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An overgrown bungalow that ticked none of their boxes but just felt right!
An overgrown bungalow that ticked none of their boxes but just felt right!
An overgrown bungalow that ticked none of their boxes but just felt right!
When Louise and Vince Brown were house hunting back in 2009, they knew the exact location they wanted to live in, but they couldn’t find the perfect house. Then they stumbled across an overgrown bungalow that ticked none of their boxes but just felt right. They snapped the property up immediately and five years later find themselves knee deep in a renovation project that they admit has become much bigger than they ever expected. We spoke to Louise to find out all about the transformation.
Starting with a dream
“It was a really small rundown bungalow with a really ugly, massive fish pond and it was awful. We walked up the drive and it just instantly felt right, it’s just the weirdest thing, but never at that point did I think we were going to knock it down and take it to the ground and do what we did.”
This isn’t their first restoration rodeo, as they also worked on their first home, but to a lesser extent. “The first one was a lot easier! I’m winging it a bit.”
While Louise doesn’t have much experience when it comes to restoration projects, Vince works in the construction industry, giving him access to all the tradespeople and materials they needed to get things done properly. Despite that, they didn’t need too much help with their home.
“He’s done a lot of it himself. Obviously, we had the builders in to do the building, the rendering, all of that, but Vince has actually done so much himself. Obviously the electricians and painting and decorating and all that, The garden room we’re doing at the moment, he’s done that single-handedly himself. When he gets the time, he’s very good.”
The challenges along the way
And there have been a few wobbles along the way too. “We’ve had a few different designs with the house and to get what we’ve got, we had to dig really deep. At one point I remember standing about a meter down and looking up at the neighbour’s house and we were just stood in this mud and I said to Vince what the heck have we done?
Planning took longer than we expected, approximately three years; “It’s quite overwhelming when you do a house that size thinking how you’re going to do everything.”
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A home they can love
Despite the challenges, the house is starting to take shape and Louise is really enjoying the results of their hard work. “I do love the garden. In the evening you can just go in the garden and it’s so quiet; it’s beautiful. The garden is like a labour of love – I’m sort of learning as I go on that. It’s not to everyone’s taste – a lot of people do comment saying too much concrete, too many slabs, but it works for us.
“We’ve got a big kitchen diner with the big island, with the table and a big TV. It’s a great social space. It’s nice that you come into the front door and you’ve got that big space and big window that lets loads of light in.
“We’ve still got loads to do, don’t be thinking it’s all finished because it’s really not! The spare bedroom is currently being decorated so that will be ready for guests very soon!”
And she’s documented the whole journey on Instagram. “I went on there for inspiration and saw that some people did it and so I just put a few things on there. Back in the day I’d just put one picture on there and it developed. One reel went crazy which was great but don’t be fooled, running a social media account takes time and effort and a lot of work. Don’t get me wrong, I get to work with some great brands, but you do have to put the effort in.”
Louise doesn’t see any more renovation projects in her future, despite Vince’s enthusiasm: “But for the moment, we’re looking forward to enjoying our dream home we’ve created”
Find Louise on Instagram at:
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