23 year old Emily lives with her boyfriend Ollie and their 1 year old Sprocker Spaniel, Dougie.

“I love anything interior related, I work in the fashion industry and I’m very fortunate to love my job.” 

Emily and Ollie are currently renovating their first home, which is a two (formerly 3) bedroom mid terrace in Market Harborough. 

They are both local to the Market Harborough area, having also attended the local schools. 

“I grew up in a little village called Billesdon and Ollie grew up in nearby Kibworth. Market Harborough is a lovely town with tons of history, some lovely bars and fantastic restaurants, so we decided that it was a great place to buy our first home.”

Emily describes their experience of buying her first home as smooth but stressful. 

“Buying a home is extremely stressful, in particular your first home as you have no experience, and we were completely clueless! However, we had a fairly easy journey and the house was ours in 8 weeks.”

“We had originally reserved a 3-bedroom Mulberry property on the new estate in Kibworth, we loved it! However, it was the first home we had viewed so of course we were going to love it. We then chose to look at renovation projects, the first property we viewed we fell in love with but it was at the top end of our budget, so we then viewed a second property which was valued £100,000 less with more space – winner!”

As a first time buyer, emotions can sometimes take over and therefore it is essential to do your research and look around to get a balanced view of what could be on offer to you.

Emily and Ollie have extensively renovated their home, even adding a bathroom upstairs, and they love the work that they have done so far. 

“We have changed every room, with the main improvements being the addition of a bathroom upstairs, new utility room and brand-new kitchen.”

“The bathroom floor had to be reinforced as the bath I had ordered was too heavy, but I didn’t want to compromise on style or design… Fortunately, the workman managed to find a solution to our problem within a week, he was amazing!”

When buying an older property, Emily and Ollie knew that they would encounter problems, however she is glad that they opted for a renovation project.

“New builds just weren’t for us, I wanted original features, larger rooms and a bit of a challenge.” 

Renovation projects offer a great opportunity to make your mark on a property, but they aren’t for everybody and so it should be carefully considered beforehand.

“You have to be prepared for mess, dirt, dust and unfinished rooms for a long time. Everything takes time and of course the money side of things often means that you can’t do everything at once. In an ideal world you would stay elsewhere while the work is being done, but if this isn’t possible then make sure you have one liveable room where you can shut the door on the mess.”

Emily mentions that finding a good tradesman can be a difficult and unforgiving process, so once you do find a good one, hold onto them and make sure that you get recommendations for other tradesmen that could also help.

“Design wise, I’m very picky and so I do most of this myself, that way I get what I want and also it saves us money!”

It is important to shop around and that sometimes means sourcing things from different places.

“We have saved so much money by shopping around, everything in our kitchen has been sourced from different places.”

Emily has always loved interiors, creating Pinterest boards as to how she would style her own home for many years.

“I’m so lucky to have many friends around me that share the same passion. Even more exciting that they are all buying homes now and we can go shopping together!”  

Currently working in the fashion industry, Emily is surrounded by design, meaning she can gather inspiration for fabrics and colours on a daily basis. 

“The interior side of things is definitely more of a hobby but for sure I’m influenced by the industry I’m currently in.”

Instagram and Pinterest act as huge inspirations for Emily, being her go-to apps.

“If I have an idea or vision I will search on Pinterest and pull together a board. I also ask for help on @homeat22_ and everyone is so helpful!”

“@homeat22_ was created because my sister in law came to visit and loved what we had already done, and she suggested that I make an Instagram account.” 

After some unforgiving pressure from friends and family, Emily created @homeat22_ to showcase their progress and the renovation of their home. 

Emily has a number of favourite shops/designers.

“Homesense has to be my go-to as you can buy anything and everything there, it’s great value for money too. If money was no object my home would be Neptune, The White Company and have a Tom Howley kitchen!