MY EXPERIENCE

We’d been renting a two-bedroom flat in Manchester but wanted to move back to Yorkshire near our family and friends. After viewing over 20 houses in Harrogate, we bought this three-bed semi in March 2019, found new jobs and never looked back.

We fell in love with the house straight away. Having the living room, kitchen and conservatory all open-plan for entertaining was a massive tick for us. It had been on the market for a while, so we got it for under the asking price. After tackling the damp proofing, electrics and boiler, and fixing a couple of broken windows, we turned our attention to the living room. The whole space needed replastering but we saved money by keeping the existing carpet.

Having lived in several white rented flats, we couldn’t wait to make our home cosy with darker colours and tones. The starting point was the blue feature wall. I fell in love with the colour as it’s a warm deep blue, and everything else slotted into place. The big-ticket items are neutral, like the grey sofas, but we added wood elements and warm accent colours, such as burnt orange. If, one day, we want to change it up, we can just paint over the feature wall and have a completely new room.

Michael tends to leave the décor up to me. I normally put three things in front of him and see what he prefers. As long as I can make the money tally up, he’s a happy manfl Although I’d love a different fireplace with a log-burner and the same flooring running throughout the ground floor, we love how the living room has turned out. There are lots of pieces with special meaning and if you buy something you really love, it’ll last and transition into different interior styles over the years.