In order to save money, having sold our beautiful, fully renovated semi-detached house we downsized to this. A confusing building with two front doors and a strange ratio of bricks-to-windows.

At first I didn’t even consider looking at the property. From the estate agent’s photo I thought it was two flats, but it was my husband who saw what a bargain it was. It’s an ex local authority house so has generous rooms, is very solidly built & has a good sized garden front & back. It has a light filled landing with an outlook over open fields & as soon as we walked into the house we had a nice feeling about it. (I didn’t realise that was a real thing before-just assumed it was invented by estate agents on a hard sell, but now I know ‘that feeling’ does exist!)

I also loved the fact that the house sits near the end of a no-through-road, so is very quiet & I don’t need to worry about my children running in front of a speeding car.

However, the layout wasn’t right for us, the back garden was a mess & it had been a rental property for some time so really needed some tlc. It was also ugly. So, so ugly! This is where my own shoestring story began. In a few years I’d like to think we’ll trade up, but for now this is our home…& we’ve got our work cut out.