Designing our own new build: bringing a home to life

There’s something incredibly rewarding - but often slightly overwhelming - about designing your own home from scratch.

After spending years helping clients shape homes that feel thoughtful, elegant and personal, it’s been a very different experience turning that same process onto ourselves.

We’re now nearly at the end of bringing our own new build to life and trying to block out the inevitable challenges we encountered along the way!

Like most self-build projects, things haven’t always gone entirely to plan. What we thought would be a fairly straightforward process became significantly longer thanks to delays with utilities - particularly getting electricity connected - and there were moments where progress felt painfully slow. But in many ways, living through that process has given me an even deeper understanding of how emotional and consuming home projects can become for clients.

When you’re building a home, it’s never just about bricks, flooring or paint colours. It’s about imagining how life will feel within those spaces.

I approached this project in exactly the same way I approach client work; thinking carefully about how each room connects to the next, how the layout flows, how natural light moves through the house and, most importantly, how the space ultimately feels to live in.

For me, great interior design has never been purely about aesthetics.

Of course, I want spaces to look beautiful, but the best interiors go far deeper than that. They create atmosphere. They make everyday routines feel easier. They allow homes to feel calm, welcoming and cohesive. A well-designed room should feel instinctive and comfortable, not simply styled for photographs.

Throughout this project, I’ve been constantly considering balance and layering, softer textures against more architectural elements, warm tones balanced with natural materials, and practical choices that still feel refined and considered. Some of the most important design decisions are often the quieter ones; the details that subtly shape how a room functions and feels over time.

What’s also been interesting is seeing how much people assume interior design is unattainable or overly expensive. In reality, thoughtful design often comes from making smarter choices rather than simply spending more. Sometimes it’s about reworking existing furniture, introducing texture and lighting, or creating a stronger sense of cohesion rather than replacing everything entirely.

That’s something I’ve become even more conscious of through this project.

As the house has gradually come together, room by room, it’s incredibly satisfying to finally see the ideas take shape in real life. The spaces are beginning to feel exactly as I hoped they would: calm, layered, practical and quietly luxurious without ever feeling overdone.

It’s also reminded me why I love interior design so much in the first place. At its heart, it’s about creating homes that genuinely support the people living in them.

We’re still adding the finishing touches, but I’m excited to start sharing more glimpses of the completed spaces soon.

And if you’re currently planning your own home or development project and feel unsure where to start, don’t assume good interior design is out of reach. Clients are often surprised by how achievable thoughtful, well-considered design can actually be.

If you’d like to chat about your own project, I’d love to hear from you.