A CRAFTY couple say they have added £45,000 to their home's value while spending just £15,000 – all through hard work and DIY.
Dad-of-two Mike, 40, began the property revamp in 2018 when moving to Portsmouth with Nicky, 40, and two sons Callum, 14, and Owen, 7.
Mike Cutbill and his partner Nicky shared the renovation project to Instagram, racking up 18,000 followers.
The account manager, relocated from Kingston-on-Thames, and whilst the new property was not bought as a renovation project, he quickly realised that one was necessary.
He said: "We first started in 2018, the year we relocated and moved in.
"The house was not bought as a renovation.
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"Unfortunately, we started to see many issues around the home.
"The chimney stack in the loft space also had holes where mortar was missing or the odd brick.
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"Luckily, we had this checked with a local chimney sweep company before we started using it.
"If we didn’t then the roof could’ve easily have caught fire due to embers escaping into the loft space.
"It was lucky this didn’t cause a fire for the last owners do the house also as I believe they were potentially using the fireplace as well."
Other issues included a water leak in the cavity wall in the downstairs utility room, uneven flooring, an improperly wired kitchen leading to a switch melting to the wall and a cracked ceiling in the hallway.
Fortunately the majority of the problems were caught early on, and potentially harmful outcomes such as a collapsed kitchen floor and a fire in the loft space were avoided.
Mike displayed his renovations on his Instagram account @mnhomereno&mdash, which has over 18 thousand followers.
Mike said: "We joined Instagram to see what others were doing to their homes, to find that inspiration as such and this helped massively for ideas.
"However, we were quite indecisive and probably liked too many ideas on there, so in some instances, we repainted a room here and there three times then finally settled on a choice that worked for us.
"Painting the kitchen cabinets saved us the most money of all the projects.
"The kitchen was nearly new when we moved in from Howdens, so I wanted to keep it.
"We eventually took it apart and sprayed the cabinets Hague blue to move it away from cream-beige."
Despite saving money and increasing the house value by a whopping £350K, the project hasn't been without its difficulties.
Living with the mess and DIY tools etc all around the home has been difficult,” Mike said.
“We had to pull trades and friends' help when we really needed it, mainly to get a quick turnaround on a few issues.
“The most difficult part though was handling our kitchen.
“As the last owners had a new subfloor laid that wasn’t sufficient and felt like a bouncy castle so we had to take out the kitchen island and then prop the subfloor.
“We did have help here as it needed to be completed within a day.”
Mike decided to share his house project on Instagram during lockdown, and says that he received lots of support from other "home accounts"
"When lockdown hit, we thought why not document what we are doing.
“It helped pass some time and became a hobby to share along the way.
“We mainly receive a positive response and lots of support.
“It’s a great supportive community to be part of.”
DIY home renovations are becoming more and more popular, with thrifty property owners keen to share their money-saving tips with others.
Sharn Rayment, is a homeowner from London who is renovating her property, she has shared her three top money-saving tricks on her TikTok account.
Renovation experts are also keen to share their knowledge with budding DIY enthusiasts.
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While another home transformation success story shows how a couple from Wales who managed to double the price of their property after taking on their own renovations.
A room-by-room breakdown of Mike’s costs is as follows
- Living room: £1.8k
- Kitchen: £3k
- Utility & Office: £1.2k
- Downstairs WC / Cloakroom: £2.5k
- Master bedroom: £1.8k
- Bedroom 2: £1.5k
- Bedroom 3: £900
- Bathroom: No change
- Hallway and corridor: £2.5k
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