Ellen Finch

Ellen is deputy editor of Real Homes magazine. Since joining the brand in 2017, she's been lucky enough to spend most of her time speaking to real people and writing about real homes, from extended Victorian terraces to modest apartments. She's currently gearing up to buy a home of her own in 2023 – hopefully with a garden to plant veg and wildflowers – and has a special interest in sustainable living, clever book storage, and cats.

Experience 

After graduating with a degree in English Literature, Ellen spent a year writing for true-life titles before falling into the world of interiors – when suddenly her love for making the spaces around her look good made sense. Joining the Real Homes team in 2017 as features editor, she's written or commissioned many of the case studies we feature. Accompanying photographers on house shoots and getting top tips from homeowners is the best part of her job. In 2020 she became deputy editor and now looks after the day-to-day running of Real Homes magazine, from picking out the best eye-catching covers to planning out the new trends to feature each month. She's also written for Future titles including Gardeningetc and Homes & Gardens.

Ellen's home style 

Ellen currently lives with her long-suffering parents while she gets ready to buy her own home, hopefully in 2023. That doesn't mean she hasn't had a chance to exercise her style muscles, though: in the last few years, she's elbowed her way into refreshing the living room, dining room, bathroom and home office of her parents' house, all on a very small budget. She's also filled up the loft with a series of compulsive homeware buys, from vases and dinnerware to lighting and appliances – seriously, there's no room up there for anything else save the Christmas tree.

Having now saved up a modest deposit, Ellen's got similarly modest ambitions for her first home. On the wishlist: a period property with big windows, exposed wood floors and original features, plus a garden she can plant veg and wildflowers in. In reality, she'll settle for anything that can house her 400+ (and counting) books, plus a piano and her boyfriend. Though she's allergic to cats and therefore can't have one in the house, the unfortunate fact is that they are the loves of her life, so she's hoping her future neighbourhood will be filled with friendly felines she can pet instead. She loves the idea of a home filled with second-hand buys (you just can't replicate that character!) and is a sucker for a 'lifestyle store'. She's a big believer in shopping small and loves supporting local businesses, but is on a mission to slow the spending this year as she enters the final few months of saving. Wish her luck!