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The home features a mix of Victorian, Georgian and Edwardian styling
A man spent £10k transforming his smoke damaged council house into a vintage paradise – filling it with antiques from Facebook Marketplace and eBay. Ashley Spetch, 34, rents his 174-year-old one-bed home for £350-a-month and moved in in May 2019 and says it was “unpleasant” due to smoke damage and walls thick with nicotine from previous owners.
But he has since given the semi-detached property a makeover – picking up pre-loved decor from charity shops, car boot sales, eBay and Facebook Marketplace. Every room features blue and white decor – each adorned with everything from decorative plates, trinkets, and framed prints from time gone by.
Ashley describes his home as a “mix” of Victorian, Georgian and Edwardian styling. So far he has spent £10k on the renovations and is tackling his bedroom next.
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Ashley, a support worker, from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, said: “I’ve always loved vintage and antiques since I was really young. I used to spend a lot of time with my grandma, Mary, 71, and watch a load of those old programmes like Antiques Roadshow or Dickinson’s Real Deal but I didn’t embrace it until I was older because I was heavily influenced by everyone else to do the ‘in’ thing.
“Then about four years ago I just decided to do my own thing and follow what it was I liked instead of going with the crowd. I found my treasures very much in charity shops, car boot sales, eBay and Facebook Marketplace were all great places. I was conscious I wanted to pull everything together.
“I’m very well known as a lover of blue and white – I’ll get stopped in the street by people saying ‘you’re the blue and white man from TikTok’. I would I’ve spent easily £10,000 which sounds like a ridiculous amount but everything builds up.
“Those small amounts seem nothing at the time but when you add it all together it very quickly adds up.” Ashley moved into his home in May 2019, which he shares with his French Bulldog Paige, nine, and set about transforming the property which was classed as smoked damaged.
He said: “It was in a very bad state, the people that lived here before me were very heavy smokers. The walls were thick with nicotine and there was an awful smell of nicotine and wet dog.
“It was very unpleasant and very unloved but had so much potential.” Having just renovated his bathroom, Ashley’s next project is his bedroom which needs a new ceiling after an old repair before he moved in was never fixed “properly”.
After that, he intends to give his entryway and staircase a “complete makeover”, with the main rooms of the house “pretty much” finished. Estimating he spends around five hours a day hunting for new pieces to add to his antique haven, Ashley says there is “always” something new to do with his home.
He said: “Top of the list of my favourite items is the French mantle clock in my living room. That was a dream piece for me for a very long time.
“It seemed very out of budget but luckily one of my local antique shops, the guy who runs it he deals in antique clocks and told me about one that was absolutely for me. It was reasonable for what it was at £450.”
Ashley says the “vast majority” of his friends and family love the way he has decorated his home despite being “dead against” his decision to wallpaper his kitchen ceiling – getting their seal of approval after he went ahead with it. He set up his TikTok page two years ago documenting his home and new finds the response has been “very positive”.
He said: “I’ve had a lot of support and messages from people saying how nice it is to see someone taking an interest in antiques and vintage, getting them and appreciating them for what they are. Of course there are negative sides to any social media.
“I’m often asked ‘how long does it take to dust your house?’, that’s a popular one. I get comments about it being cluttered and I suppose for a modern audience it is cluttered”.
His Wedgwood collection has garnered him “a lot of attention” online, and he runs a series called ‘Wedgwood Christmas’ which he says is his take on the viral “Ralph Lauren Christmas” trend. “It focuses on Wedgwood which is a huge porcelain manufacturer that has been around for a very long time,” he says.
“I have a good sized collection of Christmas ornaments all in blue and white and it gives it a bit more of a modern classic to a traditional Christmas”.
You can follow Ashley on TikTok @cottageonthehill and Instagram @ashleys_stonecottage.
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