A couple have shared the incredible transformation of their home after giving the house a full renovation – which has added £80,000 to the property value.
Molly Bell, 26, and Sam Heptonstall, 29, from Staffordshire, bought their 1930s home for £185,000 in August 2020.
They wanted to redecorate the house in brighter colors and replace some of its dated furniture.
This detached house had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. It also featured a living room, lounge, conservatory, kitchen, and dining area.
When they first bought the home, they were ‘naïve’ and thought it just needed redecorating, but they quickly realised they needed to rewire and plaster the entire property.
After admitting that they weren’t quite sure what they wanted, the couple bought their house thinking it would be easy to update the 1930s home. Photo: The living-room with cream carpet and other furnishings.
Soon after purchasing their house, the couple realized they needed more than just paint. Before the renovations, the kitchen was decorated with tiles and brown cabinets.
Molly Bell, 26, and Sam Heptonstall, 29, from Staffordshire, bought their 1930s home for £185,000 in August 2020 and have added £80,000 to its value thanks to DIY renovations amounting to £37,000, completed in just four months. The kitchen after the renovations.
Molly, Molly’s marketing manager stated that they fell in love when Molly first saw the home.
“We wanted to add our stamp to it, create something that was our own,” so we went for it.
“It was soon converted into a construction site!”
They also renovated the kitchen to open it up to the dining area, removing the wall that was dividing the space.
Molly and Sam were in desperate need of new flooring and paint for their master bedroom, which was beige before they did the renovations.
This outdated house was painted in bright colors and didn’t reflect Molly or Sam’s taste. They decided to redo it. After renovations, the master bedroom.
The lounge after renovations. Only the cables and fireplace insert are visible.
The couple installed a new fireplace in their living room, and it was decorated with cream carpet, green furniture, and two couches.
After that, they decided to renovate the conservatory and install bi-fold doors and a roof to make a separate space.
While they hired professionals to carry out the larger jobs – including removing the wall, working on the conservatory and the electrics – Molly and Sam took charge of the cosmetic work.
She stated that the majority of the work happened in the second lockdown. This allowed us to have evenings and weekends so we could finish things quickly. Sometimes, we’d stay until 10 or 9 p.m. to complete bits.
Molly and Sam (pictured) bought the three-bedroom detached house with two bathrooms in August 2020. They thought they would only have to renovate it.
Pictured: Sam and Molly celebrating in front of the house after purchasing it for £185,000 in August 2020, before the renovations started
Pictured below: In order to open up the space between their kitchen and dining-room, the couple removed the wall.
‘Me and Sam were useless going into this – I’d never even painted a room before and Sam hadn’t used a drill, but you just kind of learn as you go.’
They have been thrifty and cut down on costs by upcycling their furniture, using DIY skills and other clever tricks.
Molly gave their downstairs shower/utility room a makeover on a budget using some leftover Frenchic black paint and marble vinyl cover which cost £10. The chrome shower doors were painted, and the utility cabinets were painted. Finally, the marble sticky cover was applied to the surface.
Molly laughed and joked that after her husband decided to renovate the house, it became an ideal building site. Pictured is the wreckage of the renovations in the kitchen.
A white cabinet unit was chosen by the couple to house their kitchen. It now has two ovens and a wine refrigerator.
Pictured: A bathroom before renovations.
The bathroom before and after. Sam and Molly removed the green paint from the bathroom, replaced the tub with tiles and updated the space.
The backyard had no grass and was green before the renovations. Right, the couple removed the shed from their backyard and replaced it with false grass.
For a low-cost makeover, she also recycled an old storage case using left over paint from another project.
Molly also turned a £17 plain glass vase from IKEA into an on-trend neutral toned decorative pot using a sample pot of concrete-effect spray from B&Q which cost £5.50. She estimates a similar stone vase would have cost £40.
She even tried her hand at arts and crafts, creating her own abstract art piece for the lounge, spending £20 on paints and a canvas – as opposed to an estimated £300 that a similar art piece could have set them back.
The couple also did the panelling in their bedroom and the dining room themselves, following Instagram video tutorials and spending £150 on materials.
The interior renovations were completed in less than four months and they moved in on the 19th of December 2021.
They removed the old decking from the garden and created a new patio and area with grass. The outside work was completed in March 2021.
A fresh coat of paint was applied to the exterior and it became a brighter, whiter property.
The couple got their home revalued and found it had increased by £80,000 and is now worth £265,000.
In total, they spent £37,000 on the transformation – including £10,000 on new bi-fold doors and the conservatory roof, which was the most expensive aspect of the renovation.
Molly shared that she is now “completely finished” and that it had completely transformed her home.
‘We’re really pleased with the results – we’ve created our dream home, which we can see us living in forever.’
Pictured: the front exterior of the house last Christmas, before Molly and Sam started with the £37,000 four-months-long renovations
Before the renovation, the conservatory had a see-through ceilling, which made the room look less clean than it was, with leaves and dirt collecting on the panel, pictured
After the walls were removed, the new kitchen was transformed into one.
Pictured right: The dining room before Sam and Molly took down the wall. Pictured left: The new dining area with soft flooring and white panelled wall.
The conversatory is now. Redoing this room’s ceilling was the couple’s biggest expense, costing £10,000 of the renovations price altogether
The couple took pictures of the hallway leading into the kitchen and stairs before they were completely redone.
The hallway is now brighter after renovations. Molly and Sam panelled the wall near the stairs and then repainted and painted the walls.
The office area, which includes a small table and char beside a bed. This was after the couple renovated one bedroom to convert it to work from home.