A property bought in a rundown state for just £68,000 has been transformed into a stylish and desirable home over two decades.
Jade Doutch, a mother-of-one from North Wales, showed incredible patience in herrenovating a housejourney and now has hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers on her account@Jade.Doutch.
She bought the 1920s three-bed semi-detached house in Anglesey when she was just 22, but didn’t have the cash for a quick renovation, so did it slowly over 20 years – with astonishing results.
Took 20 years for her to renovate
Jade told theManchester Evening Newshow she received £8,000 inheritance after the death of her mother and decided to use it as a five per cent deposit as interest rates were low at the time.
She said: “'I bought the house but I did not know what I was doing, I was only 22 at the time and I was totally naive to the work that needed doing here.”
"When I first bought it was really rundown, a little old lady had lived here for a long time and she only lived in two rooms. It needed absolutely gutting out from top to bottom."
I’d always had a vision of what I wanted to do with it, but when you’re a 22-year-old with hardly any money things just had to progress very slowly.”
Made kitchen open plan and added bifold doors
The first thing the 43-year-old did was knock a wall through from the kitchen to the dining room, which she says made a ‘massive difference’.
It boasts full width bifold doors, a large kitchen island, and exposed the original brickwork to create a minimalist and stylish feel. If you’re inspired by Jade’s efforts, check out ourkitchen extension ideasguide.
"We didn’t use the lounge at the front for two years because we had no money to do it up,” she added. “I just went to charity shops to buy things and upcycled stuff.”
Remortgaged to extend into the garden
In 2016 when Jade decided to put an extension on her house, which she says completely transformed the property. Expanding into space is an excellent way of enhancing the value of a property, despite theextension cost.
She told the MEN: “About eight years ago, I was thinking of selling and moving as I wanted a fresh start, but my friend said to me, ‘Jade if your house was on the market now you'd want to buy it,’ and that was a light bulb moment for me.
"So instead, I thought I'll remortgage and extend, not a huge extension, but just something that opens the house out into the garden so it changes the layout and my lifestyle."
Icelandic inspired black-cladded home
Jade created a tropical-style garden, and added Scandi and Nordic influences throughout the home, most notably black cladding on the front exterior.
She said: “I went to Iceland on holiday and I saw lots of cladded houses and a lot of them were in dark colours and so I thought, I have to have a black house. It was rendered in a grey colour before, so it was a bit more of a 1920s frontage.
"It stands out on the street a lot as all the other homes are a lot more traditional. I just get such lovely comments about it, people stop me in the street to compliment it. I’ve broken the darkness up with wood cladding as well as some plants to soften it so it’s not too harsh."
To replicate Jade’s external efforts, Homebuilding and Renovating has expert advice and information oncladding a house.
