A couple bought an "unliveable" flat in London and have already added £20k to its value by transforming it into their dream home step by step - after learning DIY on YouTube.
Rochelle Taylor-Butcher, 29, and her partner, Angus Ord, 30, a data scientist, bought their one-bed flat in Kingston, South London, at the end of March 2023 for £260k.
When they first moved in, the flat was in "disarray" with peeling wallpaper, mould on the walls and a musty carpet.
DIY novices when they embarked on the project, the pair turned to YouTube to learn how to do their own plumbing, install their own kitchen and sand their own floorboards.
Rochelle and Angus say they have already saved nearly £9k doing the work themselves, instead of employing tradespeople, and using free and recycled materials wherever possible.
They are still in the process of doing it up, but they've already added £20k to the price tag of the property.
Rochelle - who designs the interiors of Anya Hindmarch shops - said that when they moved in: "The only way I can describe it is complete disarray, it was completely unliveable.
"The whole flat had a lived-in, musty aroma. I think the carpet absorbed it, it was as if no air had been let in.
“I never thought I would own a property... I grew up in South London and always lived in Housing Association property.
“My parents never owned a property so it didn’t feel like part of life. It felt like a luxury to have that.
“I just feel overwhelming contentment and peace that we are settled and this is our actual space.
"Blood, sweat and tears have gone into the floorboards and the walls, we are now part of the flat," she said.
Rochelle said that the kitchen had uneaten cornflakes behind the dishwasher and old 1970s cabinets.
“Nothing could be salvaged from it," Rochelle said. “There were stains, rust, crumbling tiles.”
The couple have spent the last year renovating the property around their full time jobs, and at the weekends.
They watched hours of YouTube tutorials to learn how to do the plumbing, cutting in and tiling, and install their IKEA kitchen doors and cabinets.
The house now looks unrecognisable - with painted walls, new tiles and an entirely transformed sitting room.
The IKEA kitchen which they installed themselves only cost them £5k - which nearly halved the price compared to installing it with an organisation like Howdens.
The couple were able to save money through lots of hacks - including getting family members to rewire the property.
“We paid for the materials at cost price and all the labour was free of charge. So that really saved a massive dent," Rochelle said.
“We've tried to think of ways that we can achieve what we want but with cheating the process.”
Rochelle used left-over paint and resources from the shop she works at to paint the kitchen and also bought half price paint from Homebase.
She says the key is saving on materials but making sure they are of good quality.
“You don't need to have incredible polished wood for your skirting board, it could just be a bit of MDF," Rochelle said.
“Angus is the sort of person that loves to buy gadgets and stuff. He loves to research tools.
“But he's very much like the epitome of like all the gear no idea. Sometimes I do have to intervene.
“We thought, as long as we've got a kitchen, and we can shower somewhere, we'll be alright."
The pair were able to move into the property in August last year and have been able to transform the flat into their dream home.
“Once we moved in, it was very much like, OK it all works now so this is fine,” Rochelle said.
One of her suggestions for anyone starting out on their own housing renovation is to turn to YouTube and “take one thing at a time”.
“You could probably build a house just by watching YouTube," Rochelle said.
"There’s so much information out there you just have to look for it.”
They saved £3k on installing the kitchen, including plumbing, £700 by sanding the floors themselves, £3k by getting their family to do the electrical rewire, £300 removing the old bathroom themselves and £900 decorating the kitchen and living room themselves.
They spent £5k on kitchen units and appliances, £3.8k on bathroom fittings, including tiling, £2.8k on double glazing the windows, £900 rewiring the materials, £80 on paint and £200 buying tools including an orbital sander.
Rochelle Taylor-Butcher, 29, and her partner, Angus Ord, 30, a data scientist, bought their one-bed flat in Kingston, South London, at the end of March 2023 for £260k.
When they first moved in, the flat was in "disarray" with peeling wallpaper, mould on the walls and a musty carpet.
DIY novices when they embarked on the project, the pair turned to YouTube to learn how to do their own plumbing, install their own kitchen and sand their own floorboards.
Rochelle and Angus say they have already saved nearly £9k doing the work themselves, instead of employing tradespeople, and using free and recycled materials wherever possible.
They are still in the process of doing it up, but they've already added £20k to the price tag of the property.
Rochelle - who designs the interiors of Anya Hindmarch shops - said that when they moved in: "The only way I can describe it is complete disarray, it was completely unliveable.
"The whole flat had a lived-in, musty aroma. I think the carpet absorbed it, it was as if no air had been let in.
“I never thought I would own a property... I grew up in South London and always lived in Housing Association property.
“My parents never owned a property so it didn’t feel like part of life. It felt like a luxury to have that.
“I just feel overwhelming contentment and peace that we are settled and this is our actual space.
"Blood, sweat and tears have gone into the floorboards and the walls, we are now part of the flat," she said.
Rochelle said that the kitchen had uneaten cornflakes behind the dishwasher and old 1970s cabinets.
“Nothing could be salvaged from it," Rochelle said. “There were stains, rust, crumbling tiles.”
The couple have spent the last year renovating the property around their full time jobs, and at the weekends.
They watched hours of YouTube tutorials to learn how to do the plumbing, cutting in and tiling, and install their IKEA kitchen doors and cabinets.
The house now looks unrecognisable - with painted walls, new tiles and an entirely transformed sitting room.
The IKEA kitchen which they installed themselves only cost them £5k - which nearly halved the price compared to installing it with an organisation like Howdens.
The couple were able to save money through lots of hacks - including getting family members to rewire the property.
“We paid for the materials at cost price and all the labour was free of charge. So that really saved a massive dent," Rochelle said.
“We've tried to think of ways that we can achieve what we want but with cheating the process.”
Rochelle used left-over paint and resources from the shop she works at to paint the kitchen and also bought half price paint from Homebase.
She says the key is saving on materials but making sure they are of good quality.
“You don't need to have incredible polished wood for your skirting board, it could just be a bit of MDF," Rochelle said.
“Angus is the sort of person that loves to buy gadgets and stuff. He loves to research tools.
“But he's very much like the epitome of like all the gear no idea. Sometimes I do have to intervene.
“We thought, as long as we've got a kitchen, and we can shower somewhere, we'll be alright."
The pair were able to move into the property in August last year and have been able to transform the flat into their dream home.
“Once we moved in, it was very much like, OK it all works now so this is fine,” Rochelle said.
One of her suggestions for anyone starting out on their own housing renovation is to turn to YouTube and “take one thing at a time”.
“You could probably build a house just by watching YouTube," Rochelle said.
"There’s so much information out there you just have to look for it.”
They saved £3k on installing the kitchen, including plumbing, £700 by sanding the floors themselves, £3k by getting their family to do the electrical rewire, £300 removing the old bathroom themselves and £900 decorating the kitchen and living room themselves.
They spent £5k on kitchen units and appliances, £3.8k on bathroom fittings, including tiling, £2.8k on double glazing the windows, £900 rewiring the materials, £80 on paint and £200 buying tools including an orbital sander.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00 I'm Rochelle. I'm Angus. And this is our flat in South West London. We bought it together
00:08 last year, April, and we moved into it in August of last year. The condition of the
00:15 flat, to sum up, unhabitable. Basically untouched for about a year. And I think even when there
00:24 was someone living here, I don't think they were able to look after it in any way, so
00:28 it was just declined. Well, untouched for a year and the preceding 49 years as well.
00:36 I quite liked it all. If it was all in good condition, we probably would have been typical
00:40 like just millennials and was like, let's upcycle it into something else. But yeah,
00:49 the bit of carpet we did keep has the moths have got into it, so that's kind of out of
00:54 the window. And then the wallpaper looked all right. And then as you got up close, it
00:58 was like, oh no, it's a lot of mold on that. So it all went in the bin. I think a lot of
01:03 stuff, the smell was prohibitive for keeping anything. Yeah. I think the very first time
01:09 we actually did stuff, which was probably like in the kitchen and it was all it was,
01:13 was just taking out the kitchen. So it wasn't even like you had to do anything skillfully.
01:16 It was just like get a hammer and sort of wedge stuff off. And even that I remember
01:21 just feeling like, oh my God, I don't think I can do this anymore. It's too much. Whereas
01:27 now it's sort of like you kind of have that moment of like, no, it's fine. Like, let's
01:31 just we'll get through it. We've done the kitchen. We didn't kill each other. Comparing
01:35 ourselves to other people that are doing renovations, a lot of people seem to like actually be methodical
01:40 and be like, right, we're doing the living room. It's done. Look at that. Great. Whereas
01:44 we've just gone, I'll do a bit in here. I'll do a bit over there. And then it's kind of
01:48 created like this area where it's like, I feel like we've done so much, but everywhere
01:53 still looks a little bit not great. So it's very much like, I think we just need to sort
01:59 of get our lives together and just sort of like get a bit more methodical. It's about,
02:07 I want to say about 13 K and then comparing that to like what we've saved based on, um,
02:15 just doing a lot of labour ourselves. Thank God, Angus's dad is an electrician and also
02:21 his brother-in-law. So there was like two family members that actually could like turn
02:25 this around really quickly. Um, we ended up saving about 8 K. So almost, it doesn't actually
02:34 seem worth it. Does it? All the stress and like the nails are shot and the skirt and
02:38 still not quite perfect. It's like, oh, but we saved that 8 grand, but it's something.
02:45 Um, the credit card repayments would have been a lot more with that 8 grand. So, uh,
02:52 yeah. Swings and roundabouts.
02:54 Yeah.
02:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]