The House That 100K Built: Tricks of the Trade

In the first program Piers Taylor and Gurmeet Sian deploy micro-budget ideas from the partner series, ‘The House that £100k Built’ for two new homeowners in need of life-changing transformations to their existing homes. As a builder, Lee thought nothing of adding an extension to his suburban-semi in Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands. Two years later the whole ground floor's half-built and his plans half-baked. His partner Jaimelee and their three kids are stuck living in a building site, cooking on a camping stove. Piers must first teach them the trick to turn it into a successful ‘open-plan’ space, but also how clever choices anyone can do with furniture, wall coverings, and even colours can radically improve it. However as their £10k runs short, long-held disagreements emerge: Jaimelee wants a family seating area at the heart of her home but Lee wants to add expensive copper sheets to the outside. Can Piers possibly deliver both? For Suzanne, Antonio and toddler Sophia, life’s a day to day struggle in their west London flat. The awkward layout makes it tough to keep a watchful eye on their daughter, meanwhile, the bathroom is more of a disaster zone than a sanctuary. It’s up to Gurmeet to rethink the entire flat, but how do you make a home feel bigger when you can’t extend out? Whilst Piers stuns them with an ingenious apartment full of design tricks, Gurmeet takes them shopping to a well-kept secret of the design world, encouraging them to invest their limited budget only on things you touch. Overwhelmed and overspent, can this young family turn their gloomy flat into one that’s spacious and flooded with light?

Piers Taylor and Robert Jamison deliver ingenious micro-budget ideas to people in need of life-changing transformations to their existing homes. Privacy is the problem Chris and Claire need solving at their quirky home in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Their former Post Office has floor-to-ceiling shop windows and is so overlooked by passers-by that they never use the best rooms. Robert Jamison has a radical proposal: remove the ceiling above the shop and create a stunning double-height space they will never want to leave. But can it all be done for just £10k? To help with privacy, Robert shows how clever choices with paint colours on the walls inside, can shield them from the world outside. But when Chris and Claire get excited by a stunning bronze staircase, can Robert possibly deliver something just as good with a stack of £2 bike racks? Like people across the country, Mark and Linda live in a narrow house that is too dark and feels too small. It’s up to Piers Taylor to reveal tricks that can transform it into a bright and inspiring home. Piers takes them to a stunning terraced house which is a masterclass in making the most of available light, from staircases to skylights, wall coverings to kitchens. Then it’s off to a well-kept secret of the design world to show how to create a bespoke seating area with beautiful timbers that others just throw away! But with a limited budget, will Mark and Linda keep their eye on the big changes that will make the difference, or get carried away and blow it completely?

Piers Taylor and Meredith Bowles deliver ingenious micro-budget ideas to people in need of life-changing transformations to their existing homes. Piers Taylor faces a huge challenge and has just £8k to spend. Lisa and her son live in a former butcher shop in Derbyshire, but it’s far from ideal. There’s no kitchen at all, meals are prepared on a camping stove and she says she can still smell ‘meat’ from its former life! Piers’ cost-saving tricks are needed more than ever: he finds cheap ways to inject colour by taking her to a car body shop to see that spray painting off-the-shelf fixtures and fittings can save a fortune. Meanwhile, for the walls, he creates a design using tiles that are 36p each! But with the budget so tight, Lisa can’t have it all – will she take a final gamble with her worktop to finish it off? Like people across the country, Julie and Richard from rural Shropshire have fallen out of love with their home. The rooms of the house are a disastrous mismatch of styles and eras, all linked by a rabbit warren of dark corridors. They need to rip out and refit the entire ground floor so Meredith must find changes that will make the biggest difference. He unpicks tricks used in a stunning 1960s home to create views plus shows how mixing unusual colours can create different moods. But it’s the flooring that’s causing Richard and Julie the biggest headache. All they can afford is cheap vinyl but they’re desperate for real wood. Meredith discovers a parquet floor in a school tipped for demolition – can they get it out in time and will it really be free?

Piers Taylor and Adam Khan look for ingenious micro-budget solutions for two common problems facing homeowners in Britain as house prices continue to soar. Across the country homes don’t fit the needs of their owners, but perhaps nowhere more-so than with Skye and Matt and their small 3-bed home in West London. They bought the biggest house they could afford, but with four children and a fifth on the way, they need ideas fast to completely transform it. But how do you create more living space when you can’t afford to extend out? Piers must find low cost ways to use every inch of the home and thinks up an ingenious series of sleeping platforms which could unlock wasted space in the loft. He then inspires them to create dramatic light fittings using fluorescent tubes costing just a few pounds and to create handrails out of waste plumber’s pipes. However, when the money gets really tight Skye and Matt are in danger of throwing away the biggest move of all, relocating the bathroom, can Piers really come up with a way to refit an entire bathroom for free? Mary and her adult son Luke, are part of a growing trend that’s a consequence of rising house prices – Luke cannot afford a place of his own, so has to remain living with his mum in Watford. The challenge for Adam is to find ways they can live independently at times within the same relatively small house. He finds an ingenious way of splitting an ordinary home in two which would solve the problem, but will it be too radical for them? He then gives the pair a master-class in making the most out of inexpensive lighting, how using lights at three different heights within a room can create stunning results that anyone can achieve. But, after a visit to an incredible home that bucks the trend for ‘open plan’ spaces, will they decide to bring the ideas into their own home?

Piers Taylor and Cheryl Pilliner-Reeves hunt for ingenious micro-budget solutions to radically improve two homes that fall short of their owners’ needs. Cath and Rob and their three children have outgrown their ex-council house in Warwick. Their chaotic ground floor is a series of dark and miserable rooms, while upstairs they have three cramped bedrooms. Unable to move, they’re planning a typical two-storey extension. Piers’ suggestion is to ditch their ambitious extension and instead build a simpler one. To maximise space he designs clever storage which is joined to a bench-seat. Piers suggests using materials that are just £11 per square meter, but can they also find a low-cost solution for their floor? Cath and Rob are desperate to give their home a total facelift, Piers designs an eye-popping multi-coloured porch that would normally cost thousands; can they really get the materials for free? Karen and David are desperate to fall in love with their home in Ipswich, but it’s hard. Karen loves baking, however, her kitchen is so small she makes cakes in the cellar, meanwhile, David wants a space he can work from home in. Like many Victorian terraces, theirs is an awkward mix of levels and corridors - Cheryl’s biggest challenge will be finding a way to connect it all for just £10k. Piers takes them to see a stunning home that flows across different levels, but the challenge then falls to Cheryl to create two bespoke staircases for just £600! Karen and David are total novices but are soon carrying out major building work. As their budget runs dry they must get creative; will Karen really get her dream kitchen for just a few hundred pounds?

Piers Taylor and Katy Marks search for ingenious micro-budget solutions to radically improve two homes that fall short of their owners’ needs. Adam was desperate to remain living in London, but with house prices shooting up the choice of homes on offer was small – as were the homes themselves. Adam bought one of the thinnest homes in the country. At just six foot wide in places, this former alleyway was dark and barely habitable; can Katy possibly find a way to unlock its potential? Piers demonstrates to Adam how you can maximise every inch of any home or room if you use the right tricks - lighting, furniture and even colours can make all the difference. But, when Adam decides to ditch an idea to increase the footprint of his house the pressure mounts on Katy to come up with radical ideas – will the answers be found below deck on a boat? In Walsall, Hardeep and Rupinder have plenty of room for their family, but it’s in in all the wrong places. They regularly have their extended family over but Rupinder does all the cooking in a tiny kitchen and a ramshackle lean-to which has seen better days. Piers designs them the ultimate sociable space and encourages them to orientate their home on the garden. He takes them to see a home packed with ideas that make the most of outdoor spaces, but as the build progresses Hardeep spots an opportunity to gain further bedrooms. Against Piers’ advice he removes design ideas that are key to its success – will a trip to see some of the best new homes in Britain get them back on track?