Patience paid off for couple who found the home of their dreams
Heidi and John Exley bought a dream home and modernised it beyond recognition. Words and pictures by Heather Dixon
For years Heidi Exley had secretly admired a neighbouring house she could see from her bedroom window.
Although she lived in the next cul-de-sac and liked the house she shared with husband John and their children Grace and Brook, she often wished for the privacy and open countryside views of the other property.
“I admired it from a distance,” says Heidi. “Houses around here rarely come up for sale but I waited and hoped that one day it would come up on the market.”
When nothing happened she took matters into her own hands and put a letter through the door asking if the owners would consider selling it. There was nothing to lose and, as it turned out, it was perfect timing. The owners were wanting to downsize and immediately got in touch.
“We arranged to have a look round and although it was very dated inside – particularly the kitchen and bathrooms – it was everything I’d hoped it would be,’ says Heidi. “We put our house on the market and it sold straight away.”
At that point, Heidi’s dream ground to a halt. The home owners were unable to find anything suitable to move to and a year dragged by, with the buying chain held in limbo. Eventually Heidi and John’s buyers got tired of waiting and pulled out and a second year passed.
“Eventually, the owners got in touch and said they’d finally found somewhere to live, so we put our house back on the market,’ says Heidi. ‘It was a nail-biting time. My heart was absolutely set on this place and I was terrified of losing it if we couldn’t sell ours.”
Fortunately for the Exleys it was second time lucky and in 2015 they paid £325,000 for the fourbedroom detached house near
Doncaster, moving in at the end of October.
They waited until after Christmas before John, who runs his own plumbing and heating business, launched a major renovation of the property by updating the entire central heating system. This involved removing plaster from the walls and taking up floors.
Very quickly, the renovation took on a momentum of its own and led to re-plastering most of the internal walls and Artexed ceilings, refitting the bathrooms, laying new floors, replacing the wobbly staircase with a bespoke one built by a joiner, rewiring throughout and updating the front door.
“We had about £40,000 allocated for the renovation, saving a lot of money with John being able to do so much of the work himself,” says Heidi. “Fortunately, we didn’t have to buy new windows, which was a big saving.”
With the renovation complete, Heidi and John lived in the house for a further two years while they saved up for the second phase – the creation of a new open plan living-kitchen at the back of the house.
“I knew what I wanted but had no idea where to start,” says Heidi. “We needed to get someone in who had the vision and experience to turn our ideas into reality.”
They had seen and admired the work of Doncaster-based architect John Mason of Ink Architectural, and contacted him to help them come up with a design which would transform the back of the conventional 1980s house into a striking family home full of light and space.
John Mason picks up the story: “We were approached by John and Heidi to assist in creating a modern addition to their detached home which was not functioning in its current state for the needs of their growing family. The conservatory was unusable – too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter – and separate kitchens, dining room and garden rooms are becoming a thing of the past with home owners wanting open plan living with a sense of shared connection to all spaces.
“Our brief was to provide a modern, open plan and light-filled space which could be used for day to day living, and to take advantage of the views over open fields and countryside beyond.”
“John saw what needed to be done straight away,” says Heidi. “He was particularly keen to make the garden and beautiful country views the focus of the extension, which includes full-height feature windows leading directly into the garden. John also suggested that the extension should be rendered rather than built in the same brick as the original parts of the house.
“He said the new section would always look like an add-on it if was completed in the same materials,” says Heidi. “By rendering the exterior at the back, and making it a very modern extension, the house still works as a whole without trying to disguise its original style. It shows how old and new can work together.”
The challenge was getting it through planning. The garden has a number of trees which are protected by preservation orders and one in particular, a huge Class A beech tree in the middle of the garden, blocks a lot of natural light from the house.
Doncaster Town Council asked for a tree survey to be carried out – at an estimated cost of
£3,000 – and special foundations installed to prevent damage to the tree roots. After extensive research, Heidi managed to find a specialist company, Selwyn Trees, to carry out the survey for more manageable £600.
Specialist foundations were designed and specialist excavation and construction methods adopted. Permission was given for a single storey extension across the back of the house.
The extension roof was finished with Sandtoft Caldersale Grey roof tiles and new windows installed along the width of the house at the back, The project cost Heidi and John a further £60,000 but they believe it was worth it to get the updated house of their dreams.
We needed to get someone in who had the vision to turn our ideas into
reality.