If her fitness tips and videos on social media don’t get you out training, maybe Meggan Grubb’s house-hunting skills will inspire you to get that dream pad.
At 24, the personal trainer and social media star has not only earned 1.3 million followers but she’s even bagged her own ‘grown-up’ house near Winchester and managed to do it all up during lockdown.
The insta star and her fiancé spent lockdown decking out their bathrooms with Bali-inspired designs and building a home gym.
And there we were watching Tiger King on the couch…
When did you buy your first home?
I bought my first home when I was 23, almost exactly a year ago. Before that, I was living in London in student flats.
But after six years of the hectic London lifestyle, I wanted to move somewhere with a little bit more countryside and somewhere slightly slower paced – but with the ease of going into London quickly for work if I needed to.
You bought just before Covid hit – did that worry you at all?
During lockdown, my fiancé and I decided to get quite a bit of work done to our house, as we were spending even more time at home than usual. We thought it was a really good time to focus on the house, seeing as we weren’t leaving anytime soon.
What did you do with it?
It was initially a two-up, two-down house but extended quite dramatically not long before we bought it. But the old sections needed quite a bit of work, as they were relatively dated.
I really wanted to jazz up the bathrooms, and after visiting Bali recently, I’d taken a lot of inspiration from their incredible bathrooms. So these were the first areas we renovated, with pink patterned tiles and a lot of plants. I think bathrooms are such a great place to experiment with colour in your house.
Along with the crazy tiled bathrooms, we’ve built a home gym at the bottom of the garden. As I was doing a lot of fitness on my social media, it felt like the perfect time to take the leap.
It was always a dream to have my own gym but the thought of organising it all, and spending the money, put me off for a while. But I’m so glad we have now. We basically had builders living in our garden for a month, but it was worth it.
What tips would you have for doing up a first home?
Go with your gut. Don’t listen to people – or your fiancé! If they think the pink tiles are too much, just go for it. After renting for years and never having that creative freedom or just one day being able to decide to paint a wall pink, it was just the best feeling ever. Express yourself and enjoy it.
What were the best and worst bits from buying?
Definitely the worst was the nerves of falling in love with a house and getting too attached before it was definitely mine. I had to emotionally detach myself from the house when we first saw it because there were 40 people interested and I didn’t want to imagine myself chilling on the sofa until I was sure we had it.
The best bits are the excitement and freedom of making your house a home. Especially at Christmas. I love cosy vibes and making everything snuggly. Christmas was the first year that my partner and I had hosted for our families, we felt like such grown-ups.
What did you learn from the experience of buying?
That the process may take a lot longer than you first hope. We actually had a two-month crossover period between leaving our rented flat in London and moving into the house.
Our dates just kept getting pushed back but due to already leaving our rented contract we had to move back in with my mum in Wales. After not living with my parents for six years it was a bit strange, though it turned out to be really lovely.
Has buying changed your life?
In so many ways. Just having more space compared to the flats in London would probably be the most dramatic difference.
As me and my partner both work from home, we were getting so on top of each other near the end to living in our flat in London, so now having an upstairs as well as a downstairs is just the best thing ever.
Any more plans for the place?
There are a couple of the rooms in the house we haven’t got around to renovating yet. I wanted to hold back a while after the gym and bathrooms as renovating is expensive and there’s no rush. We have years to change things.
But I think next would possibly be changing the staircase and making the hallway more open-plan, which means knocking through walls. Hopefully we will get that done before Christmas… fingers crossed.
Instagram @meggangrubb
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/09/15/my-first-home-instagram-star-meggan-grubb-on-bali-inspired-bathrooms-and-building-a-gym-13269243/
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