I turned my new build 'white box' £369,000 property into multi award-winning hotel-inspired home of my dreams - here's exactly how on a budget

A mother-of-two who transformed her new build into an award-winning home without spending a fortune has revealed the secrets to her success - including her DIY-obsessed father.Wedding content creator Kerry, 41, her teacher husband Amin, 39, who also plays in a wedding band, and their daughters Lyla, 15, and Heidi, six, had outgrown their three-bedroom house in Gateshead, and wanted to be closer to Kerry's parents in Newcastle.They snapped up their £369,000 new-build house after viewing a show home and paid a further £30,000 to the developer for upgrades before her father Raymond, a retired engineer, 71, stepped in to help turn their 'white box' into the luxurious hotel-inspired home of Kerry's dreams.Byker-born Raymond, who spent years working for the NHS, has done much of the work, including tiling, laying floors, brick-laying, wiring and he even put up wardrobes in the spare room 12 weeks after a knee replacement.And Kerry says her father has 'found fame' from her home renovation posts to her 16,500 followers on Instagram at @houseofchi (named after their four chihuahuas, Tallulah, Teddy, Tilly and Trixie).'He's been sent free tools, he gets recognised in the street and he's even been given his own discount codes. People absolutely love him and he absolutely loves it!' A mother-of-two who transformed her new build into an award-winning home without spending a fortune has revealed the secrets to her success - including her DIY-obsessed father Wedding content creator Kerry, 41, her teacher husband Amin, 39, who also plays in a wedding band, and their daughters Lyla, 15, and Heidi, six, had outgrown their three-bedroom house in Gateshead, and wanted to be closer to Kerry's parents in Newcastle They snapped up their £369,000 new-build house after viewing a show home and paid a further £30,000 to the developer for upgrades before her father Raymond, a retired engineer, 71, stepped in to help turn their 'white box' into the luxurious hotel-inspired home of Kerry's dreamsBut social media fame has its - amusing - downsides. 'I was once accused of using AI to create my hot tub area,' Kerry says. 'So I had to share shots of my dad as he was building it. I was then accused of using AI to create him as well, which led to me giving him the nickname 'Ray-I'.'Now, four years on, Kerry's home transformation has earned two uFurnish.com Home Awards, held by uFurnish.com, the UK's leading furniture finder website.She won the first last year for Heidi's bedroom and this year's for Best Entertaining Space, after turning a 'typical new-build mud pit' garden into a tropical-style year-round space that cost her less than £1,500, and will have an outdoor kitchen added next year.Kerry spent a whole summer watching where the sun fell before deciding on the tropical look inspired by a holiday in the Caribbean. 'On a sunny day, you close your eyes, put a bit of music on, and you could be lying in a hammock in Jamaica,' she says.Struggling to find plants that would survive temperatures as low as -9 degrees, she relied on grasses that can cope with the heavy clay soil. 'I've bought some plants every year and they've died every year. I've just gone, okay, you're not meant to live in Newcastle,' she says.'I really feel like we've made the most of every corner of our garden, from the hidden garden spa area which is tucked away behind the garage, to the outdoor cinema.'I love to open the patio doors and let the party spill out into the garden,' she says. 'Whether that be family gatherings, teenage raves, garden movie nights or girly hot tub days.'Every paving slab was free from neighbours who were swapping theirs for porcelain, the pergola and hot tub were gifted, and the outdoor cinema screen is a £12 pull-down blind from Ikea with a £50 projector from Amazon.Lights around the fence come on at 4pm and stay on until 11pm, and outdoor fires and a patio heater mean the family can use the garden in the colder months. Byker-born Raymond, who spent years working for the NHS, has done much of the work, including tiling, laying floors, brick-laying, wiring and he even put up wardrobes in the spare room 12 weeks after a knee replacement Kerry says her father has 'found fame' from her home renovation posts to her 16,500 followers on Instagram at @houseofchi (named after their four chihuahuas, Tallulah, Teddy, Tilly and Trixie) Now, four years on, Kerry's home transformation has earned two uFurnish.com Home Awards, held by uFurnish.com, the UK's leading furniture finder website She won the first last year for Heidi's bedroom and this year's for Best Entertaining Space, after turning a 'typical new-build mud pit' garden into a tropical-style year-round space that cost her less than £1,500, and will have an outdoor kitchen added next yearThey've hosted Halloween film nights with blankets and toasted marshmallows, and a garden rave for Lyla's 13th birthday, when 15 girls squeezed into the four-person hot tub.Kerry, who started as a makeup artist and nail technician, including doing brides' makeup, has filled the house with warm, earthy tones, a Venetian plaster wall in the main bedroom and an après-ski feel in the living room.'I love using textures and lighting to create atmospheric spaces and I think my use of textures, even within the garden with the mix of tropical plants I've used, is what makes it stand out.'Although her biggest expenditures were a £2,000 dining table from Housing Units and a £4,000 sofa from DFS, she says she and Amin were 'massively on a budget'.'We utilised my dad's skill set and his love for finding a bargain - we've scoured car boot sales, charity shops, marketplaces and local Facebook groups.'And my dad's even been known to do a skip dip, if he sees something going to waste which he thinks could be useful.'Much of the rest comes from charity shops, Facebook Marketplace and car boot sales, and her brother, an antiques dealer, regularly turns up with finds such as a 1960s wicker bubble lamp and a vintage chair for Heidi's room.Her favourite feature is a fold-down table her father made from a free pallet, a chain and two £3 brackets from a car boot sale, which she now uses as a breakfast bar after the school run. Kerry spent a whole summer watching where the sun fell before deciding on the tropical look inspired by a holiday in the Caribbean. 'On a sunny day, you close your eyes, put a bit of music on, and you could be lying in a hammock in Jamaica,' she says Kerry, who started as a makeup artist and nail technician, including doing brides' makeup, has filled the house with warm, earthy tones, a Venetian plaster wall in the main bedroom and an après-ski feel in the living room Although her biggest expenditures were a £2,000 dining table from Housing Units and a £4,000 sofa from DFS, she says she and Amin were 'massively on a budget''I asked if we could have a table that folds away, and he said, 'Anything's possible, let's do it,' she says.Creativity runs in the family - Kerry's mum redecorated her own house every year or so, and the first thing Kerry remembers doing as a child is drawing pictures of how she wanted her bedroom to look and taking them to her mum for approval.'Even in rental houses I'd paint the walls and then paint them back before I moved out,' she says. 'I'm very much a home bird, and if it's somewhere you spend a lot of time, you want it to be perfect.'Even so, she'd never picked up a pasting brush until she moved into this house, because her mum was always the family's wallpapering expert, but has since taught herself to wallpaper and fit MDF panelling. She says, 'We've probably added value to the house, but we have no plans to move.' Kerry's five top tips for transforming a 'white box' into a cosy haven on a budget Add texture and colour'New builds can be like a big white box when you move in so add character with throws, rugs and colour.'Get the lighting right'This is the quickest, simplest way to change the feel and atmosphere in a space. Stick a lamp in a corner, and if there's no plug, rechargeable wireless wall lights are pennies on Amazon and you don't need to rewire.'Don't panel the whole wall'I panelled a strip behind the kitchen sofa with a light on either side to frame the sofa. Doing the full wall would have been too much.'Watch your estate's Facebook page'If you're moving to a new-build estate, keep an eye on it, because people give away materials such as turf and paving slabs.'Ask a tradesperson which upgrades are worth it'My uncle, who's an electrician, told me not to pay for extra plugs because he could do them easily, but spotlights were worth paying for.' Five ways to add character to your new-build home By Deirdre Mc Gettrick, furniture expert and founder of uFurnish.comSwap the hardware New builds can come with basic door handles and kitchen knobs so swap them out for brass, bronze or vintage designs.Add the details developers leave outNew builds can have low skirting boards and no coving - fitting coving and taller skirting gives a room the finished look of an older house, and MDF versions keep the cost down.Hang curtains high and widePut the pole close to the ceiling and let floor-length curtains fall just past the window. The room will feel taller and softer, especially compared with bare blinds.Create a focal pointMany new builds have no natural centre to the room but a fire surround or a large mirror gives the living room something to gather around.Be patient with new wallsNew plaster needs time to dry out, and some developers advise waiting up to a year before painting or fixing things to the walls - use throws, rugs and freestanding pieces until then. Kerry Davison won Best Entertaining Space at the uFurnish.com Home Awards 2026, visit uFurnish.com for more information