Vibrant patterns bring the house alive'

To give her home plenty of character, Emily Day has skilfully used bright wallpapers, plenty of colour and a mix of old and new furniture

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Moving from a 250-year-old converted chapel to a new-build wasn’t something that Emily Day thought she'd ever do. ‘I'd been brought up in an old manor house in Derbyshire, and since then I'd lived only in period properties from Cardiff to Chepstow,’ says Emily. ‘I'm from Bristol and when I came back to this area in 2013, it was to take on the conversion of an 18th-century chapel in the countryside.’

But six years on, the stress of the renovation was taking its toll. ‘With three small children, a job and all the problems involved in the build, I was dreaming of something easier,’ she says. A search on Rightmove brought up the development where Emily now lives. ‘It was really out of left field,’ she explains. ‘I'd never considered a new-build, but it was a lot of house for a reasonable amount of money. Also, it was in a town near the children’s schools, and I could see it made sense as they grew up.’

GETTING THE KEYS