'It was about ADDING COLOUR'

Poppy Pearson has transformed her first home from a characterless newbuild into a cosy, colour-studded home to be proud of

- LISA MOSES

During lockdown I managed to save for my first home,’ says Poppy. ‘After renting for years I was ready to buy, so I moved back in with my parents which gave me the opportunity to save. I took on extra shifts at work and finally managed to get a deposit together.

The main thing on my wish list was a garden; I didn’t care what size but I think we’d all realised how important outside space was during the pandemic. My friend had moved into a new build on this estate and I liked the open-plan feel of the houses and the fact that the properties came with parking, so I reserved this place off-plan with no idea how big the garden would be or what the layout would actually look like. I’d seen the floorplan, but there were no houses to view that were like this one, only bigger show homes. I needed a house that was in the help-to-buy scheme and I liked the central yet quiet location, so this ticked a lot of boxes.

Choosing the fixtures

My moving-in date was delayed by nine months because of the hold-ups with delivering materials like glass and plaster during COVID – to be honest, though, this was a blessing as it gave me more time to build up an extra fund to buy furniture. I used to drive by and watch the house being built; at first it was just a building site, and then a row of bricks appeared, and then the windows were put in, and it was really exciting seeing it gradually go up.

However, all the fixtures and fittings were extra, even the grass! So I went for all the standard options to save money. I chose light-coloured flooring, integrated appliances and a light grey kitchen with white worktops because, as everything is on show in the open-plan ground floor, I wanted the functional pieces to feel as hidden and unnoticeable as possible.