A Lancashire couple who took on their very own Grand Designs-style project have revealed how much they put into creating their dream home.
Katie, 31, who grew up in Preston, and her husband Michael shared a lifelong goal to build their forever home, and ended up working tirelessly throughout their 20s to make their dream a reality.
The couple, founders of Dream Interiors, bought their first home together seven years ago and have since worked their way up the property ladder.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, as part of our Where I Live series, Katie described the couple’s property buying journey.
She said: ‘We bought our first house when I was 24. It was a two-bed semi detached which we paid £135,000 for.
Katie and Michael wanted to have the freedom to oversee the whole home design process – so they found a plot of land, and built their own home (pictured)
‘Since then we’ve worked our way up the ladder and have owned four houses. We have never bought a new build, all of our houses have been renovation projects that have needed work doing to them.’
She added that if you buy a run-down house and renovate it, it is usually possible to sell the property at a profit.
Using this profit to buy another home that needs doing up, and repeating the process, is a ‘great way’ to move up the ladder, she said.
Sharing her top tip when choosing such a property, Katie said opting for the best road, even if it means a worse property, is important, as location is so crucial.
According to the couple, they have been able to reach this point through their own hard work, as they were not given any money to invest in property.
Instead, said Katie, they worked ‘really, really hard’ to achieve their success in the housing market.
This meant a substantial amount of their time was invested in their renovation work, with the couple revealing that they worked seven days a week and ‘sacrificed [their] 20s’ so they would be ‘able to live in [their] 30s’.
Katie and Michael’s dream, since they bought their first property, was to build their own home.
Katie designed the entire home, in her own style which she describes as ‘classic modern’, combining the sleek look with classical touches like chandeliers
On the ground floor of the three-storey home, there is a large open space, with feels light and airy thanks to the largely white and cream colour scheme
She puts this down to being a ‘perfectionist’, and having wanted to change everything in the homes they have previously bought so that it was all in line with her own taste.
So building a property from scratch meant that they would have full control and freedom over the design process.
They were able to embark on the home building process in 2019. The first step was searching for land.
The couple say they were ‘lucky’, quickly finding some land in Lancashire which had nothing on it.
Despite buying it without planning permission, their plans were passed quickly.
According to Katie, she and Michael designed the entire house, from the exterior to the interior, themselves, telling the architect what they wanted, so they could draw up plans from that.
The spacious home in decorated in a minimalist way, with lots of open space, and clean lines and materials
Classical: Katie says that while she likes modern design, she can’t resist incorporating some classic touches like this chandelier (pictured)
It took some six months to complete this design process and finalise the plans, but once building work started in July 2020, it was not so straightforward.
Katie says this is because she ‘thought we knew exactly what we wanted’, but then she made so many changes once they started building the house.
This is because it was only when seeing the property in 3D that she was able to fully visualise what it would look like – so she now advises people to get 3D designs and renders done if building their own home.
Throughout the build, a project manager oversaw the builders and other aspects, as the couple were both busy with their full time jobs.
The ‘stressful’ build, which eventually took some 18 months, with the couple moving into the house in November 2021, took longer than expected as a result of the couple’s changes.
Another standout feature in the home is this enormous window, which looks out over trees and other greenery
After making changes to the property during the design process, Katie says would advise others to get 3D plans drawn up before starting a build
For example, they decided they wanted to make the house bigger at the back, and so had to submit a planning application and wait for six weeks to hear back.
However, aside from these kinds of delays, it went ‘quite smoothly’, said Katie.
Following the completion of the building work (which they wanted finished before planning the interior), they observed how they lived in the space, so they could work out how best to deck it out.
Katie began renovating her home room by room, adopting her ‘classic modern’ style, which mixes modern elements with some classical touches like chandeliers and spindles.
The property, which is built across three floors, boasts five bedrooms. The ground floor features a large open hallway, a living room at the front, a home office, the kitchen dining area, a utility room and a downstairs toilet.
The couple enjoys open views of green fields, from the windows of their five-bedroomed Lancashire house
In the garden, there is an outbuilding, which houses a bar. Beyond the garden, there are acres of fields
The master bedroom, which has its own en-suite and dressing room, is on the first floor, alongside the other four beds.
In the garden, which is accessed by bifold doors, they have an outbuilding complete with bar. The home is surrounded by fields.
Katie started an Instagram account – @myselfbuildhome – in 2019, to document the build. She has since garnered almost 110,000 followers.
As interest in their property and style grew, the couple founded their interior business Dream Interiors selling bespoke interiors, which is now their full time job.
Their entire house is decked out with their own designs, and all the things sold on their website are items Katie likes and has in her home.
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