ROOM TO GROW’

Using clever, budget-conscious upcycling tricks and a fresh glamorous style, Kate breathed colourful new life into her 1970s home

his house was meant to be a stop gap,’ says Kate Lovejoy. ‘Our daughter Nancy was coming up to one and I was pregnant with James, when my soon-to-be-husband Christian and I began to think about moving from our London flat to a larger family home.

The idea was to find a modest house with a garden, near the city. We’d originally planned to stay there for about four years and then move on to something more substantial.

TImagining the future

I soon realised that the areas I liked were pretty expensive so we’d be looking at small, modern homes. And this house, situated on an estate near Maidenhead, struck a chord with me. As a child, I’d grown up in a gorgeous old Victorian schoolhouse with half an acre of garden, but I spent all my time roller-skating with my friends on the new estate on the other side of the village. I remember viewing this house, looking out of the kitchen window and imagining our own children playing with the kids next door. So even though this was meant to be a short-term plan, I was already imagining them growing up here. But I certainly didn’t think, “wow, this is my dream home”.

Plans in place

The house came with planning permission to build an extension at the front of the property and this was another plus point. As Christian and I intended to do the house up and hopefully sell it on at a profit, the fact that it didn’t have much in the way of distinguishing features wasn’t an issue for us. The rooms were light and a good size, but they hadn’t been redecorated since the 1980s. The kitchen had wall-to-wall floral tiles and there