Welcome to my home

Although we wanted the place to have character, we didn’t want to live in the past

Laura Tyerman, who owns a homeware shop, lives here with her husband Neil, who works for Royal Mail.

THE PROPERTY

A three-bedroom, 1760s end-of-terrace house in Guisborough, North Yorkshire, bought in October 2014.

VALUE

Bought for £120,000 in 2014; now worth £200,000

Laura and Neil Tyerman had been living in a Seventies-built house, but longed for the charm and character of a genuine period cottage. ‘Having tried to shoehorn a country look into the old house, we were determined to do it properly in our new home – an 18th-century cottage,’ says Laura.

In need of a total refurb, the property was the perfect chance for the couple to start from scratch and create their ideal country look. ‘The living room was like a pub, with dark beams, brasses on the walls, a crazy-paving effect on the chimney breast and a heavily patterned Axminster carpet,’ Laura explains. ‘The main bedroom was just as bad – it had Seventies wood-effect panelling painted bright green and a trompe-l’oeil of a window painted on the chimney breast, complete with real curtains!’

Keen to get started, they were set back by damp – the walls were wringing wet, the carpet sodden and the staircase had rotted. ‘The work was quite major,’ says Laura. ‘Every room was stripped back to the plaster, before the walls were properly damp proofed and tanked where necessary, then finally re-skimmed, ready to paint.’

As soon as the messy work was out of the way and the carpets had been laid, the couple began to plan decorating schemes and furniture. ‘Although we wanted the place to have character, we didn’t want to live in the past,’ Laura says. They decided that an elegant, country-house look with a French slant would go well with the architecture, so teamed neutral tones on walls and floors with warm, natural finishes for year-round cosiness. Touches of lilac, green and blue lift the rooms, while chandeliers and traditional wallpaper patterns add upscale elegance.

‘The house is now done and it’s got all the country charm we were after and more,’ says Laura.