Yuri and Audrey Gupta have seen their renovation dream stall in a planning and redesign mire, but now the green light has been lit and work is imminent

In February 2016, my wife and I, along with our labrador, Achilles, moved to sunny Brighton from south London, and bought a 1920s detached house with sea views. We had high hopes to be renovating and living the dream within months (and certainly by Christmas!). The grand design included a ground floor extension with the creation of lower level garden rooms, a full internal renovation with expansive open plan living, a loft conversion with a master bedroom suite, and landscaping to the front and rear.

However, two years later we find ourselves still living out of cardboard boxes with the 1970s wallpaper. So what happened?

Well, this being our first renovation project, back then we were blissfully ignorant of the very concrete realities of planning permission, Buildings Regs, and party walls. After prematurely planning shaker kitchens and German low-profile windows back in 2016, all our enthusiasm and energy, along with a fair chunk of money, was subsequently sucked into design after redesign, planning submission after submission.

Eventually, after quite literally going back to the drawing board with a new team of local architects in the winter of 2016, and developing a much improved design for the house, it was a huge relief when we finally got planning permission in the spring of 2017.

The last year has seen plans develop, a tender process play out, and finally, in the last month, a contractor chosen and a start date tantalisingly dangled in front of us.

We might even be finished by Christmas 2019!