How a married couple from Britain independently remodeled their 1930s house

How to make your property rise in price by one and a half times? Independently make repairs with redevelopment! This is exactly what Lynn and Ash Bodd from the English city of Leeds did with their house built in the 1930s. They turned it into an innovative designer home.

35-year-old couple Lynn and Ash Baud (Leanne and Ash Baud) five years ago bought a five-bedroom house in Leeds for 279,950 pounds. But soon they realized that the new home needed a major makeover – the family needed to create a space that would be better suited for the lives of their four children: 15-year-old Oliver, 13‑year-old Mason, 2-year-old Esme and six-month-old Ada.

To save money, the couple decided to carry out most of the work on their own. The renovation began in 2016 and included the reconstruction of all rooms. And in 2019, when Lynn was pregnant with Esme, they even converted the attic to add another bedroom and carry out a large-scale reconstruction of the kitchen.

Lynn, who works for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, was appointed responsible for the design and studied design wisdom from YouTube videos. Ash, a plumber and engineer, carried out plumbing and heating work. For the wiring of electricity, the couple hired professional electricians. 

The couple managed to further reduce costs by buying furniture on eBay and Facebook Marketplace. The result is a cozy but stylish house, which, according to Lynn and Ash, now costs 425,000 pounds (42,600,000 rubles) – 145,050 pounds (14,555,000 rubles) more than they paid when buying the house.

Lynn and Ash covered the floors with gray checkered carpet and installed a white fireplace in the center of the room. They furnished the living room with dark blue-gray velvet sofas and decorated them with pink pillows.

The repair was put on pause: a piece of chipboard covered the opening where the entrance door should have been, the holes in the floor were covered with boards, there was no plaster on the walls, and there were railings and balusters on the stairs. Work resumed when Ada was three weeks old, and the couple found that there was practically no time for repairs between sleepless nights with a newborn and raising two teenagers and a baby.

Downstairs, the couple demolished the walls to create an open-plan kitchen. In the kitchen, the glazed roof and household appliances were removed, 1930s-style doors were added, and handles, taps and sinks were replaced. Then they re-laid the tiles on the floor and added a bar counter and a home office in one of the corners. The greenhouse was rebuilt, adding stylish doors and making the windows not open to make the winter garden an extension of the living room.

In the main bathroom, they returned the original brickwork, after which they covered the walls with plaster and painted the walls and ceiling.A large custom-made mirror appeared in the room, the taps were replaced. In addition, the couple installed a new shower, bath, sink and toilet. All this was bought on eBay with significant discounts – these were showcase copies that participated in sales..

In 2019, the couple rebuilt the attic to add another bedroom, and the other rooms were furnished with second-hand furniture purchased on the Facebook Marketplace and in charity shops.The bedroom with a bathroom required the most attention, since it was the most neglected room. It was painted, new tiles were laid, a new sink was installed from another sale on eBay, and a custom-made dressing table. A family of six people spent about 60,000 pounds (about 6 million rubles) on the entire reconstruction – and they were very happy with the results.

Even the children participated in the repair! Mason, the 13-year-old son of Lynn and Ash, painted the closet white during the renovation of his room.

13-year-old Mason himself chose the colors of his room.

One of the rooms, completely redone, was given to two-year-old Esme.

The light walls and gray carpet were successfully complemented with pink decorative elements.

For those who want to renovate their home, Lynn advises:

Now the couple are planning to lay out oak parquet in a herringbone pattern throughout the first floor and decorate the corridor.

There are a lot of elements decorating the situation in Esme's room.

Six-month-old Ada also has her own room. When the renovation was underway, the couple did not know the sex of the unborn child, so the decoration is made in gender-neutral tones.

Bright colors and large details – everything that a baby likes!