The Cornwall Curveball
In August 2018 I moved into a 1960’s bungalow with a pink bathroom suite, pine cladding and a range of patterned carpets (most of which were removed from 5pm on moving day). I left behind a cosy cottage that I had renovated; I use the term loosely as physically I only removed tiles and did most of the painting. It didn't need an awful lot doing but the work was completed by professionals: window fitters, roofers, renderers, a joiner, a tiler, and a bathroom fitter. I was experienced in living in a mess, just not enough to prepare me for two years of renovating the bungalow.
During the spring of 2018 the property market in the area was bonkers. When I decided to move, I thought that I’d be able to get a three-bed semi-detached that needed updating. Unfortunately, a whole load of other buyers thought the same and this type of property was selling for thirty thousand over asking price, way out of my budget. So, I had to get creative, I wanted to make a sensible investment and I wanted to renovate. I didn’t want a bungalow, but I took the risk. After my offer was accepted, I visited again with my Mum who pointed out that the windowsills were plastic, I hadn’t even noticed as I was looking for two specific things: lots of light and potential to improve appearance and value. The bungalow had both, especially potential. I’d had a taste of the financial benefit of renovating and was hoping to flip the bungalow within a few years. Then I started to settle in and felt very much at home, I even managed to relax and use the pink bathroom, it wasn’t so bad once the rusty radiator was replaced.
My perspective and plan for the bungalow changed, it felt calming, was peaceful as my neighbours were detached and elderly, plus I could walk around the golf course to get to my parents’ house. As a result, I decided to make some costly changes to the plan, if I was to stay here the bungalow would need to suit my lifestyle. Here became the drive to design a floor plan that allowed a bath in the bedroom and a garden view. I figured this was one special feature available in a bungalow that you wouldn’t so easily have in house. I’ve shared the story of how the lounge became such a sanctuary on my Projects page.
I remember being on holiday when quotes started coming in from builders and wondering what I had got myself into. I didn’t have enough money to do everything I wanted to. Some sort of epiphany happened around the pool in Cape Verde; I could live without a pretty kitchen, but I couldn’t live without a bathroom. When living in a renovation there’s always going to be a demanding compromise or two, I decided if I coped with a makeshift kitchen, I would be able to have the bathrooms and the shell of the house complete to a painted finish then save up for flooring, internal woodwork, and a kitchen later on.
In July, almost a year since moving in, I escaped for a family holiday in Cornwall and the builders arrived to start demolishing and digging the foundations. This was the first time my partner Lee had visited Cornwall and he was in awe of the coastal views and the number of ice cream shops, choosing this time to suggest moving here “one day”. Sure, I’d always pictured myself moving to Cornwall in my retirement so “one day” we might. The builders quickly set to work. The extension was an L shape that wrapped around the existing rectangular footprint, most of the messy work was ‘outside’ until the new part of the house was complete and the knock through swiftly brought old and new together.
The builders and co arrived bright and early every day until October, the house had been plastered, re-wired, new windows and doors, new roof, beautifully painted, a new bathroom, ensuite, and a free-standing bath in what would become the master bedroom. I moved out for a month whilst I had an operation, by the time I came back I had no money left but I had a gorgeous bathroom and thankfully two rooms were complete with furniture, carpets, and dreamy oak woodwork. Sadly, my kitchen consisted of a bookcase, baskets, a dishwasher (I couldn’t wash pots in my nice bath), fridge, and a host of small appliances that I could ‘cook’ in. I ate a lot of microwave rice, you name it, I had it with microwave rice. You evolve to work with your environment, and I had a clear end goal, I knew what I wanted the kitchen and the rest of the house to look and feel like, so I had to make do. Little happened between October and February whilst I added every penny I could to the ‘pot’, picturing this finished home where I could put my feet up and do things that non-renovating people do. Cook a meal in pans, have the girls round, bake again and maybe watch a box set instead of doing DIY. I most looked forward to feeling clean and dust free, knowing where things were and not having to do another tip trip!
Then there was a twist in the road, out of the blue my work circumstances changed, and I kept thinking back to Lee’s suggestion on that distant holiday, by this point he’d moved in and taken over cooking microwave rice. The country was in lockdown and there was a lot of time for thinking. However, being a teacher and having a specific window in which to find a position for September we didn’t have very long to secure new jobs, find somewhere temporary to live, finish the house and agree a sale. This was our Cornwall curveball.
Calmly choosing the path of least resistance at the end of June I accepted a job offer, however the kitchen was still makeshift, we didn’t have carpet or furniture in the master bedroom, doors weren’t hung and £2000 needed spending just to get the rest of the oak woodwork.
The joiner started on the 29th of June and five weeks later the house was on Rightmove. Throughout the first three weeks in August, I’d managed to bake a handful of cakes, cook one roast dinner, host garden meals for family and friends and have lots of baths between the fifteen or so viewings. By the middle of August Lee filled his car and made the journey to Cornwall to start his new job and I was left to pack up what I could before making my trip a week later. It was frantic, tiring, and whilst it was sad to leave the bungalow after only two years there it just felt right.
We’ve now been living a slower pace of life in Cornwall for almost eight months, we’re currently sat in the garden and Lee just suggested making a pina colada. Looking back, I don’t know how we pulled it all off so quickly. I would have liked to enjoy the finished result but the unexpected took us by surprise and brought us on an adventure. Arriving in the height of the Summer season by the skin of our teeth we booked two holiday lets and on Christmas Eve we moved into our new home, another renovation project…another bungalow!
Some things are just meant to be.
