Stunning Extension To A Family Home By The Sea

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This week, we chat to Steph from inside_the_white_house on Instagram. Together with her husband, they have breathed a new lease of life into this family home by the seaside.

We are so impressed by the amount of work they have done either themselves or with the help of family. If you want to try and save on your renovation project, then you need to get stuck in like Steph did - there is also a real sense of achievement knowing you have done a lot of the hard work yourself!

We chat some more about their home and they share some renovation tips - as well as beautiful photos too!

Can you tell us about your home and renovation project?

Our home is a 1950’s Semi- Detached house in South Ayrshire, Scotland. The house is located near the beach with front facing views over to the Isle of Arran.

We viewed the house around 4 times and just loved it, we knew it had so much potential and the location was perfect (walking distance to the beach and Prestwick town which has loads of nice cafes, restaurants / bars and independent shops).

We bought the house in August 2017 and had a vision to turn the house into our perfect family home. The plan for the renovation was for it to take 12 months (including extension). In total it took 16 months and we moved in the middle of December 2018, which was a challenge but we got there. We lived with family while the renovation works took place.

The grey border tile looks great with the kitchen units

Were there any major challenges during the renovation process?

We literally did everything to the house, we knocked down internal walls, re-wired, re-plumbed, plastered every wall, and relocated the full boiler / heating system. All of the above was a challenge as the house was so dusty and messy for so long, but we thought it was best doing all of the messy things now instead of in years to come.

Our extension features a rear extension and full wrap around side extension which essentially doubles the floor space of the original downstairs. In order to accommodate the side extension, we knocked down the garage and a rear sunroom. This was done by the help of family and myself. This was probably the biggest challenge as we did this over weekends and evenings after work.

We also completely underestimated how long it would take and how much rubble and mess it would create. We wanted to do this to keep costs down before the professional builders started.

We love the beautiful runner on the stairs

Do you have any renovation heroes and why?

The biggest heroes throughout the project were James’ parents who helped every weekend. Whether that was moving rubble, taking rubbish to the dump, painting walls or helping look after Joshua our son. Joshua was very much a big part of the project, he loved helping, getting dirty and he came up with the name “The White House”.

We stayed at my Mums house throughout the renovation which was obviously a great help, we could not have done as much as we did if we were living in the house throughout the project.

How brilliant is the crittall shower screen and the fabulous penny tiles in this shower room

Where is your favourite room in your home now and why?

The kitchen / open plan living area is probably our favourite. The rear living area features loads of natural light due to the large pane of glass wall, bi fold doors and 4 Velux Windows.

The floor in the extension has really cool, vintage / rustic geometric star tiles. The kitchen is a modern / industrial kitchen which features parquet wooden flooring, dark kitchen units, worktop to ceiling metro tiles and the original stripped back brick wall.

The tiles are fabulous in the kitchen / diner

What do friends and family say about your home now?

They all love it and are really impressed and proud of what we have achieved. Once the garden and patio have been transformed we are looking forward to hosting more garden gatherings with friends and family.

The rear extension is finished with slate grey cladding and stands out from the rest of the house

Do you have any advice for anyone thinking about a renovation?

Just go for it, it’s hard work but loads of fun. Looking back at before pictures is great to realise how far you have come - it’s a great sense of achievement.

Try and get a tradesman that is a specialist in multiple trades. For example, our electrician was also our gas engineer and plumber. This was great as he could do multiple jobs while at the house. It is also easier to project manage if they can do multiple trades.

I would also spend a lot of time costing and budgeting. It doesn’t take long to spend a lot of money and things could easily get out of control.

If you are thinking about a renovation project in the near future and need some help finding an architect or designer, we can match you with the most suitable ones for your project.