'We've burned £30,000 budget on just half our home reno - Instagram made it look easy'

Drew Fivey, 31, and fiancé Jake Burnham, 34, started working on their 1930s cottage in Slaithwaite, West Yorks., in May last year - despite having no building experience.

They say slick 'how to' videos on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram made them confident they could carry out the renovation themselves.

But, nearly a year and £30,000 later, they have realised it was not so easy after all - and are now living on a "building site" without a working kitchen.

Drew, a recruitment worker, said: "It seems like you see a lot of videos on Instagram of people renovating their house on fast forward - in like 30 seconds - and everything looks like it is going to be so quick and easy.

"Everything that we have tried we have really struggled to do ourselves. Social media always makes it look a lot easier than it is, and it has taken us a lot longer than we thought."

The couple moved into the home after Drew fell in love on first sight - snapping it up for £280k before Jake was even able to view it.

The former tenant had lived there her whole life until she died aged 100, and they say she never touched the property.

So far, they have ripped out the chimney breast, replaced all the windows, and removed a wall from the kitchen to the living room.

Drew says although the property will never truly be 'done' as they will keep updating it, they are now about halfway through - with much of the house still in shambles.

The family have been living with half a kitchen for four months with no oven or hob - having to cook everything in the air fryer - and they wash their dishes in the upstairs bath.

They were also living without heating for a long period of the winter and were having to shower at their friend's house, although this is no longer the case.

Drew said: "I always wanted a project, but my partner didn't as much. He is not very handy at all. Before we moved in here he couldn't knock a nail in the wall "I haven't really got any DIY experience myself, but my dad was a builder so I grew up learning little bits from him.

"When I said I was buying the house even my dad said not to do it. He said it was a full rip out and that I didn't understand the work it would take.

"I just felt like it wouldn't take that long. The reality of that has been very different. It is always just disaster after disaster."

They have now had to become more thrifty after blowing the budget on hiring labourers for more complex parts such as the plastering, and splashing a big chunk on the new kitchen.

So, to avoid having to go into any debt, Drew completed a full bathroom renovation for only £150.

She set to by work ripping up the floor with a wallpaper scraper and placed down £33.98 peel and stick tiles with no measuring tape or spirit level.

Drew then painted the walls brown with £29.99 paint, added £31.99 battery powered wall lights by the mirror and used tile paint to cover the blue stripes on her walls.

She spent a further £29.99 on brown tile paint, and used frog tape to create a striped effect on them, before painting the ceiling and adding the finishing touches.

This included marble vinyl on the shelves, a clear sticker to create a fluted shower screen, and spray painting all the taps gold, spending the remaining £19.05.

She added: "It is just about being thrifty with it. Even though you are renovating, not everything needs to be brand new.

"The house is halfway done, and the budget is gone already. Every month now it's like what can we put towards the house. It is just a case of topping up the penny pot now.

"It is like semi-house and semi-building site. We have got a sofa with nice cushions on next to half a chimney that has been ripped out.

"There are moments where we have thought 'what have we done' and maybe that it was too much of a project, but we have enjoyed the majority of renovating it."

One disaster the couple faced was when their home flooded at the end of last year, as water started pouring out under the house, and they had to install a pump.

They are still unaware of the cause, but say they believe it was an issue when they bought it, as they had previously seen water coming out of the garage.

Drew said: "That was just an absolute nightmare. I heard this trickling like a tap was running in the kitchen, which was weird because at the time we didn't have a tap.

"I had to try and pull the floorboards up and I could see it pouring through under the house. At the moment we have not really got a solution for it we just live with it."

Drew and Jake, who goes by JB, started posting their renovation journey on TikTok under that_reno_place, which has gained almost 15K followers.

The mum says commenters are often stressed by her sloppy DIY, but that due to her ADHD she feels a need to make her ideas reality ASAP and just gets stuck in.

She said: "Considering what it looked like when we moved in, we have done so much, but it does still feel very unfinishe "I have ADHD so if I see something and have an idea it is happening there and then. I haven't prepared. I don't sand, I'll just paint. People get a lot of anxiety watching me.

"It probably doesn't give us the best finishes in the house but it adds a bit of character.

"We love the house so much, so it has felt like a labour of love. I think we would have thrown the towel in a lot earlier had we not been in the location that we are.