When I started this blog I was unaware we’d soon be leaving ‘The Home That Made Me’. In fact, I had absolutely no idea we’d soon be shutting the door on this beautiful house that shaped me as well as saw me develop as a person & teach me many lessons along the way.
We were given the most incredible opportunity to buy our dream home, which despite my love for Beswick Avenue, was all too good to pass up.
I bought this house in March 2009, it was a repossession so needed a hell of a lot of work but we bought it for a bargain £153,000. I was 18 years old. We moved out exactly 6 years later in March 2015 after selling it for £260,000. During that time I put (literally) blood, sweat & tears in to making it a home.
Above is the floor plan – it’s a 3 bedroom semi detached with deceivingly spacious room sizes.
The kitchen –
Everything had been ripped out including the french double doors by the previous owners. They had even taken every internal door, plug sockets, light switches and so on so we had a completely blank canvas. We actually kept the original flooring which once cleaned came up beautifully. The entire kitchen including sink & taps were from Ikea.
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The dining room –
This room was probably my favourite room in the house. It was a ‘walk through’ room however. I painted the orange brick fireplace using Annie Sloan paint to brighten up the room. Paint colour was Wilkinsons ‘Coastline’ as used in our new home.
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The lounge –
I heard from a neighbour that the lounge once housed the most beautiful fireplace but unfortunately along with all the other things was ripped out. I picked up this fireplace surround for £5 from a carboot sale to give it a bit of character.
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The porch –
When we bought the house it had a 1st floor extension housing the bathroom however you could literally walk straight through into the garden & below was wasted space. We decided to block this in to create a porch area with doors through into the garden.
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The garden –
This was overgrown & very neglected with a huge shed which took up the majority of the garden. We gave it a bit of love along with replacing the stones with artificial grass (the best invention ever),
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Our bedroom –
We knocked through & sectioned off some of the bathroom to create an en-suite (this is where Elsa was born on the floor!). Again, Wilkinsons ‘Coastline’ paint.
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The bathroom –
After we took a section of this to create the en-suite we took over part of the landing. Although a slightly odd shape it really worked without taking any necessary space.
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Bedroom 2 –
As we weren’t aware we’d be moving we turned this bedroom into Elsa’s room before we actually had a chance to move her into it. She never stayed in this room despite being designed for her as we decided to keep her in her ‘babies’ room (bedroom 3 below) in a cot rather than disturb her only to move house & disturb her again. We took out the huge wardrobes but had to box in the hot water cylinder so a bit of creative work was needed.
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Bedroom 3 –
Elsa’s bedroom. When we took over some of the hallway to extend the bathroom we had to move the doorway round to the other side hence why these photo’s are from a different angle.
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This house will always remain in my heart as my first home & was where my obsession with interiors began. Although I was devastated to leave it as I had such a bond/connection with the house, I haven’t thought about it much as i’ve been so caught up in the new house & making that our perfect home.
It was hard work getting it to the standard we left it, however taking on a big project like that is financially & emotionally so worth it. I’ve never felt more proud of anything looking back through photo’s & seeing how far the house had come on, as well as making nearly £100,000 profit.
Love, Charlotte x
It's great to see how much love and attention you put into your home. My husband's first place was a repo, and they're a perfect opportunity to add value. X
Gorgeous home and exciting project! We have rented out our own home down south to move to Scotland for my husbands job and are in rented up here. We were only in our own place for 18 months with most of those, having Scotland on the horizon so there is so much more I want to do if we move back. If we sell and buy something new, id love a project! Kayleigh xxx
Gosh what a beautiful home, I love how each room flows into the next. You certainly have an eye for interiors. So excited for this next chapter and seeing how gorgeous you are making your forever home x
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Thank you so much for your kind words – it was a beautiful house but our new house is even better x
Ahh it must be so hard being in rented when you want to do stuff to the house, but then again I suppose it's money down the drain. Hopefully it'll all work out in Scotland for you so you can buy up there 🙂 x
Thank you lovely – i'd definitely recommend a repo to anybody but nowadays they are quite hard to get hold of due to good mortgage rates x
It is hard to leave an old home. There are memories and often friends who get left behind. Making the decision to move, however, is often inevitable. A newer, bigger home may be the reason. In this case, one has to weigh the pros and cons when making the decision. It may be helpful to take pictures of the old home to keep the memories of it alive for you.
Sean McCrory @ Graham Commercial Real Estate Consultants
Wow! What a transformation. The effort and hard work is clear in the before and after shots. Buying a new home is scary, but when it works and it's meant to be – it can be one of the most exciting feelings in the world. I'm glad the purchase was successful and you're moving on to bigger and better things! Home is where you make it!
Martin Moran @ Buyers Agent San Antonio
I have been following your instagram account for a while..when I saw you post a picture of sopley mill i realised I lived locally to you (I'm getting married at sopley mill next year!!) I have also just bought a house on Beswick avenue, it needs a lot of work doing to it but I have just read this blog post and it has given me lots of inspiration:)
Oh Lauren, that's so strange!! Which end on Beswick are you? So many lovely memories in that house although I think the new owners have changed it lots since. I'm sure it'll be beautiful 🙂 x
I know, very funny! I'm in the middle of Beswick avenue near Gorsecliff road. We were in a flat in southbourne before and then moved here last December. We have a whole kitchen to rip out and lots of diy to do but when we were looking around for a house this was the one that I knew had so much potential! Love what you did with your place on Beswick:)