Not many people can recount a story about going away on a stag weekend to Barcelona and come back to find that the wife had impulsively put the family house forward to be on a TV show that potentially included a personal appearance too.
Gareth, aged 42 and from Cardigan, was having fun in the sun with his mates while Natasha decided to apply for the chance for their west Wales house called Bryn Llewyllen to potentially be featured on BBC Cymru Wales property programme Wales' Home of the Year 2024 - and it's just as well Natasha acted on her impulse because the house won.
But, before the production company turned up to film Natasha had to break the news to her husband. She says: 'I saw online that it was the last couple of days to get an entry in and I thought, 'do you know what, I'm just going to do it' and then it all happened really quickly - a phone call to ask if the director could come and look at the house and then I had to tell Gareth.
"He was like 'Oh my God, what have you done?' - he wasn't very happy to begin with but he actually got into it and actually really enjoyed it, loved being on the show, and had loads of fun like I did and he's really over the moon that we won."
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Natasha continues: "We didn't really see it as a winner or anything, we just see it as our home, we really didn't think we were going to win, we really thought Simon's squirrel cottage was going to win. When they said the winner is Bryn Llewellyn my face is a picture - we were both absolutely over the moon, we couldn't believe it. It's been really hard to keep it secret though because so many fiends knew we were in it and they were all asking if we'd won and I was telling time, 'I can't say, you'll have to watch'.
But Bryn Llewellyn didn't always look like the mid-century inspired comfortable home that made it a winner, getting the maximum 30 points from the three judges Owain Wyn Evans, Glen Thomas, and Mandy Watkins to secure its place in the final as the south west Wales regional winner.
Natasha, aged 49 and originally from Barry, says: "It's been a real labour of love because the house was originally Gareth's grandparents' house so it's been in the family for a long time. We have always loved it and almost kept saying we hope that one day we might be able to buy it and make it our own, and we've always talked about what we would do if that happened.
"It's just like a dream, and when we won Gareth was so pleased, he was saying 'this will make the whole family really proud as well' because we managed to put our own stamp on it as well as updating it.
"I think his grandparents would have been over the moon, they would have been really proud. It was difficult because Gareth's grandparents had all the original features ripped out in the late 1980s because that was the thing to do then, so when we got it the house was very dated."
The list of work that the couple began with their builders in January 2023 includes ripping everything out because Gareth's grandparents had taken out the original features during the 1980s when period décor was definitely not the modern thing to do.
Natasha says the cottage was stripped right back and the project began with the structural and upgrading work which included new, more appropriate period style sash windows, a new heating system, rewiring, and new ceilings. Gareth wanted some walls down on the ground floor to come down too to create a sociable open-plan kitchen diner to step into as soon as you open the front door.
When it came to the interior design the couple decided that the blank canvas they had created and the lack of period cottage features gave them a chance to create a home that reflected their tastes and personality, including a love of vintage and mid-century design.
Natasha says: "We always knew we wanted to do something a bit different, we're both really into interiors and architecture, I was really more the interiors and Gareth had the ideas about walls coming down, so he was the one in charge of the architectural design really and I was the one thinking of how to dress it.
"I'm really into mid century style so we already have the Ercol stuff and when we were thinking of doing the kitchen we went with something quite plain because we thought that would stand the test of time, we didn't want something too in fashion because we want it to last and to not go off it.
"So we've kept it all quite neutral - the walls and the units - because we thought if we wanted to change things we can paint the walls or change the cupboard doors at a later date. We've added our own style to it to make it a bit different and added pops of colour like the black stairs and the cobalt blue wall at the top, to make it a bit different and they are the kinds of things we could change if we go off them."
One aspect of the home that the judges liked was the use of plywood on the walls in the corner of the kitchen diner to zone it and create a cosy sitting and reading area that is Gareth's favourite spot in the house, where he sits with the cats to relax.
Natasha says: "But my favourite is sitting at the dining table because we moved from a tiny two bedroom house and we didn't have room for a dining table, we had to eat our tea off our laps, so that is my big thing - I sit here now and it's where I work, where I sit if I'm reading - it's at the dining table - I just love it."
Another feature that was highlighted on the show was the orange sliding door between the kitchen diner and lounge and it turned out to be minimum spend to create maximum impact. Made from leftover plywood and using a sliding mechanism from Amazon the door has been painted orange to become a focal point, but can also of course be easily repainted.
Natasha says: "Originally the ground floor was going to be all open-plan, but I thought it might be cosier to be able to section it off, especially as we are going to add a log burner in the fireplace in the lounge. Now when I'm watching my TV programmes and Gareth is watching football, I can just slide the door closed and we can do our own thing and it works really well."
Some people might see the front of the couple's cottage and expect a classic country cottage design scheme waiting for them inside but the couple have done what they love to make it their own unique space and luckily the family love it too.
Natasha says: "Most people who visit say 'it's so you and Gareth, it's you all over' so it's got a lot of our personality in it. The family really love it, which we were really happy about because we were a bit apprehensive, they were brought up here, grew up here, so we just wanted them to think it was OK, and they actually all really love it and everybody has been so positive."
BBC Cymru Wales' property programme Wales' Home of the Year 2024 is currently available to watch on iPlayer, and don't miss Wales' Christmas Home of the Year 2024 airing on BBC One Wales on Thursday December 19 at 8pm.
