A woman transformed a former derelict squash court into a stunning American style home for her partner and rescue dogs.
Tabby Bell, a 22 year-old from Neston, moved into her new home with her partner Tom Montgomery and four rescue dogs last August after a huge 11 month building project. Tabby and Tom were originally planning on moving to a new build property in nearby Willaston, but there were restrictions on how many pets they could have in the house.
Tabby’s dad suggested they could move into a former squash court they owned in south Wirral. Tabby’s mum lived next door as a child and used to skateboard inside.
READ MORE: Woman who started doing nails for £5 now has fully-booked salon
With their parents owning the building, it was a convenient option. And despite part of the building rotting away and it currently being used for storage in place of a garage, Tabby could see its potential.
Tabby said: “I thought it was a really good basis to start off. We kept the original bricks and it had nice features. "We wanted to keep as much as we could but a lot of it was rotted, such as all the original beams. I’ve kept the original windows, put in French doors, used old bricks we took out to make the French doors, and we've used them for our porch.”
Tabby, an aspiring interior designer, took a lead on the project and wanted to make it an American-style house. But despite her grand vision and the building’s positives, she still found the process extremely stressful.
Tabby said: “I was doing the whole project, I was here every day overseeing it all, I designed all the interior myself. Trying to source everything yourself and keep it all in budget was so stressful. You don’t realise how much of a big job you’ve taken on until people start throwing obstacles in your way.
“The stairs were a huge obstacle, because they’re American style and no one has stairs like that, so getting people to make stairs like that was really difficult, no-one wanted to take it on.”
But despite these challenges, Tabby is delighted how it has turned out. There is a grand open style living area on the ground floor, with three bedrooms upstairs, complete with ceiling fans and a large porch in the front, which are showcased on her TikTok channel.
Tabby and Tim’s four rescue dogs are central to the couple’s life and the pair want to give their two pugs, pug cross and bulldog a great home to live in. They adopted the dogs from Great Bulls Of China, an organisation which rescues dogs from the meat trade or overcrowded shelters in China and re-homes them in the UK.
She said: “We don’t have any rules, they can go wherever they want, they sleep in bed with us every night. It’s their space, it’s nice for them to have a home. They’ve come from being bred to death and living in cages outside so we just want to give them the best life ever.”
She added: “We don’t have any kids, we’re 22 and they're our babies. We do everything for them. I just want to give them the best life ever.”
Tabby feels that she has made it as friendly as possible for them. She said the dog shower and her en-suite are her favourite parts of the house. As someone who dreams to work in interior design, she feels the success of this renovation showcases what she could do if she worked full-time in the field.
Tabby said: “I’ve been trying to apply for interior design jobs but you need a degree. But not many of the people who are applying have built their own house from scratch, furnished it all, sourced everything, doing it budget friendly as well.”
In the meantime, she is selling furnishings through her business The Court Interiors, as well as hosting friends for barbecues and parties. It took some time for the whole process to feel real, but now Tabby and Tom feel they have made the house into a home.
She said: “We sit there and think, ‘can you believe this used to be a squash court where we store all our rubbish because we don’t have a garage?’”
She added: “I think I’ve made it into a home. I wanted it to be lived in. I’m so glad I did it when I was 21 because now I’ve got my whole life here.”
You can learn more about The Court Interiors by visiting its website. You can keep updated on her and house life via her TikTok channel.
Win £500 to spend with Buyagift and plan your ultimate summer
Life through a new lens. We are Curiously. Follow us on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
WO newsletter : Get the top stories straight to your inbox by signing up to our what's on newsletter
