A designer transformed a 1970s house into a mini “stately home”—and added 1.7 million pounds to its value.
Claire Totman, 38, bought the three-bedroom property off-market with her mom, Liz, 71, for 875,000 pounds (about $1.1 million).
The designer had a vision to recreate the outdated property as an “elegant” and “timeless” home.
She spent 460,000 pounds and eight months extending the house to create four large bedrooms and an additional drawing room.
Now, the mom-of-two says the house has been valued at 2.6 million pounds (about $3.3 million).
“The original house is still there,” said Ms. Totman, director of Claire Totman Designs, from Weybridge, Surrey. “People think it is a new build.”
She calls their style “classic” and “traditional” with “a modern twist.”
“It’s elegant and timeless,” she said. “We don’t follow the trends because a trend is a trend.”
Ms. Totman had been interested in design ever since she was young and worked her way up to become a design manager.
But, in the summer of 2016, when the company she worked for went under, Ms. Totman took the opportunity to start her own business.
She had helped design three of her mother’s previous homes but had a big vision when they bought Sandacre House off-market in October 2019 for 875,000 pounds.
“The original house is 1972. It only had one owner. It’s on a large plot,” she said. “I look at it, and I have the vision in my head. ... I look at what needs to be achieved.”
Ms. Totman started the renovations in February 2020 and kept the structure of the original house.
“We extended at the rear and side. We replaced the windows and built a porch,” she said. “We took off the roof structure and replaced it to allow habitable space.”
They gutted the inside nicely.
Ms. Totman spent a total of 460,000 pounds on renovations in 2020—but says she was able to get things done more cheaply through her design business.
She said the industry is completely different post-COVID-19.
Ms. Totman says the project has become “iconic” and draws clients to her.
“They come to you because this is what they want,” she said.
She adds that her mother “loves” the house.
“There’s loads of space for us to come around,” she said. “She’s one of the lucky baby boomers. She did well on property. She bought her first for 6,000 pounds.”
