Thrifty couple transform their dated bungalow into a stylish home for £16,500 by ‘watching DIY YouTube tutorials’ and doing the work themselves – and have added £80,000 to the value
- Vicki , 31, and Matt Collis, 35, from Shrewsbury, purchased three-bedroom home in 2019 for £220,000
- Said the bungalow was in ‘desperate’ need of renovation and spent £16,500 updating it while living in it
- Say they have added £80,000 to their house thanks to their DIY handiwork and help of a builder friend
A couple have given their ‘old-fashioned’ bungalow a total renovation – completing most of the work themselves on a shoestring budget of £16,500.
Vicki Collis, 31, and her husband Matt, 35, from Shrewsbury, purchased their three-bedroom home in November 2019 for £220,000.
The bungalow was in ‘desperate’ need of updating and had not been lived in for a few years – leaving the couple with plenty of work to get stuck into.
With very little experience in DIY, the couple who are now expecting their first child, managed to transform the home into a bright, modern and chic house by painting the walls, swapping the kitchen tiles for a wooden floor and painting over the tired wallpaper.
According to local valuations they have potentially added £80,000 to the market value of their home with similar properties fetching over £300,000, and saved on manual work by googling DIY hacks and watching tutorials.
Vicki, who works in admin, said the kitchen was old-fashioned before the renovations, pictured. The cupboards were made of dark wood, the green stove needed an update, and the tiles on the wall and the floor were also looking tired
Vicki Collis, 31, and her husband Matt, 35, from Shrewsbury, purchased their three-bedroom home in November 2019 for £220,000. They said the property was in ‘desperate’ need of renovation and spent £16,500 doing it up. They now claim they’ve added £80,000 to its value. Pictured: the couple broke down walls and made the kitchen more ‘sociable’ with a central island
They only had assistance from a builder friend for the major works – including knocking the walls down in the kitchen – and from a plumber and electrician where necessary.
‘Everything needed doing,’ Vicki, an admin assistant, said. ‘The kitchen was old-fashioned, we had carpet in the bathroom and lots of flowery wallpaper and red carpets elsewhere.
‘We wanted to create a nice family home – we moved from a new build to a renovation and were looking forward to the challenge.’
They set about transforming the property while living in it – even staying put during the bathroom renovation, which meant they had no bathroom access for several days.
Vicki added: ‘Living with no toilet for a few days was certainly interesting.
Vicki and Matt kept the wooden floor and ceilling of origin ion the living-room, pictured before, but got rid of the floral wallpaper and painted over the pastel yellow wall to bring some light to the lounge
For the living-room, pictured now, as well as soft furnishing in blue, grey and pink. They painted the walls beige and added some white DIY panelling. Pictured after
‘Because we were doing a lot of work ourselves, we were without a bath or shower for a few days too.
‘Luckily we have family nearby and so we made it through using their facilities and having the odd the sink wash in the kitchen!’
The couple completed the bulk of the work themselves, doing everything from panelling the walls, fitting built-in wardrobes, building and fitting the kitchen, making bathroom shelves, tiling and flooring.
Before, pictured, the bathroom had carpeted floor and the bathtub was covered in wooden panelling that matched the sink unit. They also replaced the shower-bath’s power pump with a more aesthetic showerhead holder
The bungalow’s new and improved bathroom, pictured, comes with a modern bathtub and sink, and marble-like tiles on the walls and floor. The couple also added a touch of personality with plants
Pictured: With its immaculate fixings, the bathroom now is lightyears away from what it looked before the couple kick-started their renovations
The room before had a pink carpeted floor and the floral pink wallpaper was peeling off, pictured before. The couple also replaced the fitting wardrobe in the corner for one with large mirrors
In the master bedroom, Vicki and Matt picked a new carpeted floor in beige, furnished with a comfortable bed and used white wooden panelling on the wall to spruce the room up, pictured after
Before the renovation, the lounge, which overlooks the garden, pictured, looked dark, with a dark wooden door and matching fireplace, which were painted white by the couple
The kitchen cost the most to redo, with Vicki and Matt forking out £10,000 to open it up and turning it into a warm, welcoming cooking space, with light grey cupboards, a white worktop and an induction hob, pictured now
The couple picked neutral tones of grey and beige in the kitchen, pictured now, and fitted their fridge into a cupboard unit to optimise space
Vicki said: ‘Our DIY skills have somewhat improved since we moved in here!’
The couple had little DIY experience at the beginning of the renovations, but Vicki said Matt was ‘handy’ and they quickly picked things up from Google.
‘In the kitchen, we completely changed the layout. We bricked up the old back door and turned a window into French doors that led onto the garden.
Vicky and Matt’s costs breakdown
Kitchen – £10,000
Bathroom – £3,000
Garden – £2,000
DIY materials – £1,500
Total = £16,500
‘We moved every single electrical socket and all of the plumbing so we could achieve a space that would work for us.
‘We wanted a more sociable kitchen with somewhere to sit, and so it was necessary to make all of these changes to create a space that would work for us.’
They transformed the dated kitchen with dark wooden accents into a light, bright space – with herringbone flooring and white and grey cabinets.
In the bathroom, they removed the old three-piece suite and patterned tiles, replacing it with a fresh, white tub, sink and toilet, with wooden accents and marble tiles.
Two of the three bedrooms have received the same TLC, adding wall panelling and a fresh lick of paint, and removing the old carpets.
In the spare bedroom, they created a quirky DIY wooden wall to go behind the bed.
They stripped the lounge of wallpaper, giving it a fresh lick of cream paint and adding a feature wall with panelling.
The couple, who are expecting their first child together next year, are now focusing on creating a nursery in the third bedroom.
Meanwhile in the garden, they ripped out the old concrete slabs in favour of grey decking to create an al fresco dining area and have added a projector screen to host movie nights.
They also painted the faded red fence a cool dark grey colour to fit the neutral theme.
Before, the bedroom had red carpet, pictured, and a floral wallpaper in pastel green and blue, which was peeling off and needed replacement. The ceilling was also decorated with stick-on stars, which were removed by the couple
In the spare bedroom, Vicki and Matt created a wooden panelling behind the bed to inject some of their personality into the renovation, and painted the other walls pink, pictured
Vicki and Matt are now expecting their first child this year and announced the pregnancy with humour in the middle of their renovations, pictured
The expecting parents began the renovation by scrapping the tiles in the kitchen, pictured, before dismantling the brown cupboard units
Vicki said: ‘We are really happy with what we have created so far – but we still have work to do to make it the perfect home for us.’
In total, Vicki and Matt have spent £16,500 on the renovations, with the majority of the home completed.
While they have not had the house formally valued, similar properties in their area are selling for between £300,000-£350,000 – which they believe their home would also now fetch.
The happy couple, pictured in their garden during the renovations, said they are proud of the renovations they’ve accomplished and believe they have added significant value to their house
The garden was in dire need of an update before, pictured and the couple have cleaned the tiled floor, and painted the red fence dark grey to make it easier on the eyes
Before the renovations, the garden was generous in size, pictured, but Vicki and Matt wanted to add some oomph to their outdoor space
Vicki and Matt turned their dismal garden into a relaxing place, with a wooden deck in grey, matching grey raffia furnishings and planters full of colourful vegetation, pictured now
The couple have also invested in a garden shed, pictured, which they turned into a covered hang out area with a bar and bar stools for guests
Cheers! Vicki toasts to her new garden bar. Overall, the house renovations set the couple back £16,500, with £2,000 going to the garden
The couple got rid of a fence that divided the garden into two sections, pictured and installed their grey wooden deck instead to create a terrace space for entertaining
Pictured: before, the kitchen and dining-room both were a sea of brown and beige that Vicki and Matt were determined to get rid of
The couple made great use of wooden panels to spruce their interior up. For the dining-room, pictured now, they went with grey and honey touches
Before, the dining-room benefits from a small desk area, and was parted with carpeted floor, pictured left. Vicki and Matt created a grey wooden panelling to refurbish the room and got rid of the carpet , right
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