Roofless bungalow transformed into a luxurious home by keen DIYers
From nothing but a pile of bricks to an uber-luxurious and modern family home. Interiors enthusiast and Instagram influencer Claire shares her story of creating her dream family home from scratch.
The past few years have seen a huge increase in the number of homeowners who are trying their hand at a bit of DIY. From finally getting around to painting the living room or making a start on the to-do list. A lot of homeowners are now more DIY-confident than ever before. We thought we’d seen it all until we came across Claire’s incredible home on Instagram. She completely transformed her roofless property into an incredibly modern and luxurious living space for her and her family during lockdown. Claire spoke to unique solid brass company, The Foundryman, about her home’s incredible lockdown renovation.
Claire has exclusively shared all the details about her family’s self-build and how far they’ve come since the hard work started back in 2020.
“Our home is actually a complete self-build. We purchased the original bungalow in 2017, actually, the sale was completed in the same week that our third child was born.
The footings on the original bungalow were too shallow to support a full house, leading to us knocking the bungalow down and completely starting again. We moved in on 20th March 2020 on the day UK schools closed and just a couple of days before the first lockdown was announced.”
Claire describes her style as ‘soft industrial’ and we love how she has incorporated this style through exposed copper pipework and electrical ducting. Claire has further expressed this style through her modern kitchen and through the use of darker units and softer finer details. The kitchen floor is herringbone Amtico and the hallway has a solid concrete floor.
Using softer textures against harder industrial materials is a very clever way to soften an industrial-styled room, by doing this you instantly make the space feel inviting and warm. Not adding in these details can often make a room feel clinical so it’s important to get the balance right!
We asked Claire how she managed to inject personality into her home and she said:
“We have added personality by adding items/colours/patterns that appeal to us – rather than just going with trends. I don’t feel everything has to ‘match’ – sometimes clashing patterns or colours or unexpected items work just as well.”
We asked Claire what her favourite details of the transformation are:
“My favourite parts are the pink front door (a dream of mine since passing a pink front door each week as a young child on my way to visit my grandparents), we designed this ourselves and a local joiner made it. Also the exposed copper pipework in our downstairs bathroom. The vaulted ceilings in our main and spare bedroom. Then of course our handles in our kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms!”
Claire chose to accessorise her cabinets with an eclectic mix of the L shaped solid brass kitchen drawer handles and the round solid brass kitchen knobs from The Foundryman.
“I knew we wanted brass handles as I love the warmth of brass over the chrome/silver tones. I was impressed with The Foundryman’s range of handles and also the colour.”
After completing the main aspects of the DIY project, Claire and her husband moved on to the smaller tasks starting with fitted wardrobes.
“We designed the wardrobes ourselves, we don’t have a loft in this house (just one large cupboard and then the wardrobe space) so we wanted to make use of the high ceilings / full width for additional storage.”
We asked Claire why she wanted to design and fit the wardrobes herself, here’s what she said:
“We now have wardrobes with the exact look, colour, size and layout inside to meet our needs so it was definitely the right decision for us.”
Solid Brass Bar handles from £9.50 at The Foundryman.
We asked Claire what her top tips would be for DIYers:
“My top tips would be to live in the space (if you can) before you make any major decisions, also ‘do you’ and don’t follow trends. Invest in flooring and worktops, these are the things you won’t change in a hurry. Experiment with colour and items you can change up more easily. Declutter! If you haven’t used something for 12 months then you likely don’t need it! Recycle and upcycle, some of my favourite pieces of furniture/vases/coffee table books have been found in charity shops. And finally don’t believe everything you see on Instagram – no one with small children/work commitments/ a life lives in a home that is immaculate all of the time.”
Alex Walker from The Foundryman commented:
“Here at The Foundryman, we have a keen interest in all things related to home interiors and design. Whether it’s browsing through the latest trends online or finding stories like Claire’s, we love to get involved. Claire and her husband have completely transformed this place into a self-built home for their family. You can only appreciate the level of commitment and effort they’ve both put in since lockdown.”
