‘Instagram inspired us to do the

The house had already been extended, but the kitchen and bathroom were installed in 2003 and felt dated. In fact, the whole house needed redecorating, as the previous owners had a large dog and some of the rooms had marks on the walls. ‘We gave every room a quick lick of paint when we first moved in and then took some time to decide where to begin with the renovation,’ says Anna.

DARE TO DIY

‘We originally wanted to completely re-do the kitchen, but we then discovered more pressing jobs that needed our budget, such as the roof, which had to be replaced and was an expense we weren’t expecting.’ However, the couple felt that the kitchen needed a few urgent fixes to make it more functional. ‘There was a corner cabinet by the door that everyone bumped into, so we took that out. Also, the worktop protruded two feet further than it does now and my grandchildren kept bashing their heads on it, so we chopped that off. We lived with the space for a few years while other rooms took priority.’

Anna discovered Instagram during this time and she found it really inspiring. She admits that she hadn’t really considered doing budget renovations before discovering ideas on social media and until then had been planning to rip out the kitchen and bathroom and start again. ‘But seeing lots of clever hacks on social media gave me the confidence to give these rooms some simple DIY updates,’ she says.

The original kitchen cabinets were solid wood, but were a yellowy-orange, which Anna didn’t like, so she decided to paint them. ‘I’d seen people doing it online and it didn’t look too daunting,’ she explains. ‘My family have a DIY store, so I was raised doing small jobs and I enjoy it, especially as it’s so different to what I do all day.’ She chose Farrow & Ball’s Treron green shade for the kitchen cabinets, as the room has three windows facing out onto the garden and she wanted to bring the outside in. It’s a scheme she’s carried through the house, punctuated by blues, pinks and yellows. For Christmas, she loves to add gold accessories to this colour scheme to dial up the luxury.

‘When it came to the bathroom, like the kitchen, I originally expected to renovate the room in one go,’ says Anna. ‘But when we first moved in, I was desperate to replace the hideous jacuzzi bath that filled the room, so we put a new bath in and replaced the original ugly radiator. Then, I gave it another

Make a simple door decoration, like Anna’s, by foraging for some sticks, then hanging them from string along with baubles and gold stars

Painting the kitchen units took longer than Anna anticipated, ‘but I made sure I did it properly,’ she explains. ‘I sanded and primed the wood, and painted in sections, as I was working full-time. But it was worth the effort as it will last longer and is more hard-wearing’