Blue-sky thinking

A combination of careful planning and DIY prowess brought Sophia and Matthew’s extended home to life

- ELLEN FINCH

Widening the patio and adding glass doors from the kitchen makes the 10x6m garden feel bigger. ‘Nothing really grew in the top bit so I decided to make it a seating area,’ says Sophia.

Paving stones, Kandla grey sawn and honed sandstone. Sofa, Maze Living. Outdoor rugs, Weaver Green and H&M. Coffee table, Ikea

Even for a keen DIYer like Sophia Nikolaides, the start of a project comes with some trepidation. ‘There’s always a bit of dread when you start something, but it usually turns out okay,’ she laughs. The data analyst and Instagrammer has built up a following from documenting the renovation of her Victorian home in Brighton – and the creative DIY projects she shows along the way. If you need an Ikea hack or a quick and easy way to update a room without breaking the bank, she’s your go-to. ‘A lot of my ideas come from Instagram,’ she says. ‘It’s given me a lot of inspiration, and the confidence to take an idea and put my own twist on it.’

When Sophia and her husband Matthew moved in, the house was in a decent condition, but Sophia knew she wanted to make tweaks. ‘We wanted a bigger kitchen-living space,’ she says. ‘This house had a typical galley kitchen – and once we did the side-return extension, it made it a much larger, more usable room.’