Joanna and John Cox knew they were taking on a major project when they bought their 30s semi-detached home in Penrith just over four years ago.

There was no heating except for an open coal fire, the bathroom was on the ground floor next to the kitchen and the walls - and ceilings - were covered in layers of wallpaper.

With help from Joanna’s parents, the couple spent two years refurbishing the house, installing central heating and a new kitchen and replastering some of the walls. The house was rewired and the bathroom was moved upstairs.

Joanna says that her mum and dad, Richard and Carol Duffell, drove up from their home at Crook near Kendal every weekend for two years to help. “We couldn’t have done it without them,” she says.

Joanna loves to research interiors schemes, sharing her ideas via Instagram and helping family and friends with their homes.

Because she had a vision for how their home would look, Joanna says she wasn’t worried about taking on such a big refurbishment.

“I always wanted a project,” she says. “I’m very particular about what I like and there’s no point in paying for somebody else’s taste.”

John, 32, and Joanna, 36, mixed less expensive items with more costly finishing touches to great effect, such as lower budget kitchen units paired with a high-end work surface.

They also reinstated some of the original character of the sandstone house by fitting 30s period doors which they found at Brunswick Yard salvage specialists in Penrith. They put back some picture rails by using the telltale marks left on the walls by the originals as guidelines.

The completed house has made an ideal family home for the couple and their 15-month-old daughter, Harriet, and also fits Joanna’s preference for a streamlined interior.

“I wouldn’t say I was minimalist by any stretch of the imagination but I don’t like clutter,” she says. “I like nice, decorative objects but not too many of them.”

When to spend and when to save

Joanna and John used a high-low approach to make the most of their home.

Ideally they would have liked to install a Neptune kitchen but to stay in budget they chose units from Wickes and invested more in a Saddleback Slate work surface from Threlkeld Quarry to give the room some wow factor.

“We went all out on the worktop,” says Joanna. “If you couple a ‘normal’ kitchen with a posh worktop it works well.”

They replaced the plain bar handles on the kitchen units with cup handles from Ikea. Joanna says the handles cost far less than the equivalent from Neptune but look equally good: “I just think it gives them a more classic look.”

They took a similar high-low approach for the ceiling lights in the kitchen and hall. Joanna sourced period-style ceiling roses and braided cable from specialist retailer Jim Lawrence in Suffolk and then economised by buying less expensive light shades from Dunelm.

* Read the full version of this article in the latest edition of Cumbria Life, on sale now