VIEWERS of popular British home improvement show Grand Designs were reduced to tears after a widow built her dream home with the help of her close family.
Gretta, a teacher, was living in a trailer on the same land as her sister’s home in Cambridgeshire, since returning to the UK, after having lived in Malaysia for 17 years – until her husband Ray died unexpectedly of a heart attack.
“I knew it was right to come back even though I miss Malaysia very much,” she said. “It would have been very painful to stay.”
Staying close to her sister Mary and brother-in-law Fernando, she was given the opportunity to build a home on their land.
Her architect nephew Carlos – Mary and Fernando’s son – helped design a Malaysian-inspired single-storey home with an initial budget of £300,000 (RM1.7 million).
“It's Grett's new family home but at the same time, it's on the land where I grew up and where we've had a family home for 30 years,” Carlos said.
Fernando also participated as project manager, despite lacking any building experience.
The process of building to home occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought with it a number of complications such as delays of delivery of building materials.
The goal of building the home was to help Gretta rebuild a new life while surrounded by close loved ones.
“I want open plan, modern, lots of glass, quite minimalist,” Gretta said.
Kevin McCloud, the host of Grand Designs, said, “The roof is infilled with highly insulated SIP panels to form a massive room terrace which is extended out by 2 metres all round to create an overhang – a design feature borrowed from Malaysia.”
The front and back of the home were glazed floor to ceiling, referencing a connection to nature – an inspiration taken from Gretta from her time living in Asia.
“The finished look of the house is super important,” said Carlos. 'I've got this lovely finish which is an Asian technique of charring timber and it really nods to the Malaysian influence.'
However, this Asian inspiration came at a price, about an extra £10,000.
“Yes it is more expensive, but there are certain things you think it's worth spending more on to get the effect that we want,” Gretta said. However, this took the budget beyond £300,000.
As lockdown restrictions lifted, workers could return but a quantity surveyor reassessed the construction to cost more than £400,000.
In the end, by May 2021 the project was near complete and months later, Grand Design host McCloud was able to visit the finished property. By then it was £150,000 over budget, now costing a total to £450,000.
The final home features memories of Greta's time in Malaysia, with the kitchen especially bearing reminders of her home on the other side of the world.
On late husband: “He would have loved it, completely, he's here in spirit for sure. I was when I was making decisions thinking ‘What would Ray do?’.
“Nothing will replace Ray but the family have been fantastic at advising, helping, stepping in there. Overall I think I'm stronger than I think I was.” – The Vibes, October 17, 2021
