So, two houses down, two to go and Team HBH travelled down to the south coast and the genteel resort of Eastbourne for our 3rd Half Built House. The boys didn't have that far to go, just down the road from Crawley but Mr M and I couldn't exactly pop back to Manchester to feed... Continue Reading →
Half Built House Exeter – Balancing a home with a new en-suite and main bathroom
The big decision to rebalance our Exeter HBH and tackle the first floor as well as the ground floor kitchen and dining room had a massive impact on time, stress levels and the budget. Things change on a day to day basis when you're trying to turn a poorly laid out building site into a well... Continue Reading →
How to create a contemporary fireplace opening with a timber mantelpiece
Unlike in the first floor bedrooms, where the original cast iron fireplaces were still in situ, our Exeter dining room featured a rather ugly, tiled, post-war fire surround. Sorry to all you mid-20th-century design lovers and we did try to sell it, but there were no takers so into the skip it went. No way... Continue Reading →
Half Built House Exeter – Ikea Abstrakt kitchen / diner with added British design extras
A white high gloss kitchen ticked boxes for both Chris and Amie's design aspirations but they were unsure how to prevent it looking too clinical and crisp looking for their home, an older property with period features like the cast iron fireplaces and fitted chimney recess cupboards which we were definitely going to incorporate into... Continue Reading →
Half Built House Exeter – Charcoal, amber & oak form the mood boards
Chris and Amie wanted a cool and contemporary style but without the look being too clinical, their home is a red brick terrace after all, not a city apartment. Within the house remained some of the original features including two painted but potentially gorgeous cast iron fire surrounds upstairs. Amie was especially keen on keeping... Continue Reading →
Half Built House Exeter – *That* £8500 overspend!
Telly is supposed to be telly, right? Do the job and move on. Make it look good for cameras and quickly shimmy onto another job. Hmmmm, not so much on Half Built House. It should be an absolute given of any job, tv or not, to provide clients with the best that they can afford... Continue Reading →
Half Built House Exeter – The before shots
I seriously was not prepared for the destruction inside Chris and Amie's Exeter home when I walked through the door - the front of the red brick terraced house looked relatively normal! I'll give it to Royal Marine Chris, he's a man who knows how to take a house back to brick 🙂 If you... Continue Reading →