What I Own: We’ve transformed a £200,000 Chester bungalow into our dream home

This weekend, we’re just outside of Chester, visiting Claire Champion (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) Welcome back to What I Own – Metro’s property series where we speak to homeowners about getting on the ladder. When Claire Champion first met her husband 10 years ago, she was living just outside the city, in a flat she’d bought a couple of years prior. They’ve been together ever since, and when Claire moved into John’s £200,000 former bungalow, she knew she wanted to take her hand to it. The pair now live without a mortgage, and Claire still rents out the flat she was living in when they met. Here’s what she had to say about their property journey… Tell us about yourself! I’m Claire, 49, and I live with my husband, John, 58. We’ve been together for just over 10 years and have been married for eight. 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. I moved to Chester from Reading 12 years ago, where I had built my career in digital banking. John is Chester-born and, although now retired, previously worked in aerospace and defence. We met while out in Chester with a group of mutual friends, and we’ve been together ever since. Since then, creating a home that feels calm, characterful and completely ours has become a huge part of our life together. Whereabouts is your home? What do you think of the area? Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. When we first met, I was living in a rented property just outside Chester, having moved out of the flat I owned in Reading, which I still rent out. John was living in a two-bedroom dormer bungalow he’d bought a few years earlier, after his wife had passed away and his children had moved out, with the intention of renovating and extending it into a larger home. When we decided to move in together, we both agreed that staying in the village of Christleton was the obvious choice. It’s a lovely mix of traditional village life, with a village green, a duck pond, and beautiful period properties, as well as two lovely pubs. It’s also just two miles outside Chester. How much does your property cost? John paid £200,000 for the original two-bedroom former bungalow 15 years ago. He had sold his previous property and was therefore able to buy this one outright. What’s the monthly cost of living here, both mortgage and bills? We’re in the very fortunate position of not having a mortgage, but our monthly household bills are approximately £600, including council tax. I still have a mortgage on my flat in Reading, which I’m working to pay off where I can. I’m hoping to have it cleared within the next 10 years. How did you find this property? What made you choose it? John chose the property because of its location in Christleton. He was looking for a home that was liveable, but also had the potential to be extended and renovated, giving him a project to focus on. Although the two-bedroom bungalow was quite small, it sat on a generous plot of land, so he could immediately see its potential for improvement. Claire still rents out her old flat (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) How have you made the property feel like home? What’s the inspiration for your interior design style? With our current home, there were no obvious features to build on at first glance, but sometimes it’s simply a case of looking a little harder. The property was built in the 1950s or 60s and, once you start viewing it in the context of housebuilding from that era, its mid-century architectural signature begins to appear — from the large windows spanning the width of most of the rooms, to the generous footprint of the house and gardens, and the original parquet flooring throughout the downstairs. The property started to give me ideas about leaning into a mid-century aesthetic. Both John and I love a bit of nostalgia and, having grown up in the 1960s and 1970s, that style felt very natural to us. What structural work have you done? The first phase of structural work involved converting the attached garage into two additional living spaces, as well as creating the large archway from the living room to link them back into the house. We also originally had two doors leading from the hallway into the kitchen/diner, so one of those was blocked up to improve the flow of the downstairs layout. The most significant work was upstairs. Originally, the house had two quite small bedrooms built into the eaves, but we removed the existing rear roof structure and added large dormer extensions across the back of the property. That allowed us to enlarge both of the original bedrooms significantly and create a third bedroom at the same time. She describes the village she lives in as ‘traditional’ (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) Have you done anything yourself? We renovated the kitchen ourselves and also fitted the stair runner, both of which saved us a significant amount compared with paying somebody else to do them. Our general rule is that if the cost of fixing a failed DIY job would be more than getting it done properly in the first place, we leave it to the professionals. Painting, upcycling and wallpapering, though, are very much my territory — and woe betide anyone who tries to get between me and my paintbrush. Do you feel like you have enough space? Yes and no. In terms of square footage, we have enough space, but the reality of living in the house day-to-day is that we still need more storage, and both bathrooms could really do with being larger. They feel slightly out of proportion to the rest of the property, so although the overall footprint works well for us, there are definitely still a few ways we’d like to improve how the space functions. Do you have plans to change the property? We’ve recently started talking about doing a similar extension at the front of the property to mirror what we did at the rear. If we go ahead, it could give us more accessible loft space, an additional bedroom, a utility room and possibly even a larger bathroom, so it would make a real difference to how the house functions. Nothing has been decided yet, but it’s definitely one of the ideas we’re considering for the future. Her husband paid £200,000 for the home (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) Are there any problems with the property you have to deal with? We’ve actually been quite lucky, as there haven’t been any major problems with the property itself. Most of the challenges we’ve dealt with have been the fairly typical ones that come with renovating and improving a house over time, things like rethinking layouts, updating older work and learning from decisions we’d make differently now, rather than anything wrong with the building. In that sense, the house has given us a really good foundation to work from. What does your home mean to you? What do you love most about it? This is the house that has truly turned me into a homebody. It’s the place where I feel most comfortable, but also the place where I feel most creative. Deals of the Day Simba's cooling mattresses are now up to 30% off ahead of the bank holiday The best hosepipe ban-friendly products to protect your garden this summer Amazon has slashed the price of Cetaphil's bestselling sensitive skin products Parents can save up to 30% on Kickers school shoes ahead of the new term The back-to-school hack that's helping parents avoid queues and sold-out sizes Being able to pour time and energy into a home that both inspires me and gives me a real sense of peace feels incredibly special, and it’s something I never take for granted. Shall we take a look around? The home was originally a two-bedroom bungalow (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) It was first built in the 1950s (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) They decided to lean into a bit of 1960s nostalgia (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) This looks cosy, doesn’t it? (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) We’re enjoying the staircase here (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) …and absolutely loving this wooden table (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) Claire would love more storage (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) …but generally feels as though she has enough space (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) She’d also love more accessible loft space (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) This home has turned Claire into a ‘homebody’ (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) …as it’s the place where she feels most comfortable (Picture: Claire Champion/Ufurnish) Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk Arrow MORE: A one-bed London flat is up for £1,750,000 — and everyone’s saying the same thing Arrow MORE: The worst UK cities to be a landlord in 2026 Arrow MORE: What I Own: I’m not afraid to experiment with my £268,000 home — it drives my partner mad The Key Sign up for must-read property stories, DIY hacks and tips for buying a home.