Take a tour around this glamorous four-bed Seventies house in Kent

The owners moved to Kent three years ago and just fell in love with its countryside feel. ‘We found a house that was near the local shops and our friends and family, and even though it needed a lot of work, we knew it was the one for us,' she says.

Living room

'Structurally the house was fine, but it needed redecorating to get it the way we wanted it. It was built in 1979, and when we first saw the large entrance hall and spacious sitting room, we were immediately sold – the place just had
so much potential! The fact that we wanted to change so much was slightly scary, as we were moving in the week before Christmas – but we still managed to host Christmas Day dinner for the family that year, somehow!'

Want more home decorating inspiration? Check out our real homes page for more great ideas

Kitchen

'We had a new kitchen fitted as soon as we moved in, with cabinets from Ikea and a quartz worktop from Topsco – we chose it because it was easy to fit and it also had a long guarantee.

My husband fitted the Ikea cabinets in the kitchen himself and installed a breakfast bar, too, where we can perch in the mornings. He and my uncle did all the work themselves, including building a full-length spice rack into the design to conceal a pillar and to make use of some wasted space. We also had our double garage converted into a single unit, to make extra space for a utility room, which is really handy to have.'

Bathroom

'As well as the kitchen, Andrew has done loads of the work on the rest of house – he refitted our main bathroom and cloakroom with help from a plumber, plus lots of other bits around the house. Most of the work went smoothly, apart from when we changed our minds about the tiles in the main bathroom halfway through installing them, so we had to rip them out and tile again with the new ones we’d chosen!'

Buy now: White Wooden Lantern, £18, Dunelm

Dressing room

'I love a patterned feature wall and we deliberately chose statement wallpapers. I quite like a show home style – really clean, crisp interiors – and I’ve tried to recreate this in our house by using neutral shades throughout and including accessories to add subtle colour and texture. I’m also a fan of glamorous, sparkly decor, so I’ve worked this look in using shimmery wallpaper and a few glittering accessories – plus lots of mirrors everywhere, as they are a great way to reflect light.'

Buy now: Hemnes daybed, £239, Ikea

Bedroom

'I love reading interiors magazines to get ideas, and I also look at show homes, as well as Instagram and Pinterest. The only problem is that I’m always coming across new things that I want to try! I do think it’s good to spend some time browsing magazines to find a design you are completely in love with before starting to decorate, as changing your mind halfway through is much more difficult and costly – as we found out when we did exactly that while doing our bathroom.'

Bedroom

'When it comes to shopping, I love a bargain and often visit B&M, Dunelm or Wilko if I’m after a few bits to give the place a quick update. Outlets are great for discounted furniture, too, especially Laura Ashley and Next stores, which is where I got the mirror above my bed.'

Exterior

'The house looks really modern now, and very stylish and glamorous, which was exactly what I wanted. It’s such a serene place to come back to after work each day and a great place to have friends around – that’s probably why
we always end up hosting!’

This house was originally feature in Style at Home, March 2018