A savvy mum-of-two has taken lemons and turned them into lemonade, transforming her house after it was devastated by a flood – adding £135,000 to the property value in the process.
Aman Garcha bought her dream home, a new-build in Sandwell, West Midlands, six years ago for £240,000 and was crushed when in January 2021 a burst pipe destroyed the ground floor of her home.
The leak struck the entire ground floor including the kitchen, living room and downstairs toilet with gallons of water wrecking the space.
Albeit heartbroken, the 38-year-old and her husband Sam Garcha, 39, decided to take what happened as an opportunity to change the house to fit their growing family after having kids Kobe, six, and Dylan, two.
“It was very stressful,” Aman told NeedToKnow.Online.
“The water was about three or four inches high, and it was just everywhere.
“I’d woken up to settle my crying baby when I heard a gushing noise and went down to investigate – that’s when I stepped into a pool of water.
“Since we have young children the leak wasn’t ideal and we had to move in with our in-laws for a while.
“It’s never nice leaving your home and it made me sad to see it in the state it was in, and we had no idea what would happen, how long repairs would take or if we could even still live there.”
To add to the couple’s stress, they weren’t able to do any work on the house for months due to lockdown restrictions at the time.
Thankfully, their insurance covered the damage and repairs, and they used the time to add an extension to create a space for their brood.
They employed builders for this extension, while the insurance company allocated tradespeople to fit the kitchen and bathroom, but did the rest themselves, starting in July that same year.
Aman said: “We did as much of the work ourselves as we could, including knocking through walls, sourcing the bricks and other materials, panelling, and painting.
“I always knew that the kitchen layout didn’t quite work for us so I used what I know about space-planning in my Interior Design business to redesign the room.
“We drew the new design straight onto the floor and worked with the kitchen fitter to make it happen, getting rid of the breakfast bar that we never use and created a kitchen island instead, which the boys love, and it adds plenty of storage!
“My husband and I also built our own DIY bench in the front part of the kitchen.”
The bench cost £128.50 in total, with Aman using leftover timber and scrap plywood to create the frame and picked up upholstery foam from Amazon at £4.50, attaching it with adhesive spray.
This wasn’t the only piece of furniture the mum built; she also created a stylish coffee table using a £3 cable reel and £10 tabletop purchased on Facebook Marketplace, with dowels from B&Q (£45), some glue, finishing wax and leftover paint.
Thanks to their DIY skills, Aman and Sam estimate to have saved themselves thousands of pounds by doing some of the work themselves.
Their home is also now worth £135,000 more.
They are still finishing off the space, with Aman sharing the progress on her Instagram (@styling_spaces_with_aman).
She said: “The new space is bringing us closer together as a family, and is much more functional.
“It has improved my mental well being 100%, the flood was a very stressful time for me, and your home is meant to bring you comfort but at that time it wasn’t.
“The living room is just perfect, it is double the size it used to be and as a family we spend most of our time downstairs together now.
“We have a south facing garden, and with the double french doors we had installed, all the sun comes shining in making it such a bright and happy space for us.
“I have a desk in the lounge for when I work from home, and for my son to do his homework on. And we also have a designated area where the kids can play with their toys meaning we can always keep an eye on them.
“We replanned the whole kitchen so it would be better for us and now we can spend more time together as a family and it is more to our taste.
“The kids sit at the kitchen island all the time. It is a much more sociable space.”
The mum has also shared her top tip for others looking to transform their house: “plan, plan, plan”.
She said: “A super important tip for those planning DIY and upcycle projects is to measure everything, and then measure it again to make sure you have all the correct information.
“We made mistakes that were easy to rectify but if you do this beforehand and draw out what you want to create and how you want it to look, it will save you time and money.”
COST BREAKDOWN:
Living room:
Extensions: £60,000
Paint and panelling: £150
DIY coffee table below: £79
Kitchen:
Reconstruction was free due to damage caused by leak
Appliances and decorations: Roughy £1500
DIY bench: £128
Total: £61,857
