How an auction slip-up became a golden opportunity

Looking for a new challenge, Cal Hunter and Claire Segeren decided to buy an easy fixer-upper and flip it but after making an error at auction, they soon found themselves the dubious owners of a derelict Victorian villa that would take them more than four years to restore.

Find out how Cal and Claire came to own the property and how they’ve put their DIY skills to the test, tackling the renovation project of a lifetime…

Seeking a new challenge

So, how on earth did these first-time buyers end up owning such a challenging property? It all began when Claire turned down an offer to attend medical school. “Now we had a whole year ahead of us with no plans,” said Cal, who is a trained carpenter. “We wanted a new challenge and decided flipping a house together would be a fun and rewarding experience.”

The pair began looking for a suitable auction lot and after doing a lot of research and making a site visit, they decided to bid on a flat in the centre of Glasgow. Cal attended an auction in early October 2018 to bid on it, but things didn’t quite go to plan…

An auction error

Jameswood Villa was being sold in three separate lots and happened to be going under the hammer immediately before the flat Cal and Claire had their eyes on. Sadly, the auction booklet didn’t mention anything about separate sales, so Cal started bidding – and won – for around £40,000 ($51k) including various costs.

“When Cal realised, the panic set in and he left the auction house to call me and let me know what had happened,” Claire says. Cal quickly looked up the property and Auction House Scotland had described it as in need of ‘full upgrading throughout’.

Taking on a mammoth job

After the initial shock had worn off, the couple looked up the place on Google Streetview and found an image of the house, taken in 2010. Thinking it didn’t look too bad, they decided to tackle the extreme fixer-upper.

However, when Cal first visited their newly acquired property he realised the auction photos didn’t show the full extent of the problems and it needed a lot more than basic upgrades. Most concerning was the “cracked stone on the bay window and the leaning, crumbling front wall that indicated serious structural problems,” Cal explains.

Jameswood Villa

This remarkable image highlights just how rundown the property was when the couple purchased it back in 2018. Jameswood Villa dates back to 1900 and lies in the beautiful town of Dunoon, Scotland. It had been left abandoned for 20 years and was in a sorry state.

“Everything that could go wrong with this building, had,” the couple explains on their blog What have we Dunoon?. “The roof acted like a sieve, the timbers were left rotten, plaster was crumbling and the front bay window and wall were on the verge of collapse.”

DIY or bust

Cal and Claire soon realised the project wouldn’t be financially feasible unless they undertook the work themselves – while also holding down full-time jobs! Luckily, they had lots of friends and family members who were willing to help out.

This image was taken during Cal’s first visit to the site. “He couldn’t reach the front door because the garden was too overgrown,” Claire says. “Our first order of business was clearing the land, so that we could access the property with ease.”

Getting stuck in

Another early project was digging drainage trenches around the garden, to divert water away. “At some point in time, the drainage system on our property has failed and our land has become completely waterlogged,” Claire said at the time.

“Once we had cleared the property sufficiently, addressing the drainage issues became a priority during better-weather days.” After two weeks of extremely hard graft, the trenches were finished and water was finally being funnelled away from the house.

Exploring the interior

Next, the couple could finally focus on the interior. At some point, the building had been chopped up into four apartments and every room was filled with old furniture, rotten timbers and crumbling plasterwork.

Upon further inspection, Cal and Claire realised they needed to repair the villa’s foundations and brickwork, install a new roof and new windows, organise new plumbing and electrics and overhaul the entire interior – a mammoth job for a couple with no prior experience!

Temporary digs

With such a big job ahead of them, the couple needed a place to live. At first, they stayed in their Ford Transit van, but since it was also being used as a workshop, they eventually bought a caravan to call their temporary home.

In 2018, they told their Instagram followers they were thrilled to “finally have a clean, dry space to retire to at the end of each day”.⁣ The couple also set up a GoFundMe page, asking for donations to aid with the mammoth task ahead. Offering to write the names of supporters along the new beams of the house they were overwhelmed by the response – raising more than £31,000 ($40k) from 824 donations.

Starting on the interior

Before they could do anything inside, Cal and Claire needed to strip the interior. With help from friends, they emptied the entire house and, keen to salvage as much as possible, retained any building materials that could be put to good use.

However, there were plenty of “mouldy, manky carpets, sofas and broken glass” that needed to be disposed of safely.

An itchy endeavour

Rubble and debris was carried out in buckets – a task did wasn’t particularly fun for anyone. “I’ve now found out that plaster is dustier and heavier than I could ever have imagined,” Claire said.

“And getting rid of the mouldy, wet insulation sitting behind the walls and ceilings can be a very itchy endeavour.” The couple had already filled their van up (and driven to the tip) seven or eight times, by March 2019.

Back to basics

Every room was stripped back to its bare bones and structural support posts were installed, to prop up the couple’s wet and rotten ceilings. “We have to replace nearly all of the timbers in our home, but it’s not an easy task,” they told their Instagram followers in February 2019.

“We can’t pull it out all at once, because it might disturb the already partially collapsed structure. Bit by bit, we’re planning on replacing timbers – from the ground up!”

Playing detective

Not just a case of repairing the building itself, the couple also had to become detectives. One of the hardest tasks was finding the cut electricity wire, that used to connect the property to mains power.

After professional electricians failed to find the cable, it was looking like Cal and Claire would have to pay to have the road dug up, in order to connect the house. Luckily, though, while digging out drainage pipes at the front of the property, Cal found the elusive wire.

Essential services

The couple also had to track down their water supply. “We dug up all the old wastewater pipes,” they explain. “They were broken and blocked in places, so we’ve decided to renew them all so they can last another 100 years.”

Amazingly, the couple plumbed in their new wastewater pipes themselves!

Challenge after challenge

By May 2020, Cal and Claire had completed some very big and daunting tasks, including rebuilding a section of partially collapsed sandstone wall and “playing a giant game of Jenga” when they decided to replace the cracked red sandstones around their front bay window.

They also turned their hands at repointing the stonework façade, removing old and decaying lime mortar before applying a new layer that would ensure the house remained watertight.

Dealing with the roof

Incredibly, the couple also reroofed Jameswood. “…As Cal made his way up into the loft space, he was greeted by bright specs of daylight,” Claire said. “When it rained, the water seemed to come down equally hard inside our house as outside.” A professional roofer wanted £40,000 ($51k) to fix it, so Cal and Claire were forced to tackle the job themselves.

But first, they had to put it back into position. “The roof has sunk, which is pushing out our front wall,” Claire told Instagram in June 2019. “We took the slates off to get as much weight off the roof before attempting to lift it back into its original position.”

Repair and restore

The couple measured and found the roof was 7.5 inches lower than it was meant to be. Over time, they managed to lift it back into place, using structural Acrow Props. They braced the exterior front wall with scaffolding so it wouldn’t collapse and then raised each prop, bit by bit.

Cal then put his carpentry skills to good use, replacing any rotten trusses with new, handmade ones. This job alone took between six and eight weeks to complete.

Eco alternative

After this, a breathable membrane and counter battens were laid externally. Unique to Scotland, where “building regulations have to account for some of the rainiest conditions in the UK”, the battens sit vertically on the roof, allowing water to run off the surface.

Finally, Cal and Claire could lay their new tiles. Sadly, the couple were unable to reuse their slate and since it’s expensive and “notoriously difficult to work with”, they instead opted for IKOslate, a long-lasting composite slate product made out of 99% recycled materials. After the tiles were down, the couple fixed the fascia boards, to protect the ends of the rafters from water damage.

Totally floored

If repairing and installing a new roof wasn’t impressive enough, Cal and Claire (with help from friends and family) also replaced many of their floor joists, which were rotten and not fit for purpose.

After the joists were laid, all the floors had to be levelled and insulated with sheep wool before the floorboards could go down. “For the first time since we bought Jameswood, we can walk around upstairs without worrying about falling through the floor,” the couple shared on Instagram in June 2021.

Adding insulation

Cal and Claire could then finally start working on the interior. One of their biggest aims was for Jameswood to be energy efficient. For this, they needed to install robust insulation and ensure airtightness.

They constructed timber stud walls and fixed them to the raw stonework. This meant they could add sustainably sourced sheep wool insulation into each rectangle of the frame. Stud walls were also used to form the internal rooms. The couple opted to turn the four apartments into three – one for them and two to rent out as holiday accommodation.

Getting plastered

Once the insulation was in, plasterboard was laid over the top, creating a smooth surface that could be plastered and finished as the couple saw fit. DIYers to the end, Cal and Claire carried out all the internal plastering themselves.

“Hours of YouTube videos, 1 sacrificial practise room, 8 months and 15 rooms later, we finally have a fully plastered house! As well as a lifelong skill for future adventures,” the couple shared on Instagram in November 2022.

Refresh, reuse and recycle

Cal and Claire also restored all of their internal doors, using wood filler to repair holes and cracks and finishing them with eco-friendly Graphenstone paint. Amazingly, Claire also handmade a gorgeous stained-glass transom window to decorate the front door.

Keen salvagers, they also upcycled all of their old radiators. No easy task, they needed to use an angle grinder and paint stripper to remove the varnish that covered them. They then had to pressure washer them, before priming and painting them.

Plumbed in

While this is usually a DIY job you should avoid (unless you have experience), Cal took on responsibility for the home’s plumbing, installing the entire heating system by hand.

He did plenty of research in advance and took his time soldering each join of the heating loop. “We had a nervous pressure test yesterday,” Claire told Instagram in June 2021. “Cal was expecting leaks in all his joins, but he only had one! And it was in one of his very first solders.”

Comfort under foot

This incredible DIY couple didn’t stop there, either. Cal and Claire installed underfloor heating in all of the villa’s three bathrooms – another job that’s usually reserved for experienced professionals.

They also laid all of their floor tiles, choosing to partner with Bert & May and use encaustic cement tiles for their holiday apartments and black terracotta tiles by Claybrook Studio for their own bathroom.

Panelled to perfection

In September 2022, Claire panelled one of the villa’s biggest bay windows, using a mixture of old and new materials. The tongue and groove panelling below the window was original to the house. Claire simply stripped the paint and attached them to the wall.

The panelling at the sides of the window was created from new timber, while the mouldings were saved from a Victorian building that was being knocked down in the local area.

A new-look living room

Restoring the property has in Claire’s words, “been quite the process!”. This space is now the kitchen-living room in one of the flats. Filled with light and with some beautiful new curtains, it’s hard to believe this room was off limits when the couple first got to Jameswood – on account of the full bathtub that was sat above its rotting joists, catching leaks in the room above!

After digging new foundations and replacing the rotten beams, the couple set about reclaiming and upcycling everything from the doors to the kitchen units in here, finishing with a lick of paint and colourful soft furnishings.

Reusing kitchen units

Years before they needed a kitchen, a local interior designer had reached out to Cal and Claire, offering them an old suite that was being ripped out of a nearby house. The couple kept the kitchen for two years and were finally able to use it. “We managed to build two kitchens with these and only needed to buy one sink carcass to complete them,” Claire told Instagram in October 2022.

“They also came with like-new appliances […] and though we’ve still had to buy a few appliances to finish these off, it certainly helped immensely with our budget.”

Bespoke kitchen cabinetry

For their own kitchen, Cal put his carpentry skills to the test once again, creating a bespoke space from scratch. “We chose to make a plywood kitchen, which would be robust enough to last a long time, while still being cost effective,” Claire explains.

“Luckily, we had found a supply of plywood offcuts on eBay, which we could use to make our kitchen carcasses and we bought beautiful Birch plywood for the external faces and doors.” The kitchen was then finished with custom Quartz countertops.

Five years in the making

Taken five years apart, these images show the evolution of the couple’s living room. “We’ve gone from two kids in their mid-twenties to a set of adults in their thirties,” Claire shared on Instagram in March 2024.

“And with us, Jameswood has grown into a beautiful home – something that was very hard to imagine when we set out to restore her!”

Guest quarters

These images reveal how the bedroom in one of the guest flats has been transformed. “This room was the worst for me,” Claire said. “There was a very rotten wooden lintel that looked as though it could collapse at any time.”

“I knew it needed replacing, but didn’t understand how you could take it out, without collapsing the wall it was holding up. I’d wake up, put a forceful smile on my face, ready to have a positive outlook on things – walk into this room… and crumble into tears.”

Before and after

Not only do these before and after shots highlight just how beautiful Jameswood Villa now is, but they show the immense amount of work that Cal and Claire have put into every single space.

From getting hands on with daunting DIY tasks, to choosing paint colours and sourcing second-hand furnishings from Vinterior, the couple proves that anyone can take on a fixer-upper, if they have the right attitude and imagination.

From scary to stylish

Once a complete mess, this guest bathroom is now stylish and, perhaps more importantly, functional! Sharing the before and after images on Instagram in January 2024, Claire revealed that during the work, Cal found an old toilet without a cistern in one of the abandoned apartments.

“He stuck it on the toilet pipe in this bathroom and we bucket flushed, using rain water, or the river across the road,” she explained. “We showered at our amazing neighbours’ house, then got a membership at the local swimming pool and eventually got a gas-powered camper shower for this bathroom. It wasn’t ideal, but we made it work!”

Bathroom bliss

The couple’s own bathroom was completed in December 2021 and they can’t believe it’s theirs! They added a Crosswater bathtub and an electric rainfall shower, keeping the walls neutral to contrast with those black terracotta tiles for a pared-back luxury look. It’s the perfect place to relax after a busy day of renovating.

Family affair

When it came to finishing touches, from window treatments to cosy seats to admire those wonderful views, the process was very much a family affair. In January 2023 Claire’s recently retired parents Pete and Sandy (together with cat Pumpkin) flew over from Toronto to help the couple push through to the finish line.

Claire said on Instagram, “I definitely got my handy gene from these two. My dad has been tinkering with cars since he was young, my mom started her own sewing business when I was a teenager, and both my parents have gotten stuck into DIY reno projects on their own home – from flooring to upgrading bathrooms and kitchen builds. It has been so special to have them here.”

Getting the sign off

Four years after installing scaffolding to work on Jameswood Villa, Cal and Claire finally took it all down in May 2023 and were able to see the results of their handiwork. Then, in July 2023, building inspections signed the property off.

“We can officially – legally – live in Jameswood and call her our home,” Claire shared on Instagram. “We have had many moments of joy throughout this project and likely an equal amount of tears – but these have been my first tears of joy. It was such an overwhelming and exciting moment for us.”

What’s next?

In September 2023, Cal and Claire finally opened the doors of Jameswood Villa, inviting guests to book into one of their two apartments. “This is what Cal and I have been working towards for years,” Claire said. “Each apartment has two bedrooms and accommodates four guests (and your furry friend).”

As for what’s next, the couple has started sharing their tips and advice about renovating an old building in a sustainable way. Keep your eyes on the couple’s Instagram page for regular updates!

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