Transforming a house into our forever home was our right move
Katie and her husband Chris aren’t new to moving home. They’d lived in the same house in Chapel Allerton for 10 years before falling pregnant with their fourth child, which meant they needed to upsize. Next, they spent the five years renovating another home, affectionately known as the ‘Peach Palace’.
After Katie fell in love with renovating, she quit her job as a dentist, sharing her renovation journey full time on her account, @comedowntothewoods. What started as showing a few before and afters, turned into a journey of creative opportunity. Katie found an outlet to channel her passion for colourful features, patterns, and a deep-seated need to make a happy home. She’s now renowned for her great ideas, colourful features, and sharing decorating advice with her followers.
She says: “I’d never done a big project before and I had no idea it would give me a taste for renovation, and a new career”. Katie loved turning a house into a home so much that in March 2022, they were prepared to say “goodbye” to their family home, and “hello” to another project.
Finding their dream home with Rightmove
“We were really happy in our ‘Peach Palace’ home, but I was getting itchy feet, so I’d been exploring homes that would make good renovation projects on Rightmove”, says Katie.
It was crucial they stayed local to their previous home: “We didn’t want to have to have the boys change school, or move them away from their friends. We also don’t have family nearby: friends are our lifeline, so we wanted to stay close to them”. So they used the Rightmove app to define their search area. “We were searching in a small area, on account of not wanting to move too far”. Drawing a search made it easy to see exactly which homes were available in the area they’d be willing to move to.
And that’s when Katie found the renovation home of dreams, with so much character and potential. With four kids and their big hairy dog, Ziggy, Chris and Katie knew this renovation project was going to be a big undertaking. But it was too special to say no to.
“We always thought we had one more project in us, and I just knew she was the one. We were incredibly happy where we were, but there was something about this house that meant I just couldn’t stop thinking about her. I booked a viewing and that was it: we were hook, line, and sinkered.”
Katie and Chris made an offer right after their viewing, but it wasn’t accepted, as they hadn’t sold their own house. “We put ours on the market, but in the meantime, the seller’s circumstances changed: they needed to sell the house urgently, and they ended up accepting an offer from a cash buyer that was less than what we had offered. We went away, licked our wounds, took our house off the market and tried to forget about it.”
Spoiler alert: they didn’t forget about it. The sale went through, but the new buyer never moved in. They kept finding themselves taking detours on walks and lingering outside, wondering what on earth had gone on.
We were incredibly happy where we were, but there was something about this house that meant I just couldn’t stop thinking about her.
Then out of the blue, 4 months later, someone had dropped us a letter saying that if we ever wanted to sell our house, they’d love to buy it. And around the same time, our dream house came back up for sale. The stars seemed to have aligned and we were crazy excited but as we all know, it never goes smoothly does it. The house came back onto the market above what our maximum offer was. We were gutted, and walked away with more wound licking. It went to best and final offers – we bid again, but another cash buyer was successful.
The cash buyer didn’t end up getting it, someone else came along and offered more and he went with them but a few months down the line, that sale fell through and he came back to us.
Finally, after nearly 2 years, our offer was accepted. It’s been a long hard slog and we never truly believed that it would be our home, but we’re so glad it is.
Preparing for the next renovation project
Now, having lived in their home for 6 months, they’re starting to think about how they want to renovate their home.
“I think it’s important you experience and feel a house before you renovate it. You want to get a sense of where the light falls in different seasons, where people congregate, where they spend most of their time. For us, everyone gathers in the kitchen – it’s the heart of the house. Whether it’s with family or with friends, everyone is gets together in this bustling space.”
The kitchen is quirky, with the previous owner being a small older woman, so the worktops and cupboards were modified to be very short.
“We thought living in a space that was missing our identity when we moved in would be hard. We realised that home isn’t about the stuff in your home. Home is a feeling.”
A home that’s loved by the local community
It was clear to Katie that the home was treasured by the local community, and she wanted to reassure them that she would cherish it, too: “The neighbours were worried that we were going to turn the house into flats! I let them know we wanted to keep a lot of the original period features of the home, and that it’s really important to me that this home kept its rich history.” Katie loved the historic features of the house that give a glimpse into its past, like the old Victorian servants bells still present on the walls and the floors.
Built in 1897, the beautiful arts and crafts house ticked so many of the family’s boxes. It was as much about the outdoor space as it was about the inside. They always knew they wanted to be surrounded by trees, and for their kids to have a place to run around and explore.
“Having room, particularly for my growing boys, was important, so when we found the garden here, we knew it was the one.”
Some advice for people who don’t know where to start?
It can feel really scary to make a decision as big as moving home. Katie found it helpful to take some time to think about what the family’s wants and needs were, including the “non-negotiables”.
“Breaking the steps down into those smaller manageable pieces, and making those mini moves at your own pace, makes everything much easier.
Firstly, I try and look past the decor if it’s not to my taste. You can turn that into an opportunity to change to make it exactly how you want it to be.
And it was really important to us to find the right estate agent. Ask your friends and family for recommendations, and get their honest opinion. The agent that we used was phenomenal: genuinely, we couldn’t have done it without them. They kept us calm when it felt like it was all going wrong, and worked tirelessly to sell ours.
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The first step is always the hardest, so ease yourself in gently with some small mini moves. Moving home is huge, so if you’re feeling overwhelmed them make sure you take baby steps: it’s not a race and sometimes – as was the case with us! – good things come to those who wait.”
To help others see how they could break down their home move, Katie partnered with Rightmove to share her story in our mini moves campaign. Take a closer look at our helpful guides and tools to help you take the first step towards your home move.
