BARGAIN BUY

‘The sofa is from Sofa. com, and we managed to get it half price. It’s not in the fabric I would have chosen, but it’s hard-wearing and works in this room’

‘SCOUR OFFICIAL BRAND PAGES ON FACEBOOK AND EBAY TO FIND REDUCED FURNISHINGS, SUCH AS OUR SOFA’

that way, but our architect advised us to knock down the entire kitchen and rebuild from the foundations up; that turned out to be just the start of our ground-floor renovations!

The living room used to be part of the dining area, and had a study leading off of it to the front of the house (did I mention it had an unusual layout?). We built a wall between the dining room and living room, and added folding doors for an interchangeable space that could either be open-plan or closed off and cosy. The study was knocked through, so that the lounge is now one large room that has light flooding in from the front and the back. We also added a fourth bedroom, as by this time I was pregnant with our third child.

I do pretty much all of the decorating in the house. I’ve always loved interior design as, growing up, I was surrounded by beautiful fabrics and architect drawings – my dad was a builder and my mum has her own soft furnishings business, so I guess it’s in my blood! When the children were young I just wanted the interior to be clean and safe, but as they have grown older I have really started to appreciate my interiors a lot more, be a little more adventurous and experiment with colours and patterns. I’m usually inspired by something I see in a magazine or on Instagram or Pinterest, and wonder how I could recreate it in my own style to fit into our house.