WHEN Charlotte Liane first set eyes on the flat that was soon to become her first family home, she sobbed – but they weren't tears of joy.
Dingy, damp-looking and neglected, the property was far from Charlotte's dream home, but at eight months pregnant with her first baby and in the middle of a property boom, it was the only place her and her partner could afford in South East London.
There was no denying it needed a lot of work to even be liveable, but they bravely took the plunge and thankfully quickly realised the flat's potential when they began renovations.
Over three years the pair managed to complete a series of mainly superficial DIY projects to turn the space into their ideal home – and incredibly managed to sell it for £80k more than they had bought it.
Mum-of-two Charlotte, 33, who now lives in Bristol, says: "We knew when we bought the flat it would need a lot of work, but we actually had no idea how much value a few simple tweaks and basic DIY could add.
"We had no experience doing up properties, but made sure we made careful design choices, and shopped smart to ensure we didn't have to spend a fortune.
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"I didn't think we'd be able to turn such a dingy flat into our perfect first family home, but I was so proud of what we were able to achieve, and it's enabled us to be able to afford a more spacious three-bed home outside of London now."
Charlotte and her partner, who share two daughters, aged three and one, bought the two bed flat in South East London in 2019, and moved in that September – just before the Covid Pandemic.
With Charlotte eight months pregnant, they didn't have time to wait around, and when this flat on a picturesque street came up within their price range, they decided to take a look.
Charlotte says: "When I saw the photos of the flat before we went to look at it, I just burst into tears.
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"You could tell the previous owners had tried to renovate it, but it was just depressing – it looked dingy and damp, with old fashioned fixtures and fittings and horrible, dirty-looking carpet and curtains.
"It was small, but two bed, which we could live with but the bathroom needed work, and the kitchen was tiny, with no window even.
"I couldn't imagine this being the place I brought up my baby and thought to make it liveable would cost us tens of thousands, and my heart sank."
However, upon viewing the couple soon began to realise the property's full potential.
Charlotte says: "Actually in person, while it was evident it would need a lot of love the flat had really nice natural light, and we were soon able to see past the dingy decor.
"We only had weeks before our first baby was born, but before we moved in we ripped out absolutely all the horrible flooring, and were pleased to find the original oak floorboards were in good condition underneath.
"To save money, we made them into a feature and sanded them and kept them bare in the living room and hallways, then added some carpet to smaller areas, such as the stairs, which made it feel more luxurious, and created a good first impression when you stepped through the door.
"We also stripped off any old wallpaper, and gave all the walls a new lick of white paint, which instantly made it feel lighter and more airy."
The only larger project the pair undertook was installing a window in their once-windowless kitchen – a project which wasn’t essential but created a much improved environment to cook family meals in.
Once the essentials were complete, they began to look at finishing touches.
Charlotte says: "We added pops of colour, like a terracota feature wall in the main bedroom to give it some warmth.
"We painted one of the walls in the living room a nice green, to make it calming and relaxing space, and we 'zoned' the main room so we had a designated eating area, and living area.
"With a baby and limited space, we had to be clever with storage and choose furniture carefully too.
"For example, we bought a thinner than normal sofa from Made that cost just £300, that also pulled out as a sofa bed, so that the living room was more spacious, but also could accommodate guests.
“In the kitchen we had really limited counter space, so we actually got an Ikea drainage tray for our washing up to dry installed in the cupboard above the sink so it didn’t feel cluttered.”
Originally the couple thought they would also have to completely redo the bathroom too, which was old and weathered.
However, they knew they would have to spend a fortune to do so, so they resorted to a few clever smaller improvements instead.
Charlotte says: “Instead of replacing the whole bath, we just replaced the panel to make it feel newer and fresher.
"We also replaced the flooring with rubber, as we didn't want vinyl and rubber was cheaper than tiles.”
The rest then came down to styling.
Charlotte adds: “We put art work on the walls, and used house plants to detract the eye away from any imperfections.
“We also really enhanced the original features and installed them back to their original glory.
“We did this with the flooring, but also the hallway had a beautiful high ceiling and a skylight, so we added hanging plants to draw the eye up, and it made it feel so much more spacious.
“Then it just came down to adding things like rattan light shades from IKEA, a statement rug we got from Wayfair, and a vintage but compact dining table that we could push to the wall if we wanted more space.”
The couple soon fell in love with their home, and were proud of what they achieved with a budget of under £10k, but began to think about selling when they had their second daughter, who was born in February 2022.
Charlotte says: “We had two bedrooms, but the second one was small and also used as an office space too, so sadly we knew we had to move.
“We were excited to find out how much our flat was worth but we never imagined in a million years we’d be able to make such a profit that we did with no experience.”
Charlotte sold her house in September 2022 for £375k – which was enough to enable them to put a good deposit down on a spacious family home with a large garden.
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She adds: “It was a lot of hard work and not for everyone, but if you’re tight on budget or even if you just have the time to learn how to DIY, I couldn’t recommend doing up a property enough.
“We were so proud of what we were able to achieve, and I can now look back so fondly on my daughter’s first few years when we lived in that flat, which holds so many lovely memories.”
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