We bought a 1960s home

A young couple who bought a house from the 1960s have shared everything they’ve discovered since beginning the renovation process.

Nicole Halliday and her partner Blair, from Scotland, took to social media to reveal all of the hurdles they’ve faced and hidden gems they’ve stumbled across after being handed the keys.

The clip, which was posted under her handle @nicolehxoo, has already been seen by more than 3.3 million people, with the caption reading: ‘Bring on the renovation journey.

‘We expected so much worse so we’ll take it. Over the dust and woodchip now though.’

The first thing the couple disclosed was how much the house used to cost when it was bought more than 60 years ago.

A card left by the previous homeowners read: ‘We wish you every happiness. Mum and dad bought this first house as a new build in 1962 for £3141, so you are only the second owners.

‘We have many happy memories of our childhood here and we hope that you will have happy times here too.’ 

The first surprise in store for the first-time homeowners was a hidden door to an extra room they didn’t know existed when they bought the house.

Only after demolishing the cream wardrobes, which Nicole described as a ‘monstrosity,’ did they realise there was a door to a box room tucked away behind them.

The process hasn’t been smooth sailing so far and they’ve admitting to discovering many cracks in the walls, as well as ‘leaking everywhere’ which led to ‘rotting floorboards’.

On top of this, they claimed they were told the boiler was two years old, but later discovered it was actually from 2010.

As to be expected from a 1960s house, there was also the challenge of ‘layer upon layer of questionable wallpaper,’ from flower patterns to bright yellow.

One room had a whopping six layers that had been accumulated over the years. 

After knocking down walls to create their dream home, Nicole and Blair stumbled across live wires that were connected to nothing.

There was also some wall filling and raggling that needed work and ‘wood chip everywhere’.

However, there was one hidden gem that made all of the challenges worth the work – a wine cellar that was hidden underneath their cupboard hatch.

Nicole shared a picture of at least 17 bottles of old red wine that had been left behind by the previous owners.

One shocked commenter penned: ‘Those reds from 1984 are like £140 a bottle each,’ with a second joking: ‘Pay towards replacing the boiler they lied about’.

Talking about the previous homeowners, a third added: ‘How you gonna get such a nice note and then precede to drag them through the trenches,’ alongside a laughing emoji.

Meanwhile, someone else wrote: ‘£3k in the 60s is like £55k after inflation. Unbelievable how easy people had getting a house.’

Others chimed in with: ‘The whole hidden room???’ and ‘I would’ve gave them the wine back I mean they seem really nice people’.

A more skeptical viewer questioned: ‘Hidden room? Yeah right, so it wasn’t on the floor plans,’ to which Nicole responded: ‘Surveyor didn’t rip down the wardrobes to notice funnily enough – albeit a box room’. 

Another quipped: ‘the card was sweet but a bit tone deaf mentioning how much they bought it for knowing what you just paid.’

Someone else suggested: ‘I’m low-key jealous of the wine. You have to open a bottle when the house is finished to celebrate! keep the rest for special occasions.’

Opting for an older house to renovate seems to be a popular choice, as it comes just after another young couple refurbished an entire property that had not been touched since the 1960s.

The renovating Rowland couple purchased the semi-detached property in July 2022 and have documented their dramatic progress in renovating it on TikTok ever since.

When they moved in, their new home had been left unchanged for decades, with dated wallpaper, a basic kitchen and an overgrown garden.

The couple stripped out and refurbished every single room to make them sleek and modern.