A couple have unveiled how they managed to transform a tired, worn-out cottage into their forever home with a tight £12,000 budget. Stacey and Ryan Forrester bought the property in Cheshire back in 2020 after starting a family and outgrowing their first home.
The pair saw potential in the cottage due to its period features and ideal location and, despite it being run-down and outdated, they followed their vision to turn it into their dream home. Stacey, 34, wanted to give the home a cosy rustic look but with a small budget of just £12,000, the mum-of-two knew she needed to be DIY-savvy when it came to renovating.
Stacey and Ryan also ran into some problems along the way, such as discovering damp and mould in the property, which meant that their budget was quickly getting eaten away and the couple had their work cut out.
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“We first viewed our soon-to-be forever home in January 2020. Although it was very dated and the layout didn’t really work for our lifestyle, we could see it had so much potential," the mum-of-two told Cartwright & Butler.
"We love period properties and cottage style, and with it being across the road from our kids’ school, we decided to take the plunge and go for it.”
Although a lot of work was needed to transform the property, Stacey and her husband Ryan decided to borrow just £12,000 to cover the renovations.
“We borrowed £12k for all of the renovations. We knew that this would be pretty tight for the work that needed doing," Stacey said.
"Within the budget, we wanted to get a lot of major work done. This included completely renovating the kitchen and bathroom, changing the fireplace for a log burner and restructuring some of the house."
The part-time barista added: "When we first moved in you had to walk through one bedroom to get to another which didn’t work for the kids or us.
"Unfortunately, we also ended up running into some costly problems along the way such as dampness and mould. This meant that some of our budget was eaten away by the need to splash out on a damp course. We were also advised to invest in a new boiler.”
Despite being fairly inexperienced, the couple cut costs by taking on a lot of DIY projects themselves.
“We were fairly new to renovating, but with the help of my dad who is an experienced painter and decorator, we planned on doing a lot of the work ourselves," Stacey said.
"We started off with the kitchen and bathroom renovation. My husband and dad worked together to do all the tiling in both rooms and they fitted the kitchen themselves."
Stacey continued: "My dad then successfully built a stud wall to extend the landing area and fix the fact that you had to initially walk through one bedroom to get to another.
"The final major project was completing the living room. We stuck to a neutral colour palette in the living room and throughout the home. My husband and I painted and my dad helped out again with the wallpapering."
Stacey added: "Some things, we couldn’t do by ourselves, so we hired a plumber to help with the piping in the kitchen and bathroom and a professional company to install our log burner. We also managed to purchase a new front door at a heavily discounted cost as a favour from a family member. We went for a custom green shade cottage style door which totally change the look of the front of our cottage.
Stacey and Ryan shopped around for competitive prices and upcycled pre-loved furniture to create pieces that blended with their home and keep costs down.
“When renovating the kitchen and bathroom in particular, we found it was important to shop around online to find the best deals. We bought our kitchen from a DIY kitchen company and we bought our worktops from another retailer to get the desired look. We also used the worktop off-cuts to make some rustic kitchen shelves," Stacey said.
"We purchased our dining table second-hand and upcycled it to keep the cost down - and ended up with a piece that we really love! We also sanded, primed and repainted some of our old wall art and décor to match our current style and colour scheme.
"I also created personalised pieces for my son and daughter's room by buying msg name plaques from eBay and glueing on materials, such as straw on my sons as his room is farm yard theme.”
After months of renovating the couple created a rustic, cottagecore-inspired interior, all within their set budget.
“We love rustic interiors with a modern twist and I really think we achieved this in our cottage," said Stacey.
"Without hiring a painter, decorator, tiler or kitchen fitter we managed to complete the works while keeping within the budget. We wouldn’t have done it without all the help from my dad and my husband.
"All in all, it’s been a great experience and we all learnt so many new skills. This led me to start my own Instagram account, @the_white_cottage_by_the_hill, to document our journey. It’s great to reflect on and remind ourselves how far we’ve come."
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