Behind the ‘gram: Sarah Jane from @Homebythestation

By Bekki Ramsay

Firstly, I have to say you live in one of the most gorgeous Edwardian mid-terraces I’ve ever seen, and that is saying a lot as someone who spends the majority of her spare time looking at houses on Pinterest/ Instagram/ Zoopla – which leads me onto my first question. Did you always set out to purchase a period build and if so, what lured you into buying this particular home?

 Thank you so much, that’s so kind of you to say! I’ve always had a love for period homes, even from when I was young and would love watching TV programmes about house auctions. I just loved watching the home being transformed after all of the renovations were complete, and how the homeowner would manage to bring it back to life whilst complementing the original features.

As for my own, I actually drove past it one day on the way to work and saw the ‘For Sale’ sign. I just knew that I needed to have a neb at it online and see if I could spy any original features.

To be totally honest, we weren’t even looking to buy a house at the time. I still lived at home with my parents but somehow got swept up by the beauty of it, so we booked a viewing. My mam always says, “there’s never a right time for anything”, which put me at ease and encouraged me to make the purchase. Once we viewed it, we knew the whole house needed a lot of work but as soon as we saw the original fireplaces in the bedrooms, we knew it was the home for us.

And now a question from those who are currently renovating or have to plans to – what advice would you give that you had known at the time?

The best bit of advice I would give to anyone would be to not rush anything – there really is no need to hurry. I know what it’s like; I’m quite impatient and when I get an idea in my head I just want it to be all systems go.

However, I’ve found that my favourite renovations that we’ve done have been ones that we worked on later down the line when we had developed a feel for our space and how we use it on a day-to-day basis.

Slowing down has also meant that we’d developed our style a bit and not just rushed into the first idea we had, or first trend that we liked – so we feel like our latest renovations are more personal to us and will last the test of time.

Also, this is a biggie… don’t compare your home to others! It can be hard but as long as it makes you happy being there and allows you to create lots of amazing memories, then that’s the most important thing.

You’ve also created your own hashtag #tubofTODAY, which is, of course, dedicated to aesthetically pleasing bubble baths. What sparked you to create this hashtag? And do you have any tips for creating the perfect relaxing bath?

Bath bombs have been a strong favourite of mine for as long as I can remember. I love the whole process of running a bath and I find them so chill!

One day I just took a quick snap of my tub before I got in and it randomly went viral, which was crazy! After that, I ended up down a rabbit hole of everyone else’s amazing baths so I thought if I created the hashtag I could see everyone’s lovely tubs all in one place.

My go-to place for bath bombs is always Lush, I honestly love them all but the more colourful the better for me! I love seeing them swirl around the tub, it’s half of the fun. My favourites are ‘The Experimenter’, ‘Strawberries & Cream’ and Christmas spesh ‘Golden Wonder’.

In terms of creating a relaxing bath, for me it’s definitely adding about a million plants, I like my baths to feel like I’m in some kind of jungle pond. Bath boards are so handy too and you can style them up to look pretty with a couple of plants, maybe the book you’re reading and whatever you’d like to drink while you’re chilling. Every bath is personal to you so whatever makes you happy.