A DIY mum saved £50,000 transforming her “cat poo” covered garden into a paved sanctuary.

Charlotte Syeda-Aguirre, 36, spent just £10,509 in total transforming her outdoor space – after she was quoted a whopping £60,000 by landscapers.

When Charlotte and her family moved into their Lambeth, Greater London home in May 2024, she said the garden was their “biggest compromise”.

The broken patio, a patch of muddy grass which she said was “full of cat poo”, and three dangerous steps made it unusable for their two young children Ruben, six, and Marla, five.

Starting the project in February 2025, the renovations took five months – with Charlotte and husband Tomal, 37, using Pinterest to dream up their courtyard-style nook outside their two-bed terraced house.

With no room for a skip or equipment, Charlotte and Tomal did everything by hand, digging up the garden and shovelling mud by hand and transporting in bags to wait-and-load skips – paying landscapers £6,400 to help with retaining walls and paving.

Finishing their project in July 2025, the family are enjoying their dream space and plan to do a loft conversion in September to make it a four-bed house.

Charlotte, who works in digital marketing, says: “We thought if we had £60,000 we would be doing an extension, not a garden.

“It just was not possible.

“Anyone can dig, it just takes a long time.

“The kids were out there digging with us, and we just dug and dug and dug for months and months.

“I wouldn’t do it again.

“Everything felt dirty and messy, constantly carrying bags through the house.

“It was really hard on our backs.

“After all the hard work, I absolutely love it.

“Before it felt really unloved and not usable, and now hosting garden parties is my favourite thing.

“It’s made such a difference to the way we live.”

The couple first started by digging up the garden to level it for the patio before moving onto the walls and fencing.

They were gifted new plants from family, used gifted paint from Wood Finish Direct, and only spent £45 making a four metre planter – saving hundreds.

“I didn’t learn to make the planters from anywhere as such, it was a trust the process DIY and luckily it paid off.

“I knew roughly how to make a box and just adjusted the measurements and style to fit,” Charlotte says.

With their daughter Marla’s fourth birthday party looming in early July, they had the extra motivation to finish it all.

Charlotte says: “My husband would be out there in the dark with a head torch on, just shovelling mud.

“We were just so determined to get it done and we finished it three days before her birthday and we then had a nice garden party.

“We got some professionals in to build the retaining walls because we needed them to be safe.

“If you feel completely out of your depth, it’s a good time to get someone in.

“90% of the time, we’ve been able to do it ourselves.”

The joy the garden has brought the family is endless, Charlotte sys: “The striped planter with the discoball makes me very happy when I look out into the garden.

“The discoball was from Facebook marketplace, which was such a great find. Our garden furniture is from Cult Furniture and our solar lights are from Amazon.

“[Our friends and family] can’t believe we did the bulk ourselves and how much of a difference it has made not having the garden in two levels.

“It feels so lovely when you hear nice things about something you have worked so hard on.”

Charlotte’s cost breakdown

Digging out:

– Skips

– Rubble Sacks

– Tools

– Some extra hands

£1070

Materials:

– Paving slabs

– Grout

– Builders sand

– Cement

– Thermalite blocks

– PVA

– Ballast

– Timber

– Fence panels

£2797

Drainage:

– Manhole cover

– Drain Channel

£242

Labour Costs

– Digging out

– Paving

– Retaining walls

– Fencing

£6400

Total: £10,509

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