My Property Journey
How many times have you bought an outfit that you love one year and really don't a year later? Probably quite a few, and that’s ok because every day, month, year we change as people and so our style changes as a reflection. Unfortunately, it can be embarrassing and expensive, however as we ‘grow up’ we become more confident in our identity as a person, we find out what we truly love and why and make fewer mistakes (I will never wear a trouser skirt again). Thankfully, I have grown up and my interior style has evolved through my last three homes, I’m going to share my property journey with you now. It’s kinda long, but hopefully interesting.
In my final year of university I turned 21, at this time heavily embellished glasses with your age were a popular gift, fluffy, bejewelled, painted, and glittery. A lot of fun for a drinks party, however not the most stylish, perhaps recognising this my Mum suggested I put them in a ‘bottom drawer’ collection for my own house. I’d not really thought about being a homeowner and starting a bottom drawer collection but that’s where my journey began. Within a few months I’d built quite a stash of dishes and towels and decided a new build was the way forward. Young and buying alone, the fuss free maintenance and support of help to buy made this a desirable choice and after showing my Mum, Nan and Godmother around a few show homes, I’d placed my reservation for a Taylor Wimpey three bed semi-detached, with a drive and garage – oh my! With a downstairs loo, kitchen, living-dining room, bathroom, ensuite bedroom and two further bedrooms I felt like I had won the lottery.
Anyone who has or is buying a new build, or completing a self-build, will understand the excitement of watching a house rise out of the ground and making the choices to complete the interior. Knowing that builders use clever tricks with show homes (not including a TV, using smaller beds, often not hanging doors), I cottoned on to the design of the show homes. An expert had configured the furniture plans, making best use of the space and flow in the house, and so I endeavoured to replicate what I could. I also wanted white and shiny surfaces; Mum told me I wouldn’t do it when I had a family so crack on and do it now! The familiarisation visit of 34 Hetton Drive was exciting, until the site chap started chatting about cracks and strictly warned me not to start painting and wallpapering. So, I embraced the magnolia life using canvasses, mirrors, and wall stickers (don’t judge) to add colour and interest. I was trying. I threw a whole load of silver, glass and duck egg blue at my magnolia masterpiece and 22-year-old me absolutely loved it. Fortunately Instagram wasn't really a thing and neither was taking pictures of my duck egg vases so I will save you the offence to your eyes, I might be able to dig something out to share on the 'gram.
Anyway after three years I was on the move, this is when I had my first bungalow experience. The sale went through however the purchase didn’t come so easily, so I had fourteen months between homes and spent six of those months in a dated bungalow. Viewing property after property I dreamt up ideas for this bungalow, but it was triple my budget, however I had become willing to leave behind glass and shiny surfaces for something with more character. Something that needed a bit of love, but not too much. Having watched lots of Kirsty and Phil, location was also a key requirement. I was moving into a more desirable area and my money wasn’t going as far as I’d liked. There were two properties in the area in my budget and my brother and his girlfriend had just made an offer one of them. I went with Dad to view the other and thankfully it ticked my boxes, my parents had the property two doors down as their first home. Dad was horrified that it had increased in value by over £120,000, but that’s what thirty years did to the market. Buying alone with one income and no DIY experience I was nervous about investing in an older property but in the process of buying I had one of those nudges from above, a message sent from my Nan and Godmother who were the ones who encouraged me with my first house four years earlier.
Along came Hope Cottage: 140 years old, terraced, high ceilings, log burner, cottage garden planting and what I call sweet shop windows (you know the ones that look like a bottle was pressed into the glass). Sadly, they had to go. I had a survey which informed me of the faults I would need to fix but this also allowed for a renegotiation. I purchased the cottage for roughly the same price I sold my three-bed new build semi, this was light relief when I knew I would need to fund improvements. A new roof, new windows, new rendering, all boring but vital in keeping an old house free from damp. Cosmetically the inside of the house wasn’t offensive, but I wanted to put my stamp on it – out with the duck egg and in with romantic shabby chic. The cottage had a simple floor plan; cosy lounge, dining room, small galley kitchen, two bedrooms, shower room and ensuite (this became my favourite room). After hours and hours everywhere became Farrow and Ball School House White, high ceilings made for hard work. I picked up furniture that I then coated with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, everyone was doing it, and I bought neutral accessories to complete my new home.
One room I couldn’t afford to do straight away was the ensuite, but I knew taking it out would be messy, so it was removed, plastered and part tiled with wood effect tiles before I completed the above cosmetic changes. My best friend and I removed the tiles wearing snorkel masks; DIY fail but we had a smashing good time (I love that Facebook time-hop). It stood empty for a year before I saved up to complete it; a large sink and back-to-wall roll top bath (anyone that wants roll top without the space, this is your answer) and a loo – nothing special. It was a sanctuary, and my daily bath ritual began.
Just under three years later and the cottage was sold; the location was even more desirable and the improvements to a high standard meant the value had increased. Again flying solo, I was able to purchase, again for roughly the same sale price, a detached two bed bungalow with a drive. Oh and a carport! It was dated and in need of much more love than what I had experienced with the cottage. I’ve shared a little about The Bungalow on my blog post The Cornwall Curveball, and shared a lot on my Instagram @thehopefulchestnut and @chestnutinteriordesign but I’ll elaborate.
After enjoying the buzz of renovating and making a profit, I didn’t plan to live in the bungalow for long and chose it for two reasons: potential to improve appearance and value and it was south facing so offered lots of light. My cottage was south facing, and I loved the benefit of this. With pine cladding, a laminate oak kitchen, pink bathroom suite and brown patterned carpets I couldn’t really make it any worse and I could certainly make a profit. However, this plan changed and I designed this house for me, I’d started drawing up potential floor plans with my aim of soaking in the bath looking onto the garden (it wasn’t overlooked thankfully). I agreed the plan with the architect and started work on the two rooms that wouldn’t be affected by major building work, I doubted my ability to keep the patterned carpets and dated built in furniture, plus whilst things got really ugly I wanted somewhere to escape the dust and debris. Within a couple of months, the snug and spare bedroom (temporary master) were plastered, painted (still neutral) new windows, soft carpets, and smooth deep oak skirting boards – an investment I will repeat. No glossing! The building work included extending what was a large lounge and reconfiguring it to what I call the ‘master suite’ (you can see all the details under the projects page), building a vaulted ceiling entry and kitchen and extending what would become the living dining room. I created this floor plan to suit my lifestyle; somewhere snug to sit in an evening (I enjoyed the cosy lounge in the cottage and wanted to keep this option), a luxury bathing experience and a kitchen diner with garden to share with a few friends. Perfect.
Cosmetically I’d evolved, duck egg blue and shabby chic both behind me, giving furniture and accessories to new homes through marketplace, I’d started to explore mindful interior design. I’d made decisions in the past with style that I wouldn’t choose to repeat again. Not because there was anything particularly wrong with the colour duck egg blue or the shabby chic style, simply because they didn’t evoke the vibe that I wanted my home to give me when I walked through the door. Rather than replicating what I liked I started to use feelings as the basis for my decisions, I wanted to combine life and style to suit me best. Stage left green glorious green – how can you not love it, the colour that brings me most joy but what was echoed throughout the bungalow was the craving of texture and being surrounded by nature. It was clean, calming and 'grown up' 31 year old me loved it!
If you’ve followed me for a little while you’ll know that The Bungalow was only complete for a few weeks before we made our move to Cornwall, no longer flying solo I expected house buying to be a difficult joint decision but thankfully within four months of arriving we became home owners of our home (for me the fourth in a decade and hopefully the last)! Funnily enough it's another renovation with it's own offending features but we truly adore it and I wouldn't change the journey I've been on. A year ago I was in the thick of renovating, and that’s where my education into interior design took a turn. I started to consider how I could use my experience of renovating and my belief that everyone should feel their home is the best place in the world to help people. It's for the best that I save the rest for another day!
