What made you take on a project of this scale?

I was 20 when I had my son, Ezra. I was renting, had childcare costs and was studying at University, so I just couldn’t afford it on my own. We moved in with my dad, and that was when I told myself, I’m going to get myself and my son a home of our own’. I always had a goal of moving into the property before my son started school at four years old. It turned out that he started school in September 2022, and I got the house a few months later in December. So, I pretty much achieved my goal.

Can you tell me about your journey of establishing your new home?

The journey and the process of getting the house was horrendous.

I had to be creative and think outside the box. I started looking at barns, train stations – and a chapel at one point. I was even looking at shipping containers, thinking ‘how do I build my own home from scratch?’

At the time, my dream had always been to buy somewhere that my dad could come with me, retire and then rent his house out.

Throughout the process, it always meant so much more to me than just wanting to get out of my parents’ house. The one thing that helped motivate me was finding the right home for us. Having a home and enjoying it with my son, where he could do painting in his own bedroom, all those special moments that you get to share. I have a huge family, so those beautiful family moments are more a part of my story than just buying a house at 25 on my own as a single mother in London.

In the home, I can enjoy having grandparents around, which is amazing, plus I have somewhere to work from home and have family events, which I have all the time.

It’s a very brave and ambitious move; how did friends and family react?

I think everyone saw me being so young, having a child, and with all these variables against me. The way I went about getting my home was flipping hard, but my motivation was, ‘I’m going to prove all of you wrong!’ Having my son at a young age and being at university at the time made some around me feel like I was wasting an opportunity to do something amazing in my life. And that was disappointing, because I always knew that I would provide more opportunities for my son, regardless of the situation.

I was only told to jump as high as I could, and that this wild achievement of owning a house was unreachable. The only person in my entire family that had done it was my dad.

So, to be able to buy a five-bedroom house that allows my dad to stay, my son to have a room, and my sister to have a room – I think I’ve blown away my own expectations.

I feel like I’ve allowed my dad to jump a bit higher as well. He was so supportive throughout. I remember the day I told him that I got the keys to the house. He couldn’t believe it, and was lost for words when I told him that he was coming with us.

One of the key findings of the IKEA Life at Home Report is that many don’t feel their home life is represented authentically in the media. Do you feel your life and story is represented in the media’s depictions of home?

I feel like the process of finding, buying and starting a new home is not represented anywhere. The costs, the affordability, the variables – it was genuinely crazy and nowhere in the media was telling those stories. Where is it documented how you do it? Especially for the younger generation?

I ended up needing to do a lot more work on my home than I realised because I didn’t have the knowledge – there was genuinely nowhere to turn.

I think my journey can be super inspiring and I’ve thought about sharing it through a platform myself, to help others – home and living stories for Gen Z and Millennials.

I had a lot of easier options. I could have just been a mother with a child and applied for a small place from the council, and just stuck with that. It’s a trap: society and the media tell you to follow the easier path. But I wanted more.

Stories like mine need to be told, but equally there are so many other unique stories that also need to be told. It’s easy to look at Architectural Digest or Grand Designs and see all these amazing houses for inspiration of course. I looked at IKEA which has some incredible furniture, and I would dream of having a home like that.