Your Home Made Perfect viewers were shocked when a couple went £16,000 over budget when transforming their 1950s semi-detached family home on last night’s episode.
Occupational therapist Lei Ying and civil servant David, from Belfast, bought their house in 2017, thinking it would be the perfect place to raise a family thanks to its generous square-footage – but it hasn’t lived up to expectations.
The layout of the utility room, two reception rooms, three bedrooms and a kitchen and dining space left a lot to be desired as they were all separated from one another.
The couple, who had a £20,000 budget but spent an eye-watering £36,000, revealed they wanted a more ‘fun and flowing space’ and turned to architect Laura Jane Clark for help transforming their home. Yet they ended up tweaking the suggestions, leaving viewers unimpressed with the ‘ruined’ renovations.
Living room before: Occupational therapist Lei Ying and civil servant David, from Belfast, bought their house in 2017, thinking it would be the perfect place to raise a family thanks to its generous square-footage – but it hasn’t lived up to expectations
Living space now: Making better use of the space, the couple’s second living room was transformed into an open-plan dining room leading to the kitchen
Lounge before: The layout of the utility room, two reception rooms, three bedrooms and a kitchen and dining space left a lot to be desired as they were all separated from one another
Lounge now: The couple renovated their three-bedroom home in Belfast, to include an open-plan living room that leads to the modern dining room
Kitchen before: The couple, who had a £20,000 budget but spent an eye-watering £36,000, revealed they wanted a more ‘fun and flowing space’ and turned to architect Laura Jane Clark for help transforming their home
Kitchen after: The parents opted for a soft pink when redecorating their kitchen and knocked down part of one of the walls to create a more open feel
Before the makeover Lei Ying and David found themselves battling against the restrictions of their downstairs layout. The cramped kitchen offered little storage, while the compact dining area struggled to fit the family-of-five.
Meanwhile, the two reception rooms were cut off from one another, meaning little natural light was found in the one, while the other was labelled ‘too long’ and a ‘waste of space’.
Outside there were steep steps leading to a ‘dangerous’ concrete area, and the small windows found at the back of the house meant the children felt isolated when in the garden without their parents.
To tackle the problems, Laura created a largely open-plan design, with the wall between the kitchen and lounge knocked down (apart from a structural beam) to result in a bigger kitchen leading to a dining room.
Their 1950s semi-detached family home: Before the makeover Lei Ying and David found themselves battling against the restrictions of their downstairs layout
Before the makeover, outside featured steep steps leading to a ‘dangerous’ concrete area, and the small windows found at the back of the house meant the children felt isolated when in the garden without their parents. Pictured, the couple together when appearing on the BBC Two show yesterday
The two reception rooms were cut off from one another, meaning little natural light was found in the one, while the other was labelled ‘too long’ and a ‘waste of space’. Pictured, the hallway
The cramped kitchen offered little storage, while the compact dining area (pictured before the makeover) struggled to fit the family-of-five
A bay and picture window replaced the outdated frames, while a glass roof was partially added above the dining room to gain more natural light.
The rest of the downstairs layout saw a living space and snug added, with a sliding door to create more space, while the utility room was hidden behind cupboard doors.
However, during the build, the couple decided to tweak a few of Laura’s ideas – resulting in sliding doors instead of a bay window, an open-plan dining room and lounge rather than a snug and decking for the garden.
The parents did keep the designer’s suggestions to hide the utility room, knock down the wall between the kitchen and second reception room to create a dining room and secure more natural light by adding windows to the roof.
Laura’s design: To tackle the problems, Laura created a largely open-plan design, with the wall between the kitchen and lounge knocked down (apart from a structural beam) to result in a bigger kitchen leading to a dining room
A bay and picture window (pictured) replaced the outdated frames, while a glass roof was partially added above the dining room to gain more natural light
Speaking about the final look, David said: ‘We’ve got the mix between having a living space but also separating it out.’ He then joked: ‘We got involved to bring everything together and now we can’t get rid of the kids because they now are in this space and they love it.’
Lei Ying added: ‘The bare bones are here but it’s the smaller choices that we’ve made, or made little adaptations because we really looked at how are we going to use this space and where are we going to hang out the most and then it was just this is what we’ve got to do to make it work for us.
‘It just feels that the jigsaw has been put back really nicely. [Laura] gave us the really good bones and then we just built on it to make it work for us.’
Designer Laura appeared pleased with the couple’s changes, saying: ‘As an architect you come up with a design but its giving you that ability to go “that works” and that ability to work together and make it perfect for you guys.’
However, during the build, the couple decided to tweak a few of Laura’s ideas – resulting in sliding doors instead of a bay window, an open-plan dining room and lounge rather than a snug and decking for the garden. Pictured, the hallway now
The parents did keep the designer’s suggestions to hide the utility room (pictured), knock down the wall between the kitchen and second reception room to create a dining room and secure more natural light by adding windows to the roof
Speaking about the final look (pictured), David said: ‘We’ve got the mix between having a living space but also separating it out.’ He then joked: ‘We got involved to bring everything together and now we can’t get rid of the kids’
But viewers were left unimpressed with the alterations made by the couple – suggesting they ‘ruined’ Laura’s ideas, with one writing: ‘What was the point of being on the programme when they didn’t follow the design at all and overspent. Waste of Laura’s time.’
Another Twitter user said: ‘Must be so frustrating for the designers when the homeowners/builders use their own “initiative” on #yourhomemadeperfect. Almost double the budget with all the best features ruined!’
A third viewer added: ‘They’ve basically ruined Laura’s design. My favourite part is Angela pretending to love the horrid designs.’
A fourth wrote: ‘It always annoys me when they don’t actually follow the design! Surely that’s not part of the programme. It doesn’t work, the lighting, the doors, the decking (which is terrible) that looks dodgy to me.’
Reaction: But viewers were left unimpressed with the alterations made by the couple – suggesting they ‘ruined’ Laura’s ideas