Over to Emma...

It was Matt’s skills that put us in the lucky position to be able to take on a major renovation without being overwhelmed. Buying somewhere that needed work was the only way we could fulfil our dream of moving to Cheltenham – a town we loved and that was close to both my home county, Worcestershire, and our former home in Birmingham. Matt did all the drawing work himself, as well as the electrical and plumbing layouts.

He also submitted the plans to the council – it was just a case of passing them on to the builder.

‘Matt applied for planning permission as soon as our offer was accepted, and by the time we got the keys, everything was ready to go. We thought we’d be able to live in the house, but with two small children and the builders knocking the hell out of the back of the house under tarpaulins in the rain, it was impossible – so we ended up living with my mum and dad in Worcester. All four of us were crammed into my old bedroom, living out of a couple of suitcases, with all our belongings in storage. It definitely concentrates the mind on getting things done! After four months, we were glad to be in our own home.

‘We used Matt’s contacts through his job to get a good deal on things like tiles. Matt designed the kitchen, taking into account my dislike of wall units. I really like the simplicity of the low-level units with the pans and everything else on shelves. I can’t think of a better colour we could have used in here than yellow. The room is in the middle of the house, so even though it’s a single-storey extension with skylights, it has a propensity to be quite dark.

The yellow is really bright and fresh and just makes you happy to come in here.

Yellow wall painted in Lemon Punch, Dulux. Kitchen units, Howdens. Shelving, Ikea. Ecol Windsor chair, Ebay. Dining table and bench, Habitat. Dining chairs, Ercol. Pendant lights, Trainspotters. Blanket, Malt House Antiques of Pembrokeshire