What I Own: Our Cardiff probate home was unliveable — now it’s worth £100,000 more

This week, we’re in Cardiff (Picture: Alistair Heap) Welcome back to What I Own – Metro’s property series where we speak to homeowners about getting on the ladder. When Christopher Jones and Paloma Quinn Mills picked up the keys to their Victorian home in Cardiff, it was completely unliveable. The floorboards were falling through and the bricks were crumbling, but instead of succumbing to despair, they embraced the challenge. Being a probate property whose owner had died, they’d managed to get their three-bed with a significant discount, at £167,000. They’ve since added more than £100,000 to the value. Here’s what Chris and Paloma had to say about their property journey… Tell us about yourself! Ready to start your homebuying journey? You can access completely fee-free mortgage advice with London & Country (L&C) Mortgages, a partner of Metro. Customers benefit from: – Award winning service from the UK’s leading mortgage broker – Expert advisors on hand 7 days a week – Access to 1000s of mortgage deals from across the market Unlike many mortgage brokers, L&C won’t charge you a fee for their advice. Find out how much you could borrow online Mortgage service provided by London & Country Mortgages (L&C), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (registered number: 143002). The FCA does not regulate most Buy to Let mortgages. Your home or property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Paloma: We’re full-time content creators. We’ve been renovating our house in Cardiff for the last three years. I’m a vet by trade, and Chris is a graphic designer. We found ourselves in a house that was pretty much falling down and didn’t have any money to pay anyone to do it, so we started doing it ourselves. We started sharing it online, and somehow, it became our main work, which was a bit of an accident. Chris: We had planned to carry on with our jobs to fund the house, but then because we’d moved down to Cardiff, we had a lot of people asking if they could see it. There were a million WhatsApp groups, so we thought, we’ll just make an Instagram page. Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. Then the first reel went super viral, which we weren’t expecting. I think it got more than 11 million views. We were riding the wave, trying to figure it out. About four months into starting Instagram, we were considering starting a YouTube, and it was too much alongside our paid work. We decided to give ourselves six months to see if we were able to survive. The risk paid off. Chris and Paloma took a risk buying their home, but it paid off (Picture: Alistair Heap) What do you love about the area? Paloma: I grew up in Cardiff, and my family are still here. We were originally looking at places in Liverpool, and we actually had an offer on a flat that fell through there. While we were waiting on that, we spent quite a lot of time in Cardiff and realised it’s now a very different city to when I grew up here. There’s a lot more going on; more green spaces, and quick access to the coast. We’re a 10-minute walk from the city centre. We lived in London for six years, so being in a small city where everything’s accessible was appealing. We’re walking distance to Cardiff Bay, which has a lovely 10K loop, and we have a little community centre close-by. When did you move in? August 2023. How much did you pay for your property? Paloma: £167,000. The house wasn’t mortgageable because it wasn’t classed as liveable. There was no kitchen, damp up to head height on the downstairs floors, and no working bathroom. A lot of the stairs were falling through. The upstairs rooms were crumbling with woodworm. We couldn’t get insured, and you can’t get a mortgage without typical insurance. We were up against property developers who were going to flip it and sell it on for a profit. It had been in the same family for more than 70 years. It was a probate property, so it took longer to go through, but it’s a good way of getting a cheap home. We had it revalued before one of the rooms was finished, and we were told it’s worth £285,000 now. Nothing on this street has ever gone for more than £290,000 before. Their first post about their home went viral by accident (Picture: Alistair Heap) What are your monthly living costs here? Chris: That’s a bit tough, as we’ve only installed underfloor heating, but we haven’t turned it on for the year. We’re very confident that’s going to save us money as a heating source, but we haven’t actually tested it out yet. We bought our property in cash, so there’s no mortgage. What has your renovation journey been like so far? What have you done yourselves? Chris: Bar electrics, plumbing, and some of the steels, we’ve pretty much done everything ourselves. We dug the foundations for our extension, we poured all the concrete. We did all the insulation, the laying of every floor, and laid our own underfloor heating. We built our own kitchen and an island from scratch, and made backbench seating. One of the biggest things we’ve learned is that Paloma is a bit of a carpenter. I’ve also learnt to plaster, so I did most of that as well. We started small, room by room, and figured out how to do the skirting boards and flooring. We moved in within three months, when we didn’t have a bathroom or a kitchen. We just had a pile of bricks with a door on it, next to a camping toilet and our fridge. That was our set-up for two years. We’ve used YouTube and Reddit to learn a lot of things, and we had a builder that would give us homework, too. When they bought it, it wasn’t classed as liveable (Picture: Alistair Heap) How much has the renovation cost you, roughly? Chris: Under £100,000 for the whole house, which includes a fully marbled bathroom, kitchen extension, garden studio, and lofted hallway. We were quoted £70,000 for an extension, but it actually ended up costing us £30,000. Where did you live before this? Paloma: We were in Northern Ireland, living in a van and travelling around the world. We got to a point where we wanted a place to decompress after a few months of travelling and have somewhere to call home. We were lucky we could both work remotely, so we could build up a bit of a kitty, living in the van. That’s how we managed to raise the money to buy in cash. We also don’t have any children or dependents, so we saved as much as we could. They used to live in a van, so they were used to living in an unconventional space (Picture: Alistair Heap) What’s the inspiration for your interior design? Paloma: When we moved in, we didn’t really know what our style was, but we did know we weren’t going to have many tones of grey or beige. We had to figure it out with each room. We love colour, and there was something about it being an old property, as it was built in 1867. It didn’t have any of its original features, and everything had been stripped, so it was about restoring those elements, too. It’s an accumulation of pieces we love, and we try to tell a story. Have you had any problems with the home, outside of the renovation? Paloma: The damp. The area was originally marshland, so it’s on water constantly. The entire back wall was also crumbling, so we had to rebuilt that ourselves. This area was in the Blitz during World War II, so the house degraded, and you could crumble a lot of the bricks apart on that wall specifically. We spent a good eight months with the back of the home open to the elements. We realised we couldn’t use the toilet anymore when I sat down and saw my neighbour in her window. They started small, and learned along the way (Picture: Alistair Heap) Do you have any advice for anyone else undertaking a renovation project? Paloma: Start small. Learn things bit by bit and figure out what you’re good at. Expect it to be a long process. Nothing prepares you for the dust, either. What are your plans for the future? Do you see this as your forever home? Paloma: We definitely didn’t buy the house with a mind to sell it, as we put so much love into it. I don’t think it would even make sense for us to sell. We want to think about future projects with a bit more land, but we’re not in any rush. We want to find a way to take on another project, perhaps through a business venture instead. Shall we take a look around? Welcome home (Picture: Alistair Heap) The garden was completely overgrown when they first bought it (Picture: Alistair Heap) Their home was a probate property (Picture: Alistair Heap) …and it’d been in the same family for 70 years (Picture: Alistair Heap) They knew they wanted to stay true to the Victorian heritage (Picture: Alistair Heap) …so they enhanced some of the original features (Picture: Alistair Heap) Is that Ercol we spy? (Picture: Alistair Heap) It’s very much been a work in progress (Picture: Alistair Heap) We’re enjoying this piece of artwork (Picture: Alistair Heap) For a time, the back of the property was exposed to the elements (Picture: Alistair Heap) …they knew things had to change, as they’d wave to their neighbours in the morning (Picture: Alistair Heap) Doesn’t this look cosy? (Picture: Alistair Heap) They’ve managed to increase the value by more than £100,000 (Picture: Alistair Heap) Nothing else on the street has gone for more than £290,000 (Picture: Alistair Heap) Since they bought in cash, they don’t have a mortgage (Picture: Alistair Heap) They’ve since amassed a considerable online following (Picture: Alistair Heap) We’re enjoying this remote working set-up (Picture: Alistair Heap) Can we steal that coffee table, please? (Picture: Alistair Heap) There was no bathroom when they first moved in (Picture: Alistair Heap) Now this would make a lovely reading nook (Picture: Alistair Heap) They did most of the renovation themselves (Picture: Alistair Heap) …and have sourced a lot of furniture from Facebook Marketplace (Picture: Alistair Heap) We’re enjoying the greenery (Picture: Alistair Heap) Coffee, anyone? (Picture: Alistair Heap) Paloma discovered her love for carpentry through the renovation (Picture: Alistair Heap) They were originally quoted £70,000 for an extension (Picture: Alistair Heap) …but it ended up costing them £30,000 (Picture: Alistair Heap) Pretty neat, hey? (Picture: Alistair Heap) Do you have a story you’d like to share? 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