Widespread tv presenter, Radio 2 DJ, weatherman, drummer, serial renovator and all spherical fabulous boy from Ammanford, Owain Wyn Evans, has come dwelling to Wales to stay and he could not be happier. After touchdown the early morning present on Radio 2 Owain and his husband Aaron have left Manchester behind to bag themselves a interval property renovation undertaking of their dream location within the Vale of Glamorgan.
For inspiration for the couple’s new dwelling it’s totally useful that Owain spent a quantity weeks earlier within the yr snooping round some beautiful Welsh properties, with permission in fact, being head decide on BBC Cymru Wales property programme Wales’ House of the 12 months. To get all the newest properties, renovation, inside and property TV programme information straight to your inbox twice per week join right here.
Owain says, “I like Wales a lot and I suppose for a rustic that’s really fairly small we’ve received such a wealth of a lot stuff, nice countryside, shoreline and nice properties and I’ve seen that by engaged on Wales’ House of the 12 months the previous two collection.
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“However the programme is just not about homes it is about properties, that’s the sort of vibe of the present and we go from a small two-bed home as much as huge homes. I’m all the time tremendous conscious of being in somebody’s dwelling as a result of they’re locations that individuals have poured their hearts into and as any person who has renovated, we’re on our fifth dwelling now, I can completely relate.”
Owain is joined by fellow judges – inside designer Mandy Watkins and architect Glen Thomas – as they’ve a rummage round 15 Welsh properties, grouped by location, to determine on the finalists who then go head-to-head, or ought to that be cushion-to-cushion, to try to safe the title of Wales’ House of the 12 months, with the entire property story shared with viewers of BBC Cymru Wales.
Travelling round his homeland actually stirred hiraeth throughout the former weatherman, and he’s now so thrilled to be again residing in Wales, regardless that he appears again fondly at his time together with his husband Aaron Rees in Leeds and Manchester and retains involved with all the chums he is left behind.
Owain says, “My ft are correctly, firmly caught within the floor of Wales once more which I like. The renovation is coming alongside brilliantly, and it is the first time that I’ve not lived in a home that I am renovating while renovating it. The home in Manchester was an Edwardian semi with beautiful stained glass home windows, and we have been decided to maintain them in however behind the home we actually took all of it down as a result of we wanted to do some work on it.
“It was over Christmas and I bear in mind strolling down stairs into the again room and the builders had boarded up the again wall that they’d taken all the way down to put in a metal beam and I bear in mind having to placed on two coats simply to make a cup of espresso. The cat was lined in mud, every thing was dusty and every thing was soiled so this time we’ve been actually, actually fortunate to not be residing in the home whereas we’re doing the work.
“After we first began renovating our properties our price range was tiny, and my husband and I did a whole lot of work ourselves, the design, the ornament, and even the carpentry within the first few months, we taught ourselves how to try this stuff, however this time we’ve handed the work over to builders, we’ve been actually lucky to have the ability to try this.”
Owain and Aaron began their property journey in a Nineteen Eighties constructed condo in Canton, then moved to a conventional terrace in Roath after which interval properties in England and these experiences have helped the couple develop their very own inside type over time to deliver to this fifth dwelling renovation.
“We’re not afraid of daring colors,” Owain says, “We had a really mild aquamarine colored bed room in one in all our previous homes and a pink kitchen, so now we wish to do one thing related with this one, but additionally we wish to take our favorite components of the entire different locations that we’ve been in to make this place our dwelling.”
Owain thinks that generally when creating the inside you like it is about being courageous and artistic blended with trial and error, and the couple have already had their first change of thoughts of their new dwelling.
“We’ve already painted the lavatory on this new home twice already,” Owain explains, “I wished the lavatory to be this mild lavender color, we painted all of it, took a step again and we have been each like, ‘oh no, it doesn’t work!’. Generally utilizing a tester pot doesn’t work, it’s a must to paint an entire wall to see if it really works, we’re a bit braver now at doing that, we’re not going to simply make do, we’ll paint it once more.”
Of their new Welsh dwelling the couple are going for an aesthetic that’s barely extra trendy with options and additions they’ve all the time wished resembling a cork ground and industrial-style Crittall doorways on the rear, while being conscious of and restoring authentic components resembling coving, the unique carpentry and floorboards, which they are going to be having sanded down. Be part of our WhatsApp information group right here for the newest breaking information
Transferring dwelling quite a lot of instances in addition to engaged on Wales’ House of the 12 months has given Owain the attitude of wanting his dwelling to be a mirrored image of the couple’s persona and their very own inside design style and, most significantly, surrounding themselves with issues that they adore.
Owain says, “We’re simply going to be exhibiting off all the beautiful art work and ins and outs that we’ve amassed over time, for instance, I’ve received some mining lamps as a result of each my grandfathers have been miners and so they each had these ornamental mining lamps given to them once they each retired from the pits; these sort of issues make up the persona as to what the house really is, who we’re, and I all the time find it irresistible when folks on WHOTY aspire to create a design that enhances the house and its authentic options.”
Transferring house is the right time for many individuals to have a filter as they pack up and Owain says that with each transfer they’ve tried to be brutal however he has all the time made certain that quite a lot of essential gadgets have been the primary into the removing van and had essentially the most bubble wrap round them. He says, “My drum equipment is a giant a part of my identification. I’ve had it transformed to electrical over the previous few years as a result of drum kits are usually not neighbour pleasant anyplace, they’re so noisy, and I’ve some listening to loss now.”
One other staple of this couple’s house is a press release armchair that they purchased from the now closed properties store Rossiters in Cardiff; it starred alongside a navy wall in Leeds, discovered a comfortable spot subsequent to an uncovered brick characteristic wall in Manchester, and is now ready for discover out its chosen location within the Vale of Glamorgan dwelling.
However perhaps most stunning of Owain’s much-loved gadgets is his classic disco mild assortment and it stems again to at least one Christmas when he was a baby that set him on a path that has led to his present profession. Owain says: “After I was about 11 or 12 I requested my dad and mom for some turntables as a result of I wished to be a DJ. They have been wonderful, got here with a little bit mixer too, and it’s wonderful now that each one these years later that I’m really a DJ, and that’s the place I assume it began.
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“After that time I’d for my birthday or Christmas ask for a CD participant after which one other CD participant then some disco lights, then a smoke machine, so I ended up accumulating these and all of the disco lights and I stored a whole lot of them over time. After a drinket or two on a Friday night time I get on eBay and I simply peruse classic disco lights and I purchase them.
“They by no means price very a lot as a result of that is previous know-how, these items are noisy, they get scorching, they’ve received plenty of transferring elements in them so generally they break, they scent as a result of they warmth up just like the floor of the solar with their halogen bulbs. However wherever we’ve been (we’ve used a few of them) to create a disco hearth – a hearth with disco lights inside it – they arrive with us in all places.”
And it is this pleasure of entertaining and sharing time with household and mates that has formed the structure of one of many couple’s rooms of their new dwelling that’s virtually full – the kitchen. Most individuals have a kitchen diner on this ‘hub of the house’ house however Owain and Aaron are going to create a kitchen occasion house.
“We have modified the configuration, to make it a kitchen with seating space and occasion space as a result of it’s really indifferent from the home that’s subsequent door to us, so it is a good place. As you grow old and as a drummer and somebody who works an early shift now too, I recognize not having noise from folks residing round you, so we don’t occasion within the week.
“However generally we prefer to have a little bit dance on the weekend so the kitchen is now going to be a kitchen entertaining space and doubtless going to be the place the disco lights are going to be. And I am making an attempt to influence Aaron to have a smoke machine someplace however it’s going to set off all of the smoke alarms so I may need to accept dry ice as a substitute.”
Collection two of Wales’ House of the 12 months made by IWC Media and is on BBC Cymru Wales from Monday October 6 at 8pm for six weeks, aside from episode two on Wednesday, October at 8pm, and out there to compensate for iPlayer, and do not miss one of the best dream properties, renovations and inside design in Wales – be part of the Wonderful Welsh Properties publication, and the Wonderful Welsh Properties Fb group.
