‘I LOVED MY HOUSE SO MUCH, I BOUGHT ANOTHER ON THE STREET’
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F YOU’VE been bitten by the renovation bug and are always on the lookout for your next project, but love where you live, then what better way to scratch the property makeover itch than buying your neighbour’s house when it comes onto the market?
Vanessa Garland lived in a row of traditional Welsh terrace houses within the valleys town of Rogerstone, north of Newport, that she loved for its character and history. She was told it was built as workers’ cottages for a local factory owned by a Staffordshire company.
She loved her house, had renovated it and made it her home, but the need for this property renovator and textile artist to be working on a project began to gather strength.
Vanessa says: “I saw the neighbour’s house one up for sale, I lived two doors down, and thought it could be another project with potential because I could see how I could make it better, add my touch to it and bring a lot more to it; and I only need to move two doors down to do it.”
Adding her touches has filled the home with Vanessa’s personality and interior style choice and she has thought carefully about how each room and space can be fulfilled to its potential.
For example, on the ground floor the middle room felt like a corridor to the kitchen so she has placed furniture to create a space that is a destination not just a route to somewhere else.
By exposing the chimney breast bricks and adding a log burner, Vanessa has given the room a visual focal point and a reason to visit and stay, and by pushing the dining table to one side and using a space-saving pew for seating, there is still room to pass through to the kitchen.
It’s just one of the many clever ideas she has brought to the house.
Other tips include using bifold internal doors, removing parts of walls for better visual flow, after seeking expert advice first of course, and making a window a focal point to engage with an expansive view.
She has also thought about how every nook and cranny can be used and lit to become part of a bigger space or an extra destination area with a specific purpose, like Vanessa’s landing reading nook.
There was one challenge with buying the house two doors down and moving in though, Vanessa says: “When I first moved into this new house, a few times I walked to the front door of the old one and had to stop myself putting my key in it, it was like muscle memory, and I thought, ‘Uh oh, that’s not my house.’”
But Vanessa is ready for a new project, and her lovely two-bed cottage, with attic room, two reception rooms, kitchen with breakfast area and patio doors to a generous garden is on the market for offers over £200,000 with Mr and Mrs Clarke, South Wales. Call 07432 206134 to find out more.