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At home with:
Dee Gibson
Dee Gibson worked for 10 years in the financial sector but eventually followed her heart and became an interior designer. Her company, Velvet Orange, pulls together teams of builders, architects and craftspeople to create unique, luxury spaces. In 2017, she built a magnificent boutique villa, Kalukanda House, in Sri Lanka and in 2020 she was a silver winner in the UK’s national Best Business Women Awards for Most Inspiring Business Woman. She talks to Lynda Clark about her first step on the property ladder, her fascinating career and gives some excellent advice for first time buyers FTB: Tell us about your first step on the property ladder? DG: I was pretty late getting on to the property ladder but I bought my first ground floor garden flat when I was about 28. I had been living in east London and I played hockey for a club, so we used to travel to various places in London to play matches. We used to go to south London and that’s when I discovered Clapham, which I really liked, and it was always a great place to socialise in as it has so many bars and restaurants. I had a friend who lived in a top floor flat there and she told me that there was one for sale on
the ground floor. I went to see it and decided it was perfect for what I was looking for, so I went ahead and bought it. As I had been working for quite a time I had a little pot of money, so I had a decent deposit, and as I had a secure job with a good salary I didn’t have any trouble getting a mortgage. I still live in Clapham today and love it. It really ticks all the boxes – there’s always so much going on and I think it’s living a London lifestyle without being right in the centre of town. FTB: Tell us about your career? DG: For 10 years I worked in the city for
“IT REALLY TICKS ALL THE BOXES – THERE’S ALWAYS SO MUCH GOING ON AND I THINK IT’S LIVING A LONDON LIFESTYLE WITHOUT BEING RIGHT IN THE CENTRE OF TOWN”
Arthur Andersen but secretly I was always a frustrated architect. Then there was a huge financial scandal and Andersen’s went down and I took redundancy. It was the perfect opportunity to follow my dream and I found an interior design course with a focus towards interior architecture, which was perfect for what I wanted, and I studied for a year at The Interior Design School in Queens Park. It was an exciting time to re-train for a completely new and different career at the age of 31. While I was there I made friends with another student who had been an estate agent. We decided to set up a business together and hit the ground running! We had to find clients, of course, and so we did a lot of free work to build up our portfolio. Eventually she moved on and I have been running Velvet Orange for 10 years now on my own. I had a short career break when my children were small but I got back into the saddle quite quickly. I did some property developing where I bought
14 First Time Buyer December 2021/January 2022
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