First-Step Stories with Laura Crombie

Laura Crombie, 34, produces and presents the Real Homes Show, an online TV show for home improvers. A former Real Homes magazine and website editor, her specialist areas include how to create the perfect family home, sustainability, and kitchen and bathroom design.

She lives with her husband, Rian, a pilot, who's also 34, and their toddler daughter in the Midlands. She's about to completely refurbish a 1960s house into their own dream home. 

I bought my first home in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, north east Lincolnshire, back in 2010. I was 24.

Cleethorpes is a strange but wonderful place. It has beautiful beaches and lovely people, but it feels very far from anywhere, and the seasonality of the resort means it’s packed in summer and deserted in winter.

The estate we bought our house on was a five-minute walk from the beach, next to a peaceful country park and within walking distance of a great fish and chip shop.  

My then-boyfriend – now husband – Rian. We'd been together for three years when we bought the house.

I’d moved up to Cleethorpes after graduating from Birmingham University to work on the local newspaper.

We were young and busy with our careers, so even though we knew we’d take on renovation projects in the future, we decided to look at relatively new properties that only needed cosmetic updates.

It was a four-bedroom detached house, built in about 2000. It had the most horrendous decor – think flocked gold wallpaper, white carpets and swagged pelmets – but it had clearly been loved and well looked after.

I’m a bit OCD, so the fact that it was super clean, and that I was asked to take my shoes off when I went to look around, was a winner.

I was just beginning to write about homes and interiors for work at the time, and I knew it just needed some cosmetic updates to bring it up to date.

The rooms weren’t the biggest - I’m still not sure a human could actually fit in the en-suite shower - and the garden was overlooked from every angle. But I was so excited that we’d finally have somewhere to call our own.

We only looked at two houses, both on the same estate, before making our offer. We’d rented a house nearby for a year before, so we knew it was where we wanted to be.

My husband was working when I went for the first viewing, and it’s become a bit of a running joke that I buy houses without him as I’ve actually done it twice since.

It was originally on the market for £210,000, but we got it for £180,000. 

We were really lucky that Lincolnshire is such an affordable place to live. Our friends back in Birmingham, where we’d studied, were paying twice what we did for a compact terraced house.

The only compromise was the location – we were a long way from my family and friends, and there weren’t many people our age in the area because of a lack of jobs for graduates.

We’ve always been careful with money and try to save something every month. I chose to live at home during university – I was brought up in the village of Hagley, in Worcestershire.

My parents only recently sold my childhood home as it was too big, and it still feels weird not having it to go back to. 

As a student, I also worked as a waitress in the evenings, so I actually left university in credit, rather than with the dreaded student loan. We also borrowed some money from my parents, with a five-year repayment plan in place.

Paying that off was the best feeling, as the house finally felt like ours.

We were absolutely clueless about the buying process and were lucky that my husband had access to a great mortgage advisor through his work. I’d never even heard the word 'conveyancing' before, so it was a steep learning curve.

Our solicitors took the time to explain everything to us and I found it fascinating – I don’t think they’d ever seen somebody as excited about survey results before. Everything went smoothly and, because we were chain-free, it only took about six weeks in all.

I’ll never forget the feeling of unlocking the front door for the first time (taking my shoes off first, obviously) and then walking around this empty house and wondering how we’d ever have enough furniture to fill it.

We were so excited, and posed for cheesy photos outside. I remember having takeaway pizza on our first night and planning all the work we were going to do. We felt like kings of our own mini castle.

Because we’d rented before, we already had sofas, a bed and a dining table, so we had the basics covered. I used furniture outlet stores to buy new pieces and contacted online companies directly to see if they’d offer a discount if we bought multiple items, which they usually did.

We also accepted a lot of hand-me-downs, which didn’t always fit in with my interior design scheme, but helped us fill all the bedrooms. I repainted our old dining table and chairs to give them a new lease of life, and we still have them today - albeit in the garage.

The house was more than big enough for two, so there was no need to extend or remodel. Instead, we focused on adding built-in storage, which my husband constructed himself using YouTube tutorials.

Decor wise, that gold wallpaper was the first thing to go. We got a sky-high quote from a decorator and quickly decided we’d learn how to do it ourselves, instead.

I became a dab hand at painting and wallpapering, and my husband learnt how to do some basic plumbing and replace radiators when we had three that all started leaking within a month.

I absolutely love decorating. I’m not so keen on the prep, but luckily my husband is a stickler for detail and likes to make sure the surfaces are in perfect condition before I get started.

I’m never happier than when I’m trying out paint testers and searching for 'the one'. The more you decorate, the better you get at it, and I’ve since presented all kinds of how-to videos for Real Homes, so all that experience has paid off.

It’s worth making compromises for a few years to get on the housing ladder. It’s so much easier to take steps up than it is to get on the first rung.

Yes, you might not be able to afford the latest phone or Insta-worthy holiday for a while, but that pile of bricks and mortar is a brilliant investment and will bring you some of your happiest memories.

This is properly corny, but home is where the heart is. My husband and I have lived in five houses since we met, and we have been happy in all of them. The important thing is having somewhere to call yours, where you can truly switch off from the many demands of modern life.

I love nothing more than weekend mornings in bed with my husband and little girl watching cartoons and planning what we’ll do that day.

We ended up renting out our first home after three years, as we needed to move down to London for work. In hindsight, we were too emotionally attached to the house to let a tenant live there – we had so many fond memories of it as we got engaged and married while living there, and I cooked my first Christmas dinner in that home.

We sold it in 2015 for £194,000. As we had only done cosmetic work and hadn't replaced the kitchen or bathrooms, we were pretty pleased with this.

We then moved back up to the Midlands, where I’m from, and bought another four-bedroom detached house, for twice the price of the one in Lincolnshire. 

Right now, though, we are in the process of buying a dated 1960s house that needs completely renovating but is in a great area.

I’m sure it’ll be a nightmare balancing work, a toddler and the refurbishment, but we can’t wait to get started. And at least there’s no flocked gold wallpaper to deal with this time.

Cleethorpes is a seaside resort, on the estuary of the Humber in northeast Lincolnshire.

About three miles from Grimsby and 30 from Scunthorpe, its history is rooted in the fishing industry, but in the 19th century it became a popular coastal retreat for sea-bathing holidaymakers. 

Cleethorpes (or Meggies, as it’s affectionately known to long-time locals) has about 3.4m visitors a year, many of whom throng to its pleasure pier.

Trains from its beachside station take 1 hour 18 minutes to Lincoln Central, 1 hour 43 minutes to Sheffield and about 2 hours 35 minutes to Manchester Piccadilly.

The unspoilt villages and landscape of the Lincolnshire Wolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - providing important habitats for rare flowers and wildlife - are a 25-minute drive away.  

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