom and picked a free standing bathtub, and a £140 sink unit to mix modern taste and a more traditional feel
Mainly, they wanted to get rid of the outdated, unusable conservatory, which Stuart called ‘a monstrosity’, and replace it with a more modern sunroom that they could use as a family.
However, the project wouldn’t come cheap, at £19,000, nearly a third of their overall budget.
Tim and Laura also wanted to invest in a log burner to heat their home, which would take another financial investment with prices varying from £700 to £10,000 for a double sided burner.
The snug had it been left to its own devices and its decrepit apparent stone wall was crumbling to the floor. However, it had elegant period features that the couple could benefit from keep, Stuart and Scarlette said.
Meanwhile, the upstairs’ bathroom of the house was in dire need of updating, with a stained, cream floor and an old bathtub that wasn’t practical for the whole family.
A look at the snug before the transformation. It only had one window and looked very dark. Tim and Laura opened it up more to welcome more light
At the start of the renovations, the house and its ‘monstrosity’ of a conservatory were an eyesore in the neighbourhood. Tim and Laura bought it for £302,000
The insides of the conservatory were too hot to be used, due to bad insulation, and the couple used the space for storage, but wanted to make more of the room
Finally, the couple also wanted to renovate the nursery for their daughter Grace. At the start of the renovation, they used the space for storage.
After 13 weeks of hard work, the couple invited Stuart and Scarlette to visit their home again to witness all the changes they’ve made to the place.
They painted the snug deep green but kept the original wooden beams on the ceiling. They added a cosy sofa, plants and bookshelves to create a warm, inviting atmosphere.
The pièce de résistance was the log burner, which was connecting the two rooms in the middle after Tim and Laura drew a hole in the wall to give it its own little nook.
On the other side of the £1,900 log burner, the newly updated conservatory offered plenty of light and space for family living, with a dining space at the back and a beautiful deep green velvet sofa face the burner.
The nursery was also a storing space at the start of the renovation, and the couple wanted to repaint it and redo the floor to give Grace the best room possible
After the renovation, the nursery was painted in pastel hues, included a nice pastel mural painted behind her brand new white dresser
The couple added plants, rugs and coffee table to add some charm to the space.
‘They’ve created a usable family space with period details, warm atmosphere,’ Stuart applauded.
Upstairs, the new bathroom was panelled with wood which was painted green and white. The couple picked a free standing bathtub and added a shower over it so the whole family could use the bathroom.
They also splashed £140 for a new wooden sink unit.
Scarlette was charmed, saying: ‘They’ve done so well with the tiles, the colour they’ve gone for in here, the wooden panelling, the taps, the handles.’
Stuart praised the room’s ’boutique’ look and said it offered ‘a modern twist on a traditional fee.’
Laura and Tim were both accountants and joked it would be embarrassing if they got their numbers wrong. In spite of using the extra £10,000 they had put aside as a contingency, the couple managed to do the renovations within their budget
They also took a peek at the nursery, which was painted in beautiful pastel colours for Grace, including a home-made rainbow mural.
‘Tt’s a beautiful room, Grace is going to love this, the colours, the pastel,’ Scarlette said.
‘Grace has a lovely room, and this room can change as Grace grows,’ Stuart remarked.
Stuart and Scarlette revealed that the house, which was bought for £302,000, had been re-evaluated at £558,000.
It meant that by spending £80,000 on the renovation, the couple had made a profit of £72,000 on their renovation, if they decided to sell.
Viewers were not convince by the transformation and some said the conservatory looked ‘awful’ and the snug’s colour was ‘revolting’
However, the renovation was not to the taste of everyone, and some viewers were not convinced by the conservatory and the snug.
‘Not my fav episode! That revised conservatory looked awful with all those plants & that snug was a horrible colour. I didn’t like the shower over the free standing bath either & what they’d done to the nursery was awful. Not to my taste but each to their,’ one said.
‘That conservatory doesn’t match the rest of the property. They would have been better off keeping the original windows and putting a new roof on,’ another said.
‘Don’t think the wooden ceiling with wooden floor looks right,’ another said.
‘That green in that snug is revolting. Beautiful home otherwise,’ another said.
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