Our Nest: How Alex and Ollie are making their Bellway Scrivener home into a peaceful retreat

When life gets hectic, we need our homes to be a place of sanctuary where we can close the door on the ‘real world’ and relax. First-time buyers Alex and Ollie knew that they wanted their home to be a peaceful space, and the blank canvas of a new-build Bellway Scrivener home provided the perfect starting point to create a calm and cosy environment, with plenty of room to grow into.

In the latest edition of Our Nest we meet the couple behind @oursuffolkscrivener, and find out why a Bellway Scrivener was the natural choice for their dream first property, which has all the potential to become their ‘forever home’.

Alex, a teacher, and her partner Ollie who is a ground works estimator, had a clear idea of the type of home that they wanted to buy and there were several must-haves for their perfect property.

“We always knew that we wanted to buy a new-build home in Suffolk, and we had our hearts set on finding a 4-bedroom house, with the intention of starting a family in the future.

“After visiting a few different developments and exploring a number of Bellway showhomes, we felt that the Scrivener was the perfect size and it ticked all the boxes for a home that we could stay in for a long time; I loved that it had a utility room and that the kitchen was light and spacious, and we also noticed that this house style had a lot of storage space compared to some other new-build homes we had viewed.”

The couple also loved the benefits of buying a new-build home, from being able to personalise their interior during the construction process, to having the peace of mind that their property would be covered by a warranty long after they moved in.

“We were really attracted by the 10-year warranty and insurance protection that came with a Bellway home. That made us feel secure in our purchase as we thought there would be nothing worse than buying an older house and something going wrong in our first year that we couldn’t afford to fix.

“We also loved that everything would be fresh and clean, and that we would be able to choose elements of our home like the kitchen, flooring and wall tiling; our home would be just ‘ours’ and nobody else’s, which felt really exciting for us.”

Transforming a new-build home into a serene Suffolk sanctuary

“Our jobs can feel stressful at times, and being a teacher can often be over-stimulating,” muses Alex, on the process of planning their new home interior. “All I wanted was to create a space that felt calm and relaxing.”

The serene décor of Alex and Ollie’s Bellway Scrivener reflects an intentional fusion of a light colour palette with natural materials like wood and stone, which add warmth and avoid the “cold and clinical” feel that neutral tones can bring to an interior, while house plants introduce organic touches of colour and cosiness.

The pristine blank canvas of their new-build home provided the perfect base for bringing their interior ideas to life, as they didn’t need to spend any time removing the decorating decisions of previous owners, or carrying out expensive or inconvenient renovations. Even before moving in, the couple were able to add personal touches to their new Bellway home by selecting elements such as their kitchen surfaces and cabinets, flooring and carpets, and tiling in the bathrooms; however, while some of their choices were easy, others took a little more time to settle on.

“Marble counter tops were a non-negotiable, and had been since day one,” Alex recalls, “but on the other hand, deciding on our flooring was much harder. I went back to the Bellway sales office three times to change our carpet choices!”

Alex and Ollie were presented with a range of options for their home interior but felt that none of the choices for the cooker backsplash fit with the vision they had for their new kitchen.

“We had a choice of coloured glass backsplashes, but we wanted a seamless continuation of quartz from the countertop instead. It felt like a silly request at the time, but I asked our sales advisor if they could do this for us and they were happy to; it was one of the best alterations we made and just goes to show that it never hurts to ask for what you want.”

While much of their home interior is still a work in progress, the living room is the area they’re most pleased with so far; the bespoke media wall and fireplace feature make a statement, while the DIY panelling was a “fun weekend activity” that is now a proud achievement.

“I feel that we’ve really succeeded with our goal of creating a warm, peaceful environment in our living room, so much so that I can’t do anything productive in there,” laughs Alex. “As soon as I step in, my mind switches off!

“We love the fireplace, especially in autumn and winter; it turns the room into the ultimate cosy space, perfect for movies and hot chocolate. The huge coffee table in the centre has also facilitated some great games nights with friends and family. Personally, I adore the shelves that are filled with special mementos that we’ve collected over the years, like our old dog’s paw prints and a shell from the beach where we got engaged.”

The media wall was what inspired Alex to persevere with posting on their dedicated Instagram account for their Bellway home after initially setting it up to find inspiration and ideas from other Bellway homeowners.

“I created an account to keep track of all the amazing accounts that I followed and eventually got a bit of FOMO; at first though, I really overthought my content and would literally press ‘post’ then throw my phone across the room, out of embarrassment. But when we had our media wall done, I was so in love with it and too excited to share it.

“Now creating Instagram content has become a fun hobby for me over the school holidays, and I’ve had the opportunity to connect with other Scrivener owners and build friendships with many of them. We all love to nosey at each other’s interior styles but most importantly, we really support and champion one another in our journeys of making our Bellway houses into homes.”

Designing a dream new-build home garden

Having only moved into their home in 2023, Alex and Ollie are still in progress with decorating many areas of their Bellway Scrivener, and have been enjoying taking their time with projects such as creating their dream garden:

“Last spring we spent a weekend building our own decking at the bottom of our new-build home garden where we receive the evening sun. We love spending time out there BBQing and drinking; it’s another peaceful and relaxing part of our home.

“This year we added a patio and built some raised beds, into which we’ve planted jasmine, lavender, wisteria and dahlias and we can’t wait to see how everything grows and develops over time. I think our garden has the potential to be the part of our new Bellway home that we’re most proud of as it will be an ongoing project for some time.”

Alex admits that the process of decorating their new Bellway home hasn’t always gone smoothly, and that her eagerness to experiment has led to a cloakroom catastrophe – “I got a bit carried away one weekend and painted the downstairs cloakroom without testing the paint sample first. Big mistake – it turned out orange.

“I thought it was so bad that I cried and apologised to Ollie for ruining our house, I was obviously very tired. Ollie rightfully told me that ‘it’s just paint’ and can be easily rectified, but I’m not yet in the right frame of mind to repaint it!”

Despite the odd decorating disaster, the couple are delighted with their new home and Alex enjoys “having a creative outlet that not only benefits myself but also Ollie, and our future family”.

For anyone who is thinking of buying a new-build home or is in the process of buying with Bellway, Alex and Ollie have some nuggets of wisdom to share:

• Use natural light to guide your decisions: “The lighting in the sales offices can be bright, so when choosing your options with your Bellway sales advisor, take the samples into the showhome so you can see how the colours look under natural light. You should also consider the direction your rooms will be facing, and where the sun comes in throughout the day.”
• Ask your helpful sales advisor for what you want: “As I mentioned before, we didn’t love any of the options we were presented with for our cooker backsplash; instead, we asked for quartz and received it. Just ask your sales advisor for what you want because it doesn’t hurt!”

You can see more of Alex and Ollie’s Bellway Scrivener home, and follow their interior journey on Instagram at @oursuffolkscrivener, or read more inspiring stories from first-time Bellway buyers like Amy and Jake, whose cancelled wedding led them to find their dream home. If you’d like the chance to be featured in a future edition of Our Nest, share your interior style with us @bellwayhomes using our dedicated hashtag #mybeautifulbellway.

We also have lots of useful features on buying your first home, such as the benefits of buying a home over renting, a guide to zero-deposit mortgages, and our must-read tips on saving towards a mortgage deposit. See all of our articles for first-time buyers, or visit our first-time buyer hub on the Bellway website.