We transformed a 1960s wooden flat-pack house into Wales’ best property

It’s taken 28 years and lots of imagination and creativity but the property has now won Wales’ Home of the Year 2026 crown

If you have a vision for a property that no-one else can see, would you have the patience to take 28 years of hard work and creative thinking for that vision to become a reality?

For couple Iain and Paula, their love for a property and its location has taken them on an epic renovation journey over two decades that ended up at the final destination of being crowned Wales’ Home of the Year 2026 by the judges of the popular BBC Cymru Wales property programme.

Paula says: “We are still being congratulated wherever we go, by people we know and people we don’t!

“Picking up a prescription in the chemist the other day, I had to confirm my name and address, and all these people came out from the back of the shop to say hello and chat about it, it’s been lovely.” For more property, home, and renovation stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here.

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But when you see the photos of how the ‘house on stilts’ used to look it will surely ignite your curiosity on how the couple transformed the much-loved but rather dated wooden building into a TV property competition winner.

At the time of looking for a new home the couple were in a bit of a desperate situation – their landlord had sold the property and they were about to become homeless.

Looking in an estate agent’s window Iain saw the wooden house on stilts and, being from this corner of Carmarthenshire, he recognised it instantly.

Paula says: “Out of curiosity we came to view it. It was built as a holiday home by a dentist from Aberdare who loved sailing, so he kept his boat at the docks in Ferryside and came here at weekends.

“There have been two sets of elderly couples who have lived here full-time since then, I think we are the fourth people to live here.”

The couple loved the house, its quirkiness and the astounding views from the first floor windows and ignored the doubters.

Paula says: “People were advising us against it, saying it’s not a traditional house made of bricks and mortar, that it’s not even a ‘real house’, but we were captivated by the building and what it could become, as well as the views.”

Although it was a much-loved home, the couple had a long list of work to tackle to bring it up to modern standards. A rewire was vital and adding insulation made the house feel instantly cosier.

Also at the top of the list was the bathroom, including removing a pillar and installing a supporting beam in order to safely reconfigure the space. When budget allowed, the couple eventually chose a stainless steel, industrial style of kitchen packed with plenty of appliances for keen cook Iain.

All the interior design choices and careful thought the couple have given this home over the years is a lesson in thinking deeply about how to live comfortably inside a smaller home, how the spaces flow, and the importance of visual connection with the outside.

The property is an upside down house for a good reason – the elevated first floor delivers breathtaking, panoramic views across the countryside to the horizon in all directions, including a view of Llansteffan Castle from the kitchen sink, and framing this ‘living artwork’ at each window was a major consideration when transforming it from basic to beautiful.

Inside, the décor is simple and calming, with white walls that don’t compete with the exceptional views combined with natural materials to ensure each space feels warm and inviting too, from exposed beams and cork tiles in the kitchen, from wooden flooring to leather and tactile fabrics in the lounge.

The couple think the origins of the house is that it was sold as a kit back in the early 1960s where you bought the land and then built the timber-framed property yourself.

The downside of the solid timber kit house was that the couple were confined to keeping the room walls where they were, knocking anything down would have compromised the building’s structure, so it has taken great thought to make the space work for this family of three.

The house might look like a hefty home from the outside but actually the ground floor has just two rooms, storage, and an open space with under-house parking and the stilts that teases you with glimpses of the beautiful rear garden.

The first floor has all the remaining accommodation which has always been a motivator for the couple to think creatively with the space available, such as the chest in the study that offers storage but is also a day bed.

Other examples of amazing space solutions that George Clarke would be proud of include the table in the kitchen being designed with two height settings while also being on wheels, creating a mobile kitchen island.

Paula explains: “When the table is set high we can wheel it across to the worktop opposite to be able to sit at it and use it like a breakfast bar with a view out the front across the estuary. At the lower height we can sit at it on dining chairs, and when Max was little it was the right height for his high chair.”

Paula’s creative imagination was working well again when considering how to maximise wall storage use in the kitchen. She explains: “I had the idea to cut an opening in the wall opposite the sink to create an inset cabinet for all the glassware to be out on show whilst dust free behind glass.

“I actually cut a hole in the wall when Iain was working late one evening – he had fair warning, I had drawn on the wall in jumbo marker what I was planning with shelf heights and even the glasses all drawn in outline. He came home and the bits of wall were in the stairwell!

“We got a carpenter in to make the opening sound, then had it glazed with a frosted panel at the back and clear sliding doors with glass shelves. The glass cabinet appears like a lightbox from the stairwell and lets morning light flood into the kitchen and evening light through into the stairwell, bringing much needed light to what would otherwise be quite dim spaces at different times of day.”

Iain adds that they did a lot of work themselves but when they did need to bring help in he says it was important to them to use local tradespeople and buy materials locally, where possible.

The house dates back to the early 1960s and was loved by all the owners but Paula says externally it didn’t look at its best when the couple took the plunge and decided to buy it.

The façade of the house has been just as important as the inside in the allocation of time, resources and careful thought.

Paula says: “From the front we have tried to bring it back to how it looked originally, but with a twist. We’ve added cladding but in a way that reminds us of the past but brings a more modern look, a different way of presenting the house.”

Over the years, as the couple’s friends have traded up the property ladder and moved to larger houses, ones that have garages and attic spaces and potential to expand, they decided to love and not list their home on stilts.

Instead of sizing-up they have tackled the main challenge – the lack of space – by adding a garden room under the house to the left and incorporating a ground floor area into the main floorplan that once you could only access externally.

So many renovators don’t even put the garden on the list of important work to tackle, but for Iain and Paula it was the extra room of the property, equally as important as every space inside.

When the couple bought the house Paula says the garden was tiny, the dentist from Aberdare only visited on the weekend so didn’t want the bother of a sizeable garden.

But the owners before Iain and Paula bought some extra land from the neighbouring farm to expand the garden, and when the farm was put on the market the couple expanded it too by purchasing an extra parcel of land – and they now totally adore the garden.

Paula, aged 62 and from Swansea, remembers: “It was a blank canvas but the pond was all overgrown, so we dug that out and just designed the garden around that as a wildlife garden, using as much as possible plants chosen to support the birds and insects, with berries and seeds and things like that. It’s ever changing through the seasons, we love sitting out there.

“From the first floor windows you can see down into the garden, as well as the far-reaching views, so we see so many birds, we are so close to the tree canopy.”

The garden has the couple’s imagination in evidence too, including an area cleverly under the house to sit, so it can be enjoyed whatever the weather.

The couple heard that the producers of the BBC Cymru Wales’ show Wales’ Home of the Year were looking for participants from a friend and, as they had seen and enjoyed the other series as well as Scotland’s Home of the Year, they decided to put in an application.

The house on stilts won the regional west Wales heat to then compete against the four other regional winners and, to their surprise and delight, their house was announced as Wales’ Home of the Year at the finals event at Insole Court, Cardiff.

Iain, aged 62 and from Carmel, says: “We absolutely didn’t think we would win, we thought we’d be the first to be eliminated, to be flipped over. We’d seen the boards of photographs of the other houses and our photographs just looked a little bit muted, some of the other ones were a bit more colourful.”

Paula adds: “I like to think, obviously, when the judges were in the house, and on the television, the house looked better, but, yes, certainly in the judging room the display didn’t look like that. I would have flipped it over straight away too!”

But the judges didn’t flip the photo of their home as it lay with the others on the judging table – the house got the perfect score of 30 so was undeniably the outright winner.

When the house was announced to the hushed room, Paula had a cold and thought head judge Owain Wyn Evans had said the Art Deco house, the south Wales region winner, until son Max updated her.

Paula says: “Max whispered in my ear that my mum would have been proud of me, and that threw me completely. My mum was always brilliant, I could run ideas of what we were planning by her, and next time I’d see her she’d had drawn it all out, she had great ideas on what could be done.

“If it wasn’t an emotional enough day, that kind of opened the floodgates, and I think it’s just lovely that on hearing we had won, that was Max’s first thought.”

But maybe the most important legacy of the house on stilts has been its influence on the family, not just providing a safe and welcoming cocoon where lifelong memories have been made, but also inspiring son Max on one of his most important life decisions.

Paula says: “Max has said that growing up in this house inspired him, made him want to study architecture. It’s taken a long time to transform it, we’ve put a lot into it, but what this house has given back to us is immeasurable.”

All episodes of Wales’ Home of the Year 2026 are currently available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

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