One Of A Kind

Hilary and Nick Chambers took their time, determined to craft a home unique to them.

- Nicky Guymer

After four years of saving, a year of renovating and two years of settling in, Hilary Chambers still refers to the home that she shares with her husband Nick and their three children, Olive, 11, Iris, eight, and Herbie, three, as a work in progress.

It was the riverside location in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, coupled with its massive potential, that piqued their interest when they first viewed the Edwardian terrace back in 2011. ‘It was in the middle of a property boom and there was very little on the market,’ says Hilary. ‘But we knew on the first viewing that this would be our home despite the state it was in.’ Nick agrees, saying, ‘There were a lot of strange upgrades, like a timber-framed conservatory, which, though attractive, was too higgledy-piggledy to ever be practical.’

There were other challenges, too – matted carpets, blown plaster, a quarter of a ceiling missing in what is now the playroom, no heating and an infestation of mice. ‘We begged and borrowed just enough to buy the house, but we didn’t have any money left over to renovate it,’ says Hilary. ‘So when the kitchen ceiling fell down, the first Christmas we were here, we just had to leave it bare to the rafters.’