Episode 1 The £100k House: Tricks of the Trade

'Last year, Piers Taylor and me, Kieran Long, followed

'self builders as they took on the biggest gamble of their lives...

'..trying to build a home from scratch for less than £100,000.'

Come on, baby!

How much money have you got left?

Let me see...

'We helped them create the dream homes

'they longed for by being clever with their cash

'and creative with design.'

-What a fantastic space this has turned into!

-Thank you.

'This year, we're following desperate home owners...'

It's dilapidated, it's a dump.

'..trying to create extraordinary homes

'out of the ones they already have.'

Oof!

'They, too, are on the tightest of budgets.'

We've got £540 left.

'We'll come up with ingenious solutions...'

I'm going to propose something quite radical to you,

-and then you don't do the extension.

-Right.

'..inspire them with big ideas...'

What you want, really, is exactly what this place provides.

'..and challenge them to be more ambitious...'

He's come in and torn up the rule book, really.

'..to turn their tired houses into exceptional homes.'

Brute force and ignorance, I think, will sort this out now.

'But with design dilemmas at every turn...'

I don't know.

'..and their life savings at risk...'

The hiccups are coming now.

If the money runs out, I'm left with half a house.

'..will the homeowners create the house they've always wanted

'but believed they could never have?'

-This better fit.

-If the rest of the house is like this,

we've got some serious problems.

'This week, Dale battles to put right a bodged home extension...'

It's in my face every day and I feel sick every time I look at it.

'..to make the house fit for wife,

'Angela, who has suffered from ill health.'

Physically Angela cannot use that space, it's not safe for her.

'But, first, Dawn is trapped in a tiny country cottage.'

I'm embarrassed to have people round,

I haven't even invited my family.

'Will her ambitious building plans come crashing down?'

It's worrying how people have built this.

I'm on my way to meet Dawn. She's a lady in her 70s

who is facing a pretty common problem -

how to transform a 150-year-old building

into a modern home for her retirement?

'Originally from Sri Lanka, Dawn came to Britain in 1959

'with her heart set on becoming a nurse.'

The plan was to come here and train, and go back home.

But I got the bug for my job. It was in my soul, I think.

Then, of course, I met someone, got married. But it didn't last long.

And I had two children, two daughters.

I brought my daughters up on my own.

'After 49 years caring for others, Dawn retired,

'ready to realise her other childhood dream.'

As a kid I remember seeing a biscuit tin

with a picture of an old cottage,

and I think it stuck in my mind.

And this house was similar to that.

And then I walked in through the door, and...here I am.

'Seduced by its charms, Dawn sold her three-bedroom house

'and, after paying £178,000, moved into the much smaller

'two up, two down cottage nearly a year ago.'

I didn't think beyond the four walls I was looking at,

that it was so small.

I was just excited.

'But Dawn didn't realise that the cottage was

'unsuitable for a retirement surrounded by loved ones.'

I'm embarrassed to have people around.

I haven't even invited my family.

There's no way you can entertain people here.

When you get three people in that kitchen now,

and you just haven't got space to move.

You certainly wouldn't put a dining table in there cos there's no room.

'Isolated and alone,

'Dawn is totally surrounded by her lifetime's worth of possessions.'

At the moment, it's difficult because when you want something,

you can't find it.

And if it's in a box, you don't know where the box is.

It could be here, it could be parked somewhere else. It's depressing.

'Desperate to change her home and her lifestyle,

'Dawn's already had an architect draw up plans for a rear extension.

'And planning permission has been granted.'

I go to bed and I dream about this extension.

And what it's going to look like because it's no good having

a nice little cottage that you like and being unhappy in it.

'But Dawn's plans aren't limited to the extension.

'She's also going to move the downstairs bathroom upstairs.'

It's really not practical. And if you're half asleep,

it's always a case of you having a stumble on the stairs.

It might have coped with that in years gone by, but not for me.

'Having stretched her finances to buy the cottage,

'she now has the last £20,000 of her life savings

'to make these ambitious changes.'

I just love this place.

And I intend to do what I want with it

without losing the character of the house.

'Historic homes are dotted across the rural county of Bedfordshire.

'While they may look idyllic,

'remodelling a period home can be a risky option.

'Problems can often lie hidden within the building's fabric.

'Dawn has ambitious plans but no contingency fund.'

-Hello.

-Hi, Kieran. Come on in.

-Nice to see you.

-Nice to meet you.

-It's certainly cosy, isn't it?

-Very cosy.

You are nearly touching the ceiling.

How important is the age of the building

and the past lives it's had?

It is very important. Absolutely very important.

-This is your house.

-This is the very cottage.

-And this was the lady who used to live here.

-Wow.

-Isn't that amazing?

-Yes.

She does look rather formidable.

She looks kind of an independent person, too.

-Do you share any of that?

-I think so, yes.

I'm sure that is what it is that's drawn me to this house.

'A century ago, farm labourers and their large families

'would have crammed into houses like Dawn's.

'On low incomes, they would have had few belongings,

'but with all the trappings of modern life, Dawn is struggling.'

I feel as if I'm camping out. It's tough.

If you go camping for two weeks

and you have to stay for three months,

you can imagine what it's like. And it's exactly like that.

-That would not be my idea of fun, either.

-It is not.

'When it was built, this house didn't have a dedicated kitchen.

'Life would have been centred round an iron range on the ground floor,

'used for both cooking and heating.

'Windows were kept to a minimum as glass was an expensive commodity.

'The indoor bathroom is a 20th century addition,

'which has brought its own set of problems.'

As you can see, it's very small and quite compact.

Cos this is a tiny room but it's also making everything else tiny.

Yeah, it's making the corridor very small

so the gap between the sitting room and the dining area.

Really building this place for your needs,

-it's a very personal project, isn't it, in a way?

-It is. It is my home.

It's going to be my home. And I can't see me moving from here.

I'm not young any more, and I've got to think, as I get older,

my needs are going to be such.

'The two rooms upstairs were bedrooms

'and, with no heat source, were kept deliberately small.'

-Wow.

-This is where the bathroom is going.

-I moved my stuff out.

-Wow. So you really have a desperate need for storage, then.

-Yeah.

'With so much to tackle, and only £20,000 in the kitty,

'Dawn's in need of an ingenious solution to make every penny count.

'The current cottage already has a small extension

'built in the 1960s, but the kitchen to the rear is still very small.

'The bathroom added in the centre of the house has created a dark

'and awkward corridor between the front and back.

'Dawn's current plans involve moving the bathroom to the first floor,

'then reconfiguring the ground floor to include a downstairs loo and study,

'leaving the front room as a small lounge.

'But it's the addition of a larger rear extension to house a new kitchen

'that is most ambitious of all.

'Dawn's hoping her £20,000 budget will cover all of this.

'Today she's getting back the first quotes for the cost of the work,

'excluding the extension.'

So this is the moment of truth for you.

So...

"All materials in this quote, £14,030." That doesn't include the extension.

Is that more than you...

It is more than I expected.

'Dawn's remaining six grand just won't be

'enough for the extension she dreams of.'

Well, that was just really devastating for Dawn.

That was an awful moment, seeing her see that figure and knowing that it

doesn't include most of the work that she values most about this job. I mean,

she just simply doesn't haven't the money to do wants to do.

'I need to meet with Piers to try and find another way to give Dawn

'what she needs on her limited funds.'

At the moment there's a bathroom on the ground floor and it's

sensible to move it upstairs,

but the problem is she's not really solving her space problems.

She's leaving the problems inherent in this by putting a study

and a loo back in there.

So, for you, the extension is not going to solve the problems, whether she can afford it or not?

Not at all. This is a really small building and I don't think making it slightly

bigger is going to sort this building out.

She's focused on quantity of space not quality of space,

and I think that doing this extension may not be the answer.

One of the most important things to Dawn is entertaining, cooking,

she wants this to be a place full of life, full of friends and family and so on.

Where is that space going to be on this tiny plan?

At the moment it's not really anywhere,

because this dining space has no light.

No natural light coming in, it's separated from the garden.

And I think the key thing here is to get a really good

space at the back of the house that addresses the garden.

I think the risk here is really that Dawn spends what is

effectively her live savings on something that is not going

to solve the fundamental problem.

She still might have a pokey,

small house that is not as sociable as she would like.

And I think that's a really critical thing that we have to solve.

How do we persuade her that all of the work that has been put into this and the thought that she's put in,

in fact, is the wrong answer? Do you think she's going to be able to accept it?

I suspect that Dawn is very attached to this extension,

she has gone through the process of getting her consent and paying for this.

And letting go of that may be problematic, but I think she's got to before she can move on.

OK, so, who's going to tell her? You or I?

-I think it's going to have to be me.

-Good luck with that.

'Dawn is not alone in thinking that an extension will solve all

'her problems. They give instant additional space

'but often fail to address the underlying design issues.'

Originally we were quite happy with little space.

And now we want more and more space.

We can see, outside the back of Dawn's row of terraces,

how that's happened.

There's the original cottage

and then there's a flat roof back extension that was put on in the '60s.

But what worries me here is that these houses are already long

and thin, and I'm worried that if you add on another extension it will make the house seem like a tunnel.

Oh, hello, Piers.

'Piers' radical plan needs Dawn to give up on her dream extension.

'What she needs is better space, not just more of it.'

So it's great to see this, cos I've seen it on your plans

and initially I'm worried by the extension,

because the building is quite long and quite narrow.

You're going to end up with a funny tunnel-like building that has

no light coming in except for a dot at either end, really.

So what do you propose?

I'm going to propose something quite radical to you.

I think this is where your kitchen should go,

so, if you imagine this is taken away. Your bathroom goes upstairs.

Your kitchen effectively sits in the middle bit of your house

where you don't need to sit, so you're standing cooking

-and you're bridging both sides of the house.

-Right.

This then becomes a fantastic dining space with big, full-length

sliding doors out on to the garden. And then you don't do the extension.

-Right, that's interesting.

-Come down here.

So what you would have, I think, is that

if you open the front door,

eventually you would be able to look straight through to the

back of the building, all of this space would be open.

That would be an open plan?

I think this building does need to be an open-plan building

-on the ground floor to give you a sense of space.

-Right.

'Piers is convinced Dawn can create the home transformation

'she craves, if she opts for savvy, cost effective solutions.

'Instead of building an extension,

'Piers' vision for Dawn's property is to spend her £20,000 opening up the space.

'The downstairs toilet gets positioned under the stairs.

'And a more generous kitchen-diner can then be created within

'the existing footprint. Piers' final suggestion is to invest in new

'bi-fold doors that lead out onto the garden.'

The other key thing to remember in small buildings

is that we need to find a sense of generosity.

And a big opening here will make it so generous, the space.

I want you to find big areas of wall

and that's why a big area of wall above the sitting area, a big area of wall

through there, which will make the building feel much bigger again.

Well, it all sounds...

..very modern for an old cottage,

and I was trying to retain the age of the building.

The sense of it being a cottage we're not trying to hide at all, we're not trying to make it something it isn't,

we're trying to make the most of what it is.

And, you know, we mustn't pickle buildings in aspic, they need to move

on, they need to change, they need to embrace the next cycle of living.

With Piers showing me what could be done, it has opened my eyes.

And if I can contain everything I want within this space,

so much the better.

Remember, the builder isn't a designer,

you're really the designer in this case.

'This project will be challenging for Dawn.

'She'll need to abandon plans that she has emotionally

'and financially invested in, but Piers and I think this is

'only way she can achieve her dream with the budget she has.'

Dawn's coming to terms with the task of carving a space

out of a small cottage for the things she loves to do.

But other houses have much more practical problems.

When design goes wrong it can sometimes leave you with

the spaces you can't even get into.

'Our second challenge is in County Durham,

'where nine years ago, childhood sweethearts

'Dale and Angela made the decision to extend their cramped living space.

'They had plans to convert part of their garage into an elegant

'dining room linking off their kitchen.

'Over £20,000 later they had the new dining room,

'but the first of their problems was finding there was almost no way to get into it.'

As you can see it's a normal bi-fold door, but that's just a little

trick I thought of to hide what is actually behind it. Voila.

A narrow gap which is just totally impractical.

Can't carry nothing through, can't use it. It's just a useless space.

It's in my face every day and I just feel sick every time I look at it.

I could just see when they were doing the bottom of the wall that

the gap wasn't going to be enough, it wasn't going to be a standard doorway.

And I tried telling them but nobody would listen.

Might as well be a garage at the end of the day because we just use it as a store room.

Angela spotted it but nobody listened to Angela.

Those four little words, "I told you so."

'Resourceful Dale quickly decided to try and fix the problem himself.'

I put the conservatory up to try

and make access easier from through the conservatory

but in the winter months it's freezing cold out there so you just

don't want to come in this part of the house,

in the summer it's red hot out there.

'The conservatory cost Dale a further £2,500, and brought with it a new set of problems.'

I was expecting more light through from the conservatory,

that was another little misjudgement I made.

'Dale and Angela tolerated the disastrous extension for four years.

'But when Angela fell ill the situation became unbearable.'

Unfortunately I had a stroke on Christmas night 2009.

All of a sudden, my wife can't walk. She's had a blood clot on the brain.

About 18 months later, I had another stroke.

It just hit me like a hammer.

Emotionally, psychologically, it completely floored me.

I didn't think I was going to get her back.

'The strokes affected Angela's mobility,

'which now makes the hodgepodge extension even more of a nightmare.'

The main problem is from the kitchen into the conservatory,

we've got a good three-to-four-inch step.

Then from the conservatory to the dining room,

we've got another three-to-four-inch step.

Physically, Angela can't use that space.

It's not practical for her, it's not safe for her because she has

to step over a lot of obstacles and walk through that small gap.

It's just not physically possible, really.

'Dale's determined to fix it this time, and they've been saving hard.'

We've saved, like, £5,000 up.

Hopefully we can do something with that.

But I don't want to do it wrong again.

It does upset me.

Get you sorted, get it all done.

'To help them repair past mistakes, Piers needs to solve

'the layout issue and make their home safe for Angela to live in.'

In a way, this is a small tragedy, because they've got something

that's so compromised, and Angela's health isn't the best.

I really want to help them sort this out.

Hi, Angela, how are you doing?

Nice to see you.

-How are you?

-Very well thanks. Good to see you.

-Come on through.

-Thank you.

So I don't believe in feng shui, but this is giving me bad vibes,

-this space. I can see that that is an issue.

-That is a big issue.

Well, it's a little issue.

So you've spent all this money on an extension

-that you can't really use properly.

-No.

I'm noticing these steps to get into internal rooms.

They're another barrier really, aren't they?

Everything here is showing you

that these are separate spaces, aren't they.

-The change of finish, the door threshold, all of those things.

-Yep.

I can feel that this space feels unloved, unused, unheated.

'Transforming a dark kitchen

'and an unusable conservatory will require a major structural

'transformation, but the biggest challenge is in the former garage.'

There's no ventilation, there's no light. It's clearly bonkers.

No natural light at all, is there.

How often have you used this room since you've built it?

-Once for one Christmas dinner.

-Once in ten years. That's incredible.

'On just £5,000, Piers needs to find a way to give Dale and Angela's

'home the most basic qualities we look for in domestic architecture.'

'Housing needs to have good-sized spaces,

'it needs to have good ventilation, good quality'

of spatial flow and good quality natural light.

This building doesn't have that,

so buildings need to work from basic principles.

This house isn't doing it.

'The challenge now is rectifying a whole host of fundamental

'problems in this home on such a paltry budget.'

My initial impressions are that you actually need to do a fair

bit of structural work to sort out this corner where everything

comes together.

'Piers suggests removing the walls where the kitchen,

'dining room and conservatory meet.

'It's expensive, structural work, so he must now look for every

'possible way to keep other costs down.'

The advantage of this is it leaves all of your kitchen as it is.

You don't reconvene your kitchen at all.

But what you end up with is a kitchen/dining space that is

uninterrupted and is...you know, that big.

Then, finally, take these doors

and re-use those doors as French doors

-going out into the garden there.

-Brilliant.

Just for the light and the openness.

It'll make this room feel twice the size it is as well.

The good thing about that is, as well, that's something I can do.

-Absolutely.

-That's not a problem for me to do that.

But it is completely transformed.

I suspect then you'd actually live out here quite a lot of the time.

This is definitely something that we can now use.

'Dale's inspired...'

-I'm not cutting corners now.

-No.

-We'll get it done properly.

'..and starts by relocating the dining room doors.

'But with money so tight, Dale is having to take on the lion's

'share of the work himself, and calling on favours from mates.'

I would never have thought of putting a set of doors

in this wall at all. Or a window, even.

This is going to be revealing, this, actually,

because I've never seen natural light in that room.

That's going to be some size, eh?

Look at that. Daylight in here.

Oh, this is just going to be so different.

'Light floods in.

'Dale's hard work and Piers' idea of reusing

'the dining room doors has saved the couple at least £500.'

That's it.

'It's a big moment,

'but the most ambitious part of the build is still ahead.'

The structural work is what I'm apprehensive about,

I know what's involved.

You just think, "What's going to go wrong?

"Is something going to go wrong?"

'And even if nothing goes wrong,

'with just £5,000, it's going to be tight.'

-Steel...that's going to be...

-It's going to be £1,000.

-The roof is 2,750.

-2,750.

I think we might be going over here.

'In Bedfordshire, Dawn's initial excitement about

'Piers' suggestions has worn off, and the amount of work required to

'turn the ideas into reality has taken its toll.'

I've felt really under the weather for about two weeks.

I don't sleep well at night,

you're fretting over things that you are not in control of.

It is basically because of Piers' plans of opening up the

whole area, and having to get all this structural stuff indoors done.

'She needs new quotes, new plans and a structural survey.

'If she loses sight of the bigger picture,

'then Dawn could end up wasting her life savings on a project

'that doesn't actually give her the space she needs.

'So it's vital that we prove to her that

'Piers' big ideas will be worth the effort.

'I've managed to get access to a house in North London that

'I hope will help Dawn see the potential of her own home.

'Here, the architect Ruth Butler has transformed the

'long, narrow garage into a generous open-plan kitchen,

'almost identical in size to Dawn's ground floor.'

My, this is nice.

If you think about it, this space is about the width

and depth of your floor plan.

I do like it.

Flooded with light, which is something you've talked about.

That was important. That's important to me.

'Dawn was worried that modern sliding doors may not fit

'with her Victorian cottage.'

-I do like this idea of the door. I really do.

-Yeah.

I really wanted to bring you here cos, in a way,

the owners here were facing such similar problems to you.

They needed more space and they couldn't extend at the back

so they decided, "Right, what's important to us?

"We want a kitchen, dining room,

"a sociable space for eating together."

And having everything sort of streamlined.

Everything is at hand.

'The sense of space has also been maximised by lifting

'storage of the ground, and you see the full width of the floor.

'These ideas are not expensive to adopt.

'The floating units cost just £160

'and painting the brick walls cost just 60 quid.'

This is by no means an expensive interior.

You know, it's a fairly standard kitchen -

some nice appliances and so on

but this is not pushing the boat out, moneywise.

It's just got the space right, hasn't it?

It just gives you these ideas that you can adapt. I love it.

'With enough motivation,

'Dawn could create exactly this effect in her home.'

You've got to make up your mind what's important to you...

-Yeah, absolutely.

-..cos I've been drawing pieces of paper, maps,

and trying to work out and measuring to see where everything goes

but this sort of gives you an idea exactly how I can fit it in.

I think it's important for Dawn to get a sense

of that light into the cottage.

I mean, of course these small cottages are cosy and often quite

dark with small windows. There's no reason to have that now.

I think opening up the back of the house,

connecting with that lovely garden that she is really fond of

is going to be really important.

This visit has made a big difference for me

because now I can see that this idea does work.

I've got to get this act together now quickly and get it moving

and I'm ready.

'In no time at all, the demolition work begins.

'Structural alterations like this need approval from planning

'and building control so Dawn's finalised the new layout with

'her engineer and architect.

'In a matter of days,

'her small Victorian cottage becomes open-plan.'

Oh!

Oh, my... It's huge.

This is just amazing. I don't know...

I miss my house.

I miss part of the house!

You just feel, "Oh, God!

"Did I have the right to pull this down?", basically.

'Now inspired by contemporary bi-fold doors,

'she's put in an order for some at just over £4,000.

'Aware of her tight budget,

'builders Darren and Nick are hoping to complete the structural work

'for around £7,000.'

She's a lovely lady.

We've nicknamed her "Duchess".

Princess Dawn - what she wants, she gets.

A lot of people her age, bless 'em,

will be sitting in armchairs reading the newspaper.

They wouldn't be having their house knocked about, would they?

'But with no contingency, she only has £9,000 left

'for floors, rewiring, new windows, internal decoration,

'a new bathroom and a new kitchen.'

It doesn't look very securely built, does it?

An old property like this, it's like Pandora's box.

Something's not right.

Cos it's solid wall.

'The next morning, cracks have started to appear

'in Dawn's back wall on the first floor.

'Work has stopped and she's called out the structural engineer

'at a cost of £180.'

The main concern is the block-work wall that's sitting on floorboards

upstairs and obviously that weighs too much to be on a floorboard.

OK, now I'm with you.

'Behind the cracks lies a breeze block wall built by a previous owner.

'This unsupported weight has created

'a potentially disastrous problem for Dawn's build.'

The trouble with properties this age

is that you don't know what you're going to get until you open it up.

So the whole wall has to come down?

I think that would be the most economic solution.

That was horrendous news.

I just felt I was taking five steps back, not just one or two.

Gosh, it's worrying how people have built this.

The hiccups are coming now.

'It's more expense on a project that already stripped to the bone.'

The main worry is the cost of bringing the wall down

and rebuilding a wall.

But it has to be done.

I'm just hoping it won't run into thousands,

because that was my floor and everything else.

'Back in County Durham, the steelwork has arrived

'that will allow the crucial structural transformation

'of Dale and Angela's home.

'Costing £1,000, it's a fifth of their meagre £5,000 budget.'

It's some size, that, isn't it?

It really weighs a ton.

It's a lot heavier than I thought.

That's what's going to hold the back of my house up.

'The joists are too big to fit through Dale and Angela's house,

'so they have to haul two and a half tonnes of steel

'through the neighbour's garden.'

This is some substantial weight, this.

'It's more than the four-man job Dale anticipated.'

If possible, I need everybody's help.

Cheers for coming over, lads.

'They rally some free help from friends and family.'

Right, are we on?

This better fit.

Ready?

Right!

Watch out, watch out - it's going to come off the end now.

Whoa!

Lift it.

Everybody all right?

Where are we going now?

'Instead of a costly heavy-duty lift,

'this steel is raised eight feet in the air

'by eight burly blokes.'

Push! Right.

Just watch my stench pipe.

Ready and up!

-Are we on?

-Yep.

Sheets of steel, innit?

That's what mates are for, innit?

'Six weeks into Dawn's build

'and with her budget under severe pressure,

'she needs innovative solutions to one of the most expensive parts

'of a renovation like this -

'the kitchen.

'To make matters worse,

'she's just received a bill

'for rebuilding the wall in the new bathroom.'

The extra cost is about 1,200.

It is a lot of money. Every penny counts now.

-Hi, Dawn.

-Morning!

-How are you doing? Wow, look at this!

That's fantastic.

'With the walls removed and fabulous bi-fold doors in place,

'the open-plan living space is taking shape.

'But Dawn has chosen to deviate from Piers' plan

'by keeping the toilet in the same place,

'albeit in a much smaller room.'

So what about the kitchen? Where's that going?

Is that going from here up to the end?

Yes, right from this corner right down to that.

-Originally, I wanted the fridge here.

-Mmm.

But...

the builder reckons the fridge is better in that corner

because of the plumbing

-and I think he's right.

-Your fridge is a full-height fridge, is it?

-Yeah.

-And it's going in that corner.

At the moment, I look in there and my eye doesn't stop

until it hits that corner.

This feels spacious like this

and this is such a joy to see this open

and you fought so hard to get this space

and at the moment, in my mind,

your worktop comes along and hits this wall here...

-And it's all open space.

-..and it's all open.

And the ugly thing, the thing that's the block,

-you tuck away somewhere.

-I agree with you.

Remember that your builder is very good,

but he's not particularly interested

in the poetics of standing next to the open door.

He just wants to plumb it all in.

This is the best bit of the kitchen, right here.

Hmm.

-I need to have another little chat with him.

-Mm-hmm.

'In Britain, the average spend on a kitchen is £8,000,

'but Dawn just can't afford this.'

What about the kitchen? What are you doing for that?

It's upstairs.

Somebody's throwing it out.

These are the units that are being thrown out.

Yeah, great.

'Most of the money we spend on a new kitchen

'goes on materials, middlemen and the design process.

'So adapting an unwanted one can save thousands.

'A clever face-lift will even improve outdated designs.'

You know, you could even paint the glass,

-paint the whole lot.

-Could you?

Yeah. This would look much better as a solid thing.

-I just think this draws your eye...

-I wasn't happy with that.

-A pattern on it - it looks very dated.

-It does look very dated.

And this colour's very dated, isn't it now?

Maybe I should practise on one.

See what they look like with a coat of paint.

If it goes wrong,

it'd be upon your head. You buy me a new kitchen!

It was free anyway, so nothing to lose.

'To help link her kitchen and garden together,

'Dawn is keen on a bluey-green.'

I think this might be too bright. This isn't remotely scientific.

So this, Dawn, is just very heavy-duty wood and metal paint.

These colours themselves aren't ideal,

but I would always mix them up anyway.

That's quite a nice colour. Subtle, isn't it?

'Rather than choosing from a colour chart,

'architects and designers often mix colours themselves

'to allow for trial and error.'

-Maybe a bit too purple.

-Yeah.

'Once decided, these can then be colour-matched at a paint shop.'

A bit bluer, do you think?

I think you need to choose your own colour.

I don't want to choose a colour for you,

but I think all we want to do now is just try out the effect.

This is too dark.

This is a nice grey-blue.

-I think we go for that, we try that.

-Try that?

I think it looks better already.

Do you know what I like best about it?

-That it's free.

-Yeah.

Beautiful.

Isn't that nice?

Fantastic.

So I think this is nice, but we need to do a couple more things to it.

For me, the worktop is really important

and want I think you should do

-is find a really chunky, crisp, very simple timber worktop.

-Mm-hmm.

This is just an old piece of timber I found lying around in the garden

and then what I think you need to do is to find some nice handles.

-That then looks completely different, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

I'm just trying to show you how the right worktop

and the right handle would transform that kitchen.

Yep, I agree.

'In County Durham,

'Dale and Angela are finally getting a sense of their new home.

'If they pull it off,

'this build could have a profound effect on their lives.'

If I'm not in the house,

I worry about Angela falling over

and not being able to look after herself.

'The key now is to create a floor which flows seamlessly through,

'allowing Angela to move around easily and safely.

'But having done the sums,

'they're running seriously short on funds.'

We've got £540 left.

I am a little bit worried, because I don't know...

We're trying to think outside the box for flooring.

Me and Angela are just thinking your basic magnolias

and your average laminate flooring.

'Even cheap laminate floor will set them back over £400

'and it could spoil the look of the whole project.

'We need to find them a more stylish and cost-effective solution.

'I'm in Sheffield to visit a building that I love

'and, surprisingly,

'could provide some money-saving inspiration for Dale and Angela,'

cos it uses an architectural feature that needn't cost the earth,

and that's colour.

This building was designed by Sauerbruch Hutton,

who are probably the most important architects in the world right now,

working with how colour can play a role in architecture.

This is a building that has 24 colours in total its facade

in three colour families -

a family of reds,

a family of greens,

a family of blues.

The panels could seem random, but in fact,

the tones have been carefully picked

from colours found in the nearby environment.

If Dale and Angela can put the same intensity of thought into colour

that this building does,

they can really make an architectural difference

with the very thinnest layer.

'Dale and Angela could use colour

'as an inexpensive and ingenious solution to their flooring problem,

'transforming one of the cheapest materials available, chipboard,

'into something special.'

So, I've got two different colours of floor paint.

What this is is a two-pack of epoxy water-based paint

that goes incredibly hard

and you'll be glad to know it's gloss finish.

-Oh, good.

-Oh!

-On this floor, what I would do is put down chipboard to level it.

-Yes.

Then on top of the chipboard, use a thinned down coat of this,

then either one or two more coats, depending.

-So this is the first colour.

-Yes...

-It's bright, isn't it?

And this is the second.

'Piers and I know bold ideas like these

'could make Dale and Angela's home distinctive and different.

'But will they get on board?'

So I'm presuming, of course, that these aren't very similar

to the colours that you were thinking of?

Nowhere near! We'd even sent for a couple of samples.

Just your basic, run-of-the-mill laminate flooring

and the same with the colours on the wall, magnolias and just...

Basically trying to put the walls to match the furniture,

rather than the opposite way round.

Colour is such a gift. It costs so little.

This is no more expensive than magnolia

and the difference that it makes is fantastic.

So I'm wondering if you'd like some soup.

LAUGHTER

'But to really appreciate what it will look like as a floor finish,

'they need to get it onto some sample chipboard.

'Ordinarily used for concrete garage floors,

'this paint is mixed with an activator

'which makes it dry to a hardwearing sheen.'

The more I'm looking at this, the more I am actually liking it.

-It looks totally different when it's on.

-Yeah.

Completely different - that's gone purplier, hasn't it?

Definitely.

-This is so crisp and clean, though, isn't it?

-It is.

Now, which one where?

-They go with each other, don't they?

-I don't know.

I think tonight, when the sun goes down,

-you'll see what it looks like in the room without the sunlight.

-Yeah.

-Definitely food for thought.

-Yes. Good.

'Angela and Dale park the tricky decision on the floor colour

'while Dale concentrates on laying the chipboard,

'which is vital to create

'one unified space in the remodelled extension.'

Ange walked in, she actually walked straight through

and she never had to once look down at where she was walking.

I feel good inside, knowing she can use this part of the house now

without me being here.

'To cover the whole space with chipboard

'has cost just £200

'with another 100 for paint.

'But Angela is still uncertain about the colour.'

Initially, it's going to be a bit, mmm...

Cos it's quite bold for me. But we'll wait and see.

'Despite working shifts, Dale's put in over 60 hours

'in the last fortnight trying to finish the build.'

Dale's just been at it.

And he just was so tired.

I said to him one night - in fact, I was in tears -

I said I wished I could have a magic wand

and do it for him.

He's just worked so hard.

'With 30 square metres to first prime, then paint,

'Dale's hoping that this 300 quid floor

'isn't an architectural step too far.'

Big moment...

-LAUGHING:

-Oh...!

Wow - that is different.

Hope it looks this nice on the floor.

'12 weeks ago, Dale and Angela's house

'was plagued with a cramped kitchen, dark dining room conversion

'and badly insulated conservatory.

'The hotchpotch of poorly connected spaces,

'impossibly narrow doorway and uneven floor levels

'all created a serious hazard for Angela.

'Piers proposed some radical solutions,

'but with just £5,000 to spend,

'they had to put in all the hard work themselves.

'I'm fascinated to see how Dale and Angela

'have interpreted Piers' ideas.'

-Hi, guys.

-Hi.

-Nice to see you again.

How are you doing? How's it all been going?

-Ups and downs.

-Yeah?

-But really, really pleased.

It's been tiring, difficult,

we've had some good days and bad days.

Well, I'm dying to see what you've done.

-So am I - can I have a look?

-Go on.

Wow!

It is just extraordinary

how much light you get into this space

and how completely different it feels.

-This is like being in another house.

-Yeah.

Feels contemporary, spacious - what a great space.

'In order to address the disconnected spaces,

'narrow doorway, and uneven thresholds,

'Dale and Angela took on Piers' idea

'of using structural steel and knocking down walls.'

It was so miserable before

and this was a forgotten, bodged extension.

There was a half-door through there, wasn't there,

-into the rest of the house?

-Yeah.

And now, it glows with light.

'Instead of expensive flooring,

'Angela and Dale went with Piers' suggestion of painting chipboard

'to create a bright, contemporary, low-cost floor

'that's easy to negotiate.'

One of the things that really excites me

is, of course, the colour.

I mean, it adds so much brightness, the sheen of the paint.

I remember being a little bit quiet when it was mentioned about colours

and it being so bold. But it's lovely.

We'd never have thought of going for nothing as vibrant.

And as we put it on, it was just..."Wow,

"this is going to be good."

Even in February, when the sun's not out,

I suspect it will still feel really warm.

The light - it just seems to bounce up off the floor.

-It does. There's no lights on in here.

-None whatsoever.

'Angela and Dale also saved money by following Piers' plan

'of reusing doors from the dining rooms

'as French doors that lead into the garden.'

You've managed to make every bit of what was already here still work.

We got one wall there which was bit of conservatory.

No architect would ever design that in,

but somehow, it works here, doesn't it?

Totally.

Do you it will change the way you guys live in your house?

Definitely, it's given us this back half of the house back -

given me it back, anyway -

that I can use it safely.

Dale knows I can use it safely, with all the access and everything,

it's much better for me, much easier.

-I think we'll use this as a living room, more than anything.

-Hm.

Sit and look in the garden or you can sit and read,

just have a chill-out.

For me, it shows that space and light are the most important things

and that's what you've got in spades here, now.

'Angela and Dale had just £5,000 to spend.

'Did they achieve this stunning result within that small budget?'

I need to ask you, have you done this for £5,000?

This place feels a lot more generous than that tiny budget suggests.

Did you come in under budget?

-We came in under budget by...I think it was £17.52.

-Almost to the penny!

Yeah - I've got it all wrote down to the penny and we're under budget.

Amazing - per square metre for a space like this, I mean,

that's fantastic value.

Actually, I suspect if you'd had this costed,

I'd have thought maybe 12, 15 grand?

-But you've done it yourself.

-Yeah.

Do you feel a sense of pride?

Because there's so much of your work in this.

I do now, cos this time, there's nothing being done wrong,

I've made sure everything was correct,

There's no corners being cut.

'It's a fantastic result,

'providing a bright and accessible space

'that Dale and Angela can enjoy together.'

Angela and Dale have achieved something amazing,

which is to take a very ordinary house that had been badly compromised

by some misguided decisions,

and now, this house isn't just better than it was,

it's a fantastic, delightful, colour-filled space,

and Dale and Angela have achieved this through their own

resourcefulness and imagination.

They've made this happen.

'After years of feeling embarrassed by their home,

'they can now enjoy giving a warm welcome to friends and family.'

- Wow! - Wow!

Wow!

Oh, thank you. Well done.

Well done.

'Delivering this safe and beautiful space for Angela

'has been a real labour of love for Dale.'

There's not enough words that I could say

for what he's done.

And I know why he's done it.

I know he's done a lot of it for me

and...the predicament we had at the time

and it's made it a lot easier and safer for me.

Mm...

Tears of happiness, definitely.

I think Dale and Angela have made a wonderful space, I love it.

I think what they've created out of an unprepossessing building

is full of optimism and life and light.

I think that'll serve them really well in the years to come.

Can you have that sent out to us, so we can get it tomorrow?

'Six weeks later in Bedfordshire,

'the building work at Dawn's cottage has progressed.

'With the stud walls now in place and plastering complete,

'Dawn's juggling different tradesmen to try and finish her build.'

The carpenter has been on site since Monday

and he's put the kitchen in

and he's progressing really well, I'm really impressed.

We've also got the electrician,

who's come to do the fusebox and tidy up bits in the kitchen,

like the plug points and everything else.

And the decorator's here and he's been doing the bedroom.

The thing is, we can't do any of the downstairs

until the kitchen is finished.

They all have to work on top of each other, really.

It's a bit hard, especially with the carpenter,

cos there's a lot of things to saw and you need the space.

'Having to pay more to contractors than originally planned,

'on top of having to rebuild the bathroom wall,

'is putting yet more pressure on Dawn's £20,000 budget.'

Money has definitely gone over budget now.

For example, the worktop, the one we ordered,

wasn't the right thickness, wasn't the right width.

So had to wind up getting two lots, so that's double the cost.

I've had about...I would say ten nights that I didn't quite sleep.

They are the sleepless nights - money worries are sleepless nights.

After buying her dream retirement home, former nurse Dawn

found that the old worker's cottage was cramped and dingy.

The small rooms were dark, boxy spaces, stuffed with Dawn's clutter.

The bathroom was slap-bang in the middle of the ground floor,

creating a dark corridor.

And the kitchen at the back was gloomy and impractical,

with nowhere to sit with family and friends.

'Dawn had a budget of £20,000 for all the work,

'and Piers encouraged her to abandon her plans for an extension

'and open up the space.'

Emotionally attached to the period charm of her property,

Dawn bravely took on the huge task that lay ahead.

Ripping apart the interior was the first step to creating her

dream living space.

'But we know that it hasn't been an easy ride and that she

'ran into serious structural problems along the way.

'Today, we're back to see how she got on.'

-Hi, Dawn.

-Hi, you two.

-How are you?

-Nice to see you.

Great to see you.

-How are you? How's it been?

-It's been good, mainly.

Are you exhausted? Are you tired? Are you fed-up?

A bit tired - not fed-up.

And what about the result? Is it something your happy with?

-Have you got what you needed?

-Results are fantastic.

You'll love it. You must come inside and have a look.

-Can't wait to see.

-Come inside. Brilliant.

Wow! This is amazing!

-You like it?

-It's incredible.

Look at this.

This is fantastic, Dawn.

It's just full of space and light.

Just look at how open it is -

you can really see all the way through this space now.

It's wonderful.

'It's an impressive transformation of the downstairs.'

How do feel about this now? You must be thrilled.

-Elated is the word.

-Really?

Truly, I'm excited.

And you've taken away loads of doors.

'Instead of building an extension that she just couldn't afford,

'Dawn has embraced Piers' idea of a more open-plan layout.'

Give us your thinking that led to this idea of opening up this space.

What do you make of the result?

I felt it was just common sense that this building was just too

small really to have rooms.

I can see the bones of this cottage far clearer now with this

arrangement than I could previously.

Do you think it's taken away from the character of the cottage,

or added to it?

It just gives you, like, a breath of fresh air

when you walk in, you know.

There's space, there's light and it's also cosy at the same time.

'Dawn's opened up the previously dark corridor

'in the centre of the house.'

So this works really well.

This is a little writing space that you were really keen to have,

and you've carved out a little niche underneath this stair, haven't you?

You were desperate to keep the bathroom here,

and we tried to persuade you, but it seems to work all right.

I think it does.

So this is the main event really. What a lovely space you've made

and obviously this was going to be the extension.

At the very beginning of the project,

you wanted to build outwards into the garden.

You haven't got that, but does this make up for it?

-Is this enough?

-Absolutely.

-I think it makes up for it more than the extension would have.

-Really?

Yeah, because the extension would have cut out the light,

I think, from the inside of the house cos there would have been

a roof over it.

What this has done is thrown the light

and brought the garden in at the same time.

Not just into the kitchen space...

Right throughout.

No, I think this was a better move.

The big picture is this big, open-plan downstairs,

but actually,

the small things like bringing the light in to the middle of the plan,

painting the ceiling all one colour,

not having threshold strips on the floor.

They're easy things to let go, cos you think, "Are they worth it?"

But they're so worth it and you really need to hang on to those.

I also need to talk about your kitchen and, of course,

I really like the fact that it's very simple

and it's just one run of cupboards along this wall.

You haven't spent a huge amount of money,

you've just used what you've had and you've given it a new lease of life.

The kitchen units, to be honest, have only cost me about £20.

And that's the paint.

I really love the kitchen. I think, it's not that I got it for nothing,

it's just I made something out of nothing.

What's interesting is you could have spent maybe £5,000 on the kitchen,

but for that money, you've got the floor,

you've got the light and the bi-folds.

What are you looking forward to in terms of how you're going to use this space?

-Have you got a dinner planned?

-I have.

I'm going to get my neighbours over...

when the weather is good and we're going to have a supper.

'Central to Piers' plan of getting light into the back

'of the house were full-width bi-fold doors.'

These doors are fantastic, aren't they?

They're the best.

Best thing we've done to this house is put the bi-fold doors in.

This is really fantastic, isn't it?

This is really the link you wanted with your garden,

-which you always wanted to be part of the house.

-Absolutely.

More and more, space is at such a premium in this country,

and you do have a small house and a small garden,

but actually, the way that you're using it,

you're making every inch work hard for you.

I'm so pleased with it, I can't tell you.

'The re-invention of this home has included moving the bathroom

'upstairs and adding central heating.'

How much has it ended up costing you?

Well, my original budget was 20,000,

but I have exceeded that by about 4,000.

That included the central heating which I hadn't, to start with,

budgeted for.

And also, we had a few problems with the walls.

All in all, I don't think that's a big overspend.

What I like is that you've known exactly where to spend the money,

and also, what not to spend money on.

And this is fantastic really, for the amount of money you had.

This is the best money I've ever spent.

I've got the space, I've got the light and it's wonderful.

What's great about Dawn's renovation is that it takes

an old house and it completely transforms it

and brings it into the 21st century.

What's also interesting here is that Dawn hasn't increased

the footprint of this building -

it's the same size, the space just works far better.

And Dawn has shown that you don't necessarily need more space,

what you do need to be is smarter about the way that you use space.

'And Dawn's smart use of space means she now has room to

'entertain her friends and family.'

To Dawn - hooray!

THEY TOAST DAWN

I've got my retirement home. I think this is for keeps.

This is it.

'Dawn's been able to achieve this amazing transformation

'by embracing Piers' ideas and architectural tricks of the trade.

'For someone like Dawn, at her stage in life,

'this was a really ambitious project.'

But she's pulled it off, not just with success,

but with real style. She's kept her eyes on the prize.

She's really focused on the things

she valued about the space, which is light and space to enjoy,

and she's come up with a brilliant result.

Next week, Cath and Greg's family home is stuck in a 1970s time warp.

So depressing - it's horrible.

Is solving its problems even possible on their tight budget?

Whoo!

I don't think it can be done!

And a divorcee, who dreams of a new life with grand plans for her home.

I just want to do what's best for it.

I just want to make it what it should be and not what it is.

But she's never attempted anything like this before.

That's the problem - being on your own, being my age

and taking on a project like this.