I’m obsessed with mermaids so transformed my home into an ocean-inspired paradise, my hubby loves it too
A WOMAN who is ‘convinced she is part-mermaid’ has transformed her home into an underwater paradise after falling in love with the ocean.
Bianca Spruit, 45, has spent the last eight years adding special, nautical-inspired pieces to her home to turn it into a haven that any mermaid would envy.
Her passion began after she first tried scuba diving on a holiday in her twenties and she has been hooked ever since.
And while some might find Bianca’s obsession flipping crazy, her husband embraced it and learned to dive himself.
Speaking to Ruggable, she revealed that she instantly felt “at home” in the water the first time she went scuba diving.
Bianca said: “In my twenties, I went on a very random holiday to Ayia Napa with my ex-boyfriend’s mates and a friend from my college days.
“Whilst clubbing was ok for me for a couple of days, I soon got bored and decided to try scuba diving.
“I’ve always been a water baby and had been wanting to try it so this was my chance.
From the moment I went underwater it was like I’d found my home… Now convinced I’m part mermaid, my husband had no choice but to learn to dive and he loved it
Bianca Spruit
“From the moment I went underwater it was like I’d found my home!
“I didn’t actually see much on that dive but the feeling of calm and weightlessness meant I was hooked from the very start. As soon as I got back to the UK, I enrolled on my first diving course.
“Today, I’m not only a Leadership Coach, but a dive instructor too and have worked in dive schools in the UK, Thailand and Australia.
“Now convinced I’m part mermaid, my husband had no choice but to learn to dive and he loved it!”
Bianca, from Leeds, said she loved the feeling that diving gave her, and because she can’t dive as often as she would like, she wanted to do something special to be able to conjure up that feeling more often.
This is what inspired her to transform her home.
She said: “As a leadership coach, I’m talking to clients all the time about the importance of work/life balance and having a passion to escape to outside of work.
“For me, scuba diving is that escape, but I just don’t get to do it enough.
“Transforming my home into an underwater paradise meant that I could get some of the calm and beauty of the underwater world, without going on a dive.
“When I first created a vision board for my coaching business, I found that as well as lots of images and quotes that were clearly linked to my love of developing people, I also felt drawn to a lot of images of the sea.
Transforming my home into an underwater paradise meant that I could get some of the calm and beauty of the underwater world, without going on a dive
Bianca Spruit
“It felt only right that my home should reflect all of the different sides of me, so I have lots of books and inspirational pieces relating to leadership around the house, but my passion for diving needed to be expressed too.
“I wanted my home to not only reflect my passion but also my personality.”
In the beginning, Bianca’s home was “livable”, but “far from what we wanted”, so over the years, she and her husband took it upon themselves to renovate and transform it into their dream home.
Since her husband is a joiner, they managed to take on DIY work to keep costs down and even handled the structural parts of the renovation and took a course to learn new schools.
“The previous owner of this house had been an elderly lady. The carpets were swirling floral patterns and the walls and ceilings had five layers of woodchip wallpaper on them. It was liveable, but far from what we wanted.
“As my husband is a joiner, he took the lead in designing the structure of the house and did all the woodwork, tiling, plastering, bricklaying– you name it, whilst I worked alongside him as his labourer.
“While we did do most of the work ourselves, we did hire an electrician and plumber to take care of the technical aspects when needed.
“When it came to our home decor, we wanted to make sure we were as resourceful as possible.
“I even took a short glass fusing course so I could make my own glass ‘wave’ and a glass underwater scene, both of which are in front of our bathroom window, sparkling where the light passes through them.”
“Whilst shopping around for home decor, we stayed flexible and picked up bargains when we saw them and made use of off-season sales.
“We also did upcycle some of our furniture, like our daughter’s chest of drawers, adding under-the-sea wallpaper to the base and some beautiful shell draw handles, which cost us around £50 in total!
I cannot describe the happiness and calm that diving brings me so this was more than a home project to me
Bianca Spruit
“During the building process, dust was a huge issue, and when doing work yourself, not only do you have to consider the amount of time you’re going to have to give up, but also, how much of that time you’re going to be living in a very messy, dusty house!
“We did what we could with dust sheets but a lot of it involved just ploughing on through.
“When it came to budgeting for this project, my husband is naturally very optimistic about pricing, so I always quietly added a hundred or more to whatever he told me each thing would cost!
“By doing this we came in under budget overall. The decor was really a very small part of the budget as it was so DIY.”
Bianca has said that her home now brings her so much happiness every single day and is proud of how hard she and her husband have worked to get it to where it is today.
She added: “I cannot describe the happiness and calm that diving brings me so this was more than a home project to me.
BIANCA'S RENO TIPS
BIANCA has shared her top pieces of advice for anyone who is considering carrying out a similar renovation
And it’s all about making sure you plan out a realistic budget – and always have a plan B for contingencies.
She said: “My piece of advice to anyone is to make sure you plan out your budget and add some extra.
“Something unexpected will always come up.
“It’s way better to come in under budget than not have enough to finish it off.
“Also, have fun with it.
“Whatever your passion is, use this as a fuel for your creative flair and truly make it your own.”
“Every time I look at one of my photos on the wall, I’m transported back to that particular dive and it brings me so much joy.
“One of my loved pieces is the canvas in my bathroom of a see-through crab that I found living on the belly of a large starfish in Samoa!
“This dive was during my two years travelling solo around the world – so the image brings back so many memories from that special time of my life.”
But she explained that she doesn’t “think it’ll ever be ‘done'” and wants to continue decorating their house for years, reflecting exactly what it’s like in the ocean.
Bianca said: “Our home transformation has taken years just because we keep adding pieces when we find them.
“I don’t think it’ll ever be ‘done’. When I’m on a dive, my favourite thing to do is to spend ages in the same spot, just observing.
“The more you look, the more you find. It’s the same way with decorating our house!
“We think we’re done, but often when we visit somewhere new we’ll find something spectacular that just HAS to be added!”