Melanie, 39, lives just outside of Chester, with her husband, Christian, three children — Albin (seven), Florence (four) and Teddy (two) — and Fudge, the 16-year-old miniature poodle. Here she shares the renovation regrets – and what she wishes she’d done differently.
Our current home is a 1970s detached “upside-down” house, where the living space is upstairs and the bedrooms are on the ground floor. It’s our third renovation project in eight years, and by far the biggest of them all.
Property renovation has always been a part of my life. My dad’s a joiner by trade, and I grew up in houses that were always being “done up”. We didn’t flip them because my mum wasn’t having that upheaval, but I saw how much value they added over time by doing the work.
And my dad’s approach – do it yourself, work hard, be smart about what’s worth doing or not – stuck with me. Christian’s dad is also a joiner, so we both come from skilled parents and grew up with an example of what’s possible to do with your own hands.
When Christian and I bought our first place in 2017, a two-bed terrace in Hoole (a Notting Hill-ish pocket of Chester), I knew we could make something of it.
We had help from our parents towards a small deposit, about £8k, but my dad also gifted us something far more valuable: his labour. He lived with us for three weeks and worked non-stop.
That first project taught me a lot. It was about being resourceful, using what you have, not overspending, and always thinking about the ceiling price on your street. We bought the house for £190,000, spent £10,000 on it, and sold it for £220,000.
The £20k profit gave us a leg-up to buy a three-bed semi, also in Hoole, for £255,000. We moved there in July 2020. We spent £30k on renovating it. We put in a new kitchen and new bathroom, but we didn’t borrow any extra money. We saved and did it as we went along and sold for £396,000 – £141,000 more than we’d bought it for.
‘I didn’t screed the bathroom floor which means some of the tiles have now moved,’ says MelanieThat’s the rhythm we’ve been in ever since: buy, live, renovate, sell. We’re now in our third property which we bought for £465,000 and plan on spending £150,000 on it.
Each move has been planned; always during that two or three-year window when our fixed mortgage comes to an end — but it doesn’t come without its stresses. For example, we moved into our current house when I was eight months pregnant with Teddy. He was born among boxes and swirly 70s carpets.
Each move has taught me so much and of course there have been regrets. I’ve made rash decisions under pressure. I was nine months pregnant during one project and made choices I’d never repeat.
For example, I put a fence in front of our laurel hedge without thinking about the future maintenance it would require. Now, when we want to trim it, we have to pay someone to go into the neighbour’s garden. The neighbours are friendly, luckily, but what if the next ones aren’t so obliging to our request?
I also put a bi-fold door in the smallest bedroom and turned it into a study. As the children are getting a bit older, my eldest doesn’t want to share with his sister anymore and will want his own room – in that space. Now I worry that the room wouldn’t be as safe as a bedroom because of the door.
Sometimes the DIY doesn’t go so well, like the tiling I did in the bathroom. I didn’t screed the floor [adding a thin smooth layer of cement and sand to create a stable surface for the final flooring] which means some of the tiles have now moved. I’m now going to have to pull it up, screed the floor, level it, at least with some ply, and then lay on top of that.
There are also things you can’t foresee. I spent £6k on luxury vinyl tiles. They’re all the rage. They’ve been brilliant on one surface, but not on another. You can only learn as you go along. There are other worries, too, like sacrificing time with the kids for renovating. We try not to but it does happen. I do hope they will learn some valuable skills, though.
Over the years, we could have been better prepared for hidden costs. There’s nothing worse than being hit with a bill you’re not sure you can afford. And I often wish we’d chosen sustainability over a quick fix – like the time we removed and replaced an original parquet flooring, instead of taking the time to restore it.
Renovating is hard work, constant decision-making and an endless mental load. Unlike what social media might suggest, the process isn’t all glossy “before and after” reveals. Between our full-time jobs, three kids and managing the renovation, it’s a hell of a lot.
‘People see the polished results, but I think it’s important to talk about what goes wrong too’My husband and I split the labour — he does much of the physical work, while I handle the project management: the trades, the quotes, the budgets, the timelines. It’s relentless.
I try to be honest about the process on Instagram, where I share our journey. People see the polished results, but I think it’s important to talk about what goes wrong too. I get messages from people saying it’s refreshing to see someone admit to mistakes.
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You need resilience for this type of life. It’s not for everyone. The constant moving, the financial juggling, the pressure to get it right — it wears you down. I’m putting a lot of strain on my mental health, and sometimes I feel very anxious and can barely function.
The goal is to eventually buy a home outright and be mortgage-free — to trade the stress for freedom. When that happens, everything opens up. One of us could step back from full-time work. Or we could buy a holiday home.
I’m very driven, and it’s that drive that keeps me going, even when it’s very difficult. Renovating has been our way of creating options, of buying us freedom. It gives us a chance to choose how we spend our time – even if it does come with some regrets.
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