‘We found our FOREVER HOME'

Jill and John have turned a run-down ex-rental into their dream house, with a cosy modern country look

COME ON IN!

ABOUT ME I’m Jill Makepeace, 35, a project support officer for the NHS. I live here with my husband John, 36, who owns a furniture and kitchen worktop business, our daughter, Lily, four, and our baby son Wilfred.

OUR HOME A four/five bedroom detached 1950s house in County Durham. We moved here in 2018.

WHEN WE MOVED IN It was an ex-rental property so the décor was tired and the ground floor layout just didn’t flow.

AND NOW We’ve embraced open-plan living by demolishing the conservatory, knocking the kitchen and dining room together and extending at the rear of the property. The bathroom’s also been completely redesigned.

With a very small search area, we were lucky to find our ideal home on our favourite estate in Belmont, CountyDurham,’ says Jill. ‘We had spotted the For Sale board outside a detached house while we were driving around the area.

When we viewed the house I knew instantly I wanted it, despite the flowery decor and disjointed layout. You had to walk through the lounge to access the dining room and conservatory, but strangely there was no door between the dining room and kitchen. All the flooring was mismatched and there was a different style light switch in every room. I wasn’t surprised to hear it had been a rental property for a number of years. We weren’t put off though. Doing up our first home, a three-bedroom semi nearby, had given us the renovating bug, so we couldn’t wait to start gutting it.

Rethinking the layout