Woman transforms humble home increasing value from £275,000 to £450,000

A woman with a budget of £22,000 managed to add nearly £200,000 onto the value of her home through DIY.

Retail buyer Helen Sellwood, 38, from County Durham changed the entire face of her house as a lockdown project.

Helen redecorated the entire house, remodelled the kitchen, levelled the garden and added new paving, changed the colour of the house and added different wallpaper in two out of four of the bedrooms.

And, as a result of her efforts, she converted her humble £275,000 house into a luxury £450,000 home.

She also re-painted the bathrooms and used tile paint to get rid of the tired beige tiles, refurbished the living and dining room and even changed the look of their stairs.

‘I had a difficult time before lockdown and had been in a job I really didn’t like,’ she said.

‘It was so hard not being able to see family and friends in the months that followed but lockdown gave me a chance to be creative again and a happy distraction.

‘This made me try new things I wouldn’t have had time for before, like upcycling old furniture with murals and painting bathroom tiles.’

Now the bright and colourful home is both on trend and more profitable.

Helen said the kitchen was the biggest project, and it cost £17,000 in total, including labour.

She said: ‘We installed new units that cost around £7,000, a mirostone worktop – a modified acrylic which gives the look and feel of natural stone surfaces – cost us £1,500, the rest, flooring, fitting, a new door and a new radiator together cost us £3,750,’ she said.

‘We saved about £12000 on the kitchen by shopping around and getting things for cheap off online marketplaces and second-hand stores.

‘We have saved thousands in labour costs by doing a lot of the work ourselves and about £10,000 on putting new bathrooms in by upcycling the ones we had and painting every surface, including the vanity units and the tiles.’

Helen adds another huge job was the back garden.

She explains: ‘It was a run-down space. My dad and brother are landscapers, and they completely levelled the area and added new paving, along with a herringbone fence and a pallet sofa, which turned it into a lovely place to relax during summers.’

According to Helen, social media has had a huge impact on her decor decisions around the house.

At first, she wasn’t keen on using wallpaper around the house, but when she saw it everywhere on Instagram, she became ‘obsessed’ and incorporated it around the house.

‘It really adds depth to a scheme and gives it such a cosy feel,’ she said.

‘Instagram also inspired me to wallpaper a ceiling! I added the tree mural from the Swedish brand Rebel Walls to our loft ceiling, which was a huge project, but I loved it.’

Helen enjoys a maximalist lifestyle and got rid of the previous neutral tones in the house.

‘I think maximalism is about expressing your personality and surrounding yourself with items you love and have a purpose,’ she said.

‘It isn’t merely about consumerism. So many items in our home are from charity shops or off the Facebook marketplace.

‘I have upcycled a lot of our furniture to give it a unique look. I also love collecting items from our travels as little keepsakes from places we have visited.

‘One can live a maximalist lifestyle with minimal things, and it just needs a little bit of creativity and some DIY.’

Her whole family loves the house, and whenever anyone new views their living space, they always leave them with comments like: ‘This is the house of my dreams’, ‘I wish I was as brave with colour’, and ‘It’s such a happy house to be in’.

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