‘i’m getting braver with each room makeover’

Elegant Edwardian reno

Having scrolled past this Edwardian semi when house hunting online, Katherine Woodcock was finally persuaded to view the run-down property that would become her first home.

With plans to grow their family, the pair wanted three or more good-sized bedrooms, along with an open-plan kitchen-diner or the potential to create one. They were very much drawn to older houses, as they loved their rented 1930s home and were keen to stay in the same area of Chester. ‘The previous owner had lived here since 1962 so there were green carpets everywhere, embossed wallpaper, lots of dark, varnished wood and old gas fires in both reception rooms,’ says Katherine. ‘I felt a mix of excitement and trepidation as the amount of work needed was a little bit daunting, but the room sizes were good, and it had a really nice family feel to it.’

Lacking the big budget needed to do everything straight away, the couple have renovated in stages over the past eight years. Initially, as their son Noah was only one, they decided to stay in their rented home for a few months while the essential, messy jobs were done. This included re-concreting much of the downstairs flooring, plus damp proofing, re-wiring, re-plastering and installing a new heating system.

At the same time, the dining room was knocked through to the tiny kitchen, which inhabited a newer flat roof extension – a job that required underpinning and a new steel beam. ‘At first we thought we’d just live with it for a while, but when we started opening cupboards and finding mould, we realised it wasn’t practical,’ says Katherine. Undoubtedly, the time pressure of getting the house liveable within two months led to some rushed decisions. ‘We didn’t have the time to mull things over and plan the kitchen to the nth degree,’ she explains. ‘The only thing on our wish list was a range cooker and we just trusted Magnet to design the layout.’

After saving up for two-and-a-half years, the couple were able to replace t