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Photography: Paul Lindsay

Strangers to home improvement, Catherine and Michael Southall put their trust in the experts to turn a 1960s bungalow into a dream family home, minutes from the beach…

Overview

Bedrooms: 4

Renovation cost: £65k

Heating system: gas boiler

Ventilation: natural

The story starts with Catherine, who was pregnant at the time, Michael and their one-year-old son moving in with Catherine’s parents to see out the completion time on their new ‘sale agreed’ home. They had just sold their house and were awaiting their new set of keys. However, those plans ended in tatters when the sale fell through. “Instead of the anticipated six week stay, we ended up living with mum and dad for two years,” says Catherine.

The Southalls faced a predicament in finding a suitable replacement home. “We were adamant that we wanted to stay in this location. We both grew up here. My parents are just a 10 minute walk away, as is Ballyholme Beach. The problem was the lack of properties on the market up for sale within our budget.”

Buying a fixer upper

“We never envisaged buying a fixer upper,” admits Michael. “We had no experience of carrying out home improvements, we just wanted something we could walk into. But, if we wanted to buy in this location, we knew we had to think beyond that.”

“We finally found this house and could see the potential to modernise it and create an open plan space to live in. It had a massive garden, which was a great appeal as we now had two young boys. There were four double bedrooms of decent size and a single bedroom, two reception rooms. There was more than enough space for us.”

Fortunately, Michael’s membership in a business networking group meant that he had formed strong connections with various construction professionals over the years. Experts that they leaned on when making the final decision to buy a renovation project.

“We wouldn’t have had the confidence to do this if it wasn’t for them,” he says. First to be called on was architect Jim Neil. “Jim came out with us to view the property before we bought it. We talked to him about our ideas for the house, and he gave us plenty of reassurance that they would be possible.”

The builder in the group, Stephen Hall, owner of a construction firm, was next to give his opinion. “Again, Stevie reassured us that it was a good house. We talked about the potential to create a large, open plan living space by removing the load bearing gable wall and opening into the garage and also removing the living room wall. We would also need to rewire the house.”

“Restructuring the area within the existing footprint of the property meant