‘We came up trumps with an ex-display kitchen’

While many people’s idea of a lockdown project was baking banana bread or catching up with box sets, Caroline Fawcett and her partner, Jim Langdon, were rather more ambitious. The couple, who have four children between them, have been busy turning a rundown former Conservative club in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight, into a family home, doing the bulk of the work themselves and on a tight budget.

‘The building dates back to 1834 and had been empty for 15 years when we bought it in July 2020,’ says Caroline, a

GP. ‘Fortunately, it came with planning permission to be converted into a single five-bedroom dwelling although we had to tweak the plans slightly as the area where we now have our kitchen was earmarked for a garage.’

Once the changes had been approved and water leaks fixed, she and Jim set about creating a kitchen in what was previously a function room, complete with a bar. ‘Jim is a CEO for a charity and had been living on the mainland, but he was here when the restrictions began and was furloughed. He’d done DIY jobs on his old home, and I mucked in with the renovation, learning as I went,’ explains Caroline. ‘We made some interesting discoveries. For example, when we pulled up the old flooring, we found an original pavement light underneath, which illuminates the basement below.’

The couple managed to source some bargain buys to kit out the highceilinged kitchen. Caroline bought a reconditioned Aga, and Jim spotted the Shaker-style kitchen online. ‘It was an ex-display Wren kitchen from The Used Kitchen Company with oak worktops and it seemed to fit the bill,’ says Caroline. ‘We bought it unseen from the photos, picked it up and experimented with layouts until we could make it work. We paid about £5,000 and were told that a new island work surface could have cost nearly that sum. The sink came included, too. We fitted the kitchen ourselves, hired a sander to spruce up the floorboards, and I tiled the splashbacks.’

The family moved in last spring. ‘We love it here although it’s still a work in progress,’ says Caroline. The kitchen is perfect – I don’t think I’d have done anything differently.’

The floorboards and pavement light are original, and Jim did all the electrical work himself, which was signed off by a qualified electrician to comply with building regulations There was no question that the bar and carpet had to come out, leaving the pair with a blank canvas for their new kitchen Completely unrecognisable now it’s complete, it’s hard to believe that the large kitchen cost well below £10,000, and was installed and decorated with virtually no outside help

Caroline and Jim are delighted to be in their first home together as a couple