Striking Displays

With a creative vision in mind, Anna and Jason Martin turned a run-down property into an absolutely gorgeous family home

Anna and Jason Martin were thrilled when they came across an affordable three-bedroom house in an area they had thought was beyond their budget. The trade-off was that the property needed top-down renovation, but the couple only saw that as an advantage. “It’s a cliché, but it really was all about the potential,” says Anna. “We wanted a home that we could grow into and raise a family in. There was scope here to knock down walls and create the open-plan kitchen-dining area that I’d always imagined having.”

Over the past few years, the couple have gradually transformed the tatty interior, pulling up old carpets and stripping away hardboard sheets to reveal the original wooden floors, doors and panelling. “The house was pretty run-down, and almost everything – from the kitchen cupboards to the gate – was some shade of yellow,” laughs Anna.