selfbuilder Diaries


We are Laura and Jamie Currie from the Isle of Wight, and we recently embarked upon our first renoation in Gurnard near Cowes, which we are project managing around our day jobs!


we wanted to live closer to the sea. The perfect renovation project was sitting just metres away from where Jamie grew up, with the added bonus of some stunning sea views. We finally moed in to what would be our new home in mid February 2020, just a matter of weeks before the first lock- down. We achieved planning permission (thanks to our architect Colman at Modh Design), for a project to turn the chalet bungalow into a four-bed house, with an officegym, large downstairs family room and an upstairs lounge plus a balcony with views over the Solent. Due to the size of the rear ground oor extension we knew we would need to undertake any major works in the back garden before we started the bungalow renovation. The previous owners had a fishpond and a large shed in the sun- niest part of the garden, but we had different ideas. We started work a year after we moved in, in February 2021, and had hoped to have the garden finished by ay, howeer it took until mid September to fully excavate and turn it into what it is now, an amazing space for entertaining with a sun terrace and an outdoor kitchen with a handmade Spanish uego wood fired pizza oen. It is our favourite part of the garden and we get so much use out of it, assisted by


W


e’ve always lived on the island, but in 2019, along with our two daughters, we decided that


start of September to start the renovation on the bungalow; this gave us the time to plan the build, and to make some vital – and exciting – decisions.


KITCHEN DECISIONS


The first decision we made was on the kitchen; it was our aim to have a big space for entertaining downstairs. This meant the kitchen would be the focal point, so it was where we decided to focus our thoughts. We wanted some- thing extra special, so chose to have it bespoke designed and built by Design Interiors, who are based in Hove on the south coast. We visited their designers a couple of times in the summer; they were meetings that we found to be invaluable as they led to complete changes to the shape of the kitchen. We were able to tweak our plans and


an outdoor beer and wine fridge and an American ‘Pit Boss’ barbecue. We used the time that the work was taking place in the garden to have the footings put in for the rear extension. This meant we wouldn’t need to have fur- ther plant machinery in the garden once it was complete; we then turfed over it for a year. We had a bit of a break from building works, and spent this summer enjoying the garden we had worked so hard on with several boozy evenings with close friends and family. We waited until the


remove a structural pillar to open out the area – without the insight from our de- signers Tim and Mike we wouldn’t have been able to create such a large space. The rest of the decisions were finalised on Zoom; it was actually a great way to discuss the finer detail once the kitchen was designed.


WORK/LIFE BALANCE We have been incredibly lucky as we were able to move into our next-door neighbour’s house whilst we undertake the main construction work, and thus living ‘onsite but not onsite’ – such a


The garden is now an amazing space for entertaining, with a sun terrace and an outdoor kitchen with a handmade Spanish wood fired pizza oven 8 www.sbhonline.co.uk


nov/dec 2022


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