HOME FOR the holidays

INSPIRED BY THE LOCATION, LOUISE CLARK AND ADAM GRAHAM HAVE GIVEN THEIR BUNGALOW A COSY TRADITIONAL FEEL

Living room

'We added reclaimed stone slabs to make the fireplace look more traditional. There was an open fire originally, which was lovely, but it got quite smoky, so we put in a log burner instead."

BUY THE KEY PIECES

Floyd three-seater sofa, £1,475, Barker & Stonehouse, is similar. Chester wall light in Antiqued Brass, £167.38, Jim Lawrence

Louise Clark had never imagined living in a bungalow, let alone a 1980s one, but after meeting her husband Adam Graham and moving from Doncaster to the North East, it was the rural location that charmed her.

WHY DID YOU MOVE?

'We're not really planners and we tend to do things off the cuff, so when Adam came across this five bedroom bungalow near Hexham, we viewed it on a whim. Our house wasn't even on the market but we'd recently stayed in a cottage in nearby countryside and loved waking up surrounded by nature. The setting was beautiful it's accessed down a little track and all you could hear was running water from a stream. Inside it wasn't so idyllic. The old kitchen was falling to bits, it had a blue bathroom with a Jacuzzi and there were red carpets everywhere, but we were up for the challenge."

HOW DID YOU RECONFIGURE THE SPACE?

"Initially we planned to convert the loft and install end-toend windows overlooking the garden. After moving in, it seemed ridiculous as we didn't require an extra room and needed every penny to renovate the space we had. Instead we took some space from the huge L. shaped living dining room to make a kitchen diner snug area and put pocket doors into the living room. Two bedrooms were knocked into one main bedroom and the en suite was enlarged by taking space from a hall cupboard. We also replaced the timber windows with heritage style uPVC designs.