My Happy Home: Olivia Bowen tells House Beautiful UK about the power of decorating with nostalgia, the Love Island keepsakes she couldn't part with, and how cherub wallpaper became the unexpected solution for her smallest space.
Olivia Bowen, née Buckland, and her then-boyfriend Alex rose to fame on season two of the dating show Love Island in 2016, where the pair met. A decade and 11 seasons on, they are one of the show's most successful couples. Now married, they share two young children, Abel, 4, and Siena Grace, 1, as well as a French bulldog, Winnie.
Since leaving the villa, the pair have amassed a large online following and appeared on shows, including TLC's Olivia and Alex Said Yes (2018) and Olivia and Alex: Parenthood, streaming on ITVx now. This year, Olivia also published a memoir, Lost until Love, which recounts her life before Love Island and explores how the show subsequently transformed it.
More recently, Olivia has turned her attention to interiors, launching an Instagram account @thebowenhome to document family life and decorating projects.
We sat down with the content creator to talk about the home she's built and the memories – both personal and from Love Island – woven throughout it.
What styles and feelings were you going for in your home?
OB: Most of it is quite country – warm and homely. But a lot of the rooms are mixed-matched. The guest room is in a coastal theme; Sienna's room is quite vintage; one of the bathrooms is a deep, dark room. It's all quite random, but to me it makes sense.
What to Read Next
I feel like rooms should be an experience, especially a guest room. I love someone going in there and feeling, ‘Oh my god, I could be at a hotel'. That was what we did with the bathrooms.
Our bathroom downstairs has these natural terracotta tiles at the bottom and some tiles on the wall that look like they're from Italy and you've got like an olive tree. It just transports you somewhere else. I just think that's the most fun thing to have a space that is just different.
Of all those spaces, do you have a favourite spot in the house?
OB: My favourite room has got to be Siena's. It's filled with nostalgia for me; it's got my grandma's mirror in it, some of her cushions. It's got some old furniture from different rooms in our house.
It's got a cot that was made and designed by me. It's got Flower Fairy wallpaper that was a huge part of my childhood. And I've got the original Flower Fairies book that my grandma used to read to me when I was little. So when I sit in there, I just feel like I'm transported back to little Olivia. It just means a lot to me.
Is there one room that best reflects your personality?
OB: I think the reason my house is like this is that I do have very different personality traits. If you looked at my playroom, that's so me as a mum: it's super colourful, fun, lots of stuff everywhere – and that is part of me. If you look at my daughter's room, it's all that nostalgia, and it's all girly and that's part of me as well.
Then you go into my family bathroom, and it's Victorian dark red with black-and-white checkerboard tiles, and that's a more edgy kind of black-cat version of me.
You’re a self-described 'neutral girly', but have recently gone much bolder with colour. What gave you the confidence to experiment?
OB: I think age is a big one; you care less. You know what you like and you don't really let anyone tell you otherwise.
But also, I think it's because I've made mistakes and keep making them and keep trying. I plan and research more. I used to be very frivolous; I'd just buy random things, but having a good plan in place and putting together a nice moodboard really helps. They really help when you are learning how to put rooms together.
What was a risky decorating decision that paid off in the end?
OB: The office that I most recently did. I found some wallpaper from Vilate Studio. They do the most incredible murals, and I chose this pink-cloud cherub wallpaper. We wrapped the whole space, including the ceiling, and it has made the room look huge. We completed the room with a baby blue bookcase and pink sofa. It was all a bit random, but it really works.
You're a mother of two, a content creator and now also an author. How do you like to unwind?
OB: I'm literally so bad at unwinding and relaxing. I'd probably say just shutting myself in our ensuite. We've got a really tranquil kind of space; it's all lovely greens and textures. I feel really chill in there. The best feeling is when I have an 'everything' shower, do all my skincare, wash my hair, get my robe on.
Which room gets the most use in your house?
OB: The kitchen. I love a nice kitchen, but I am in there too much. I swear I make about 50 meals a day for children. But you have to love it because you're in there all the time.
I do love cooking and hosting. I've got four ovens in there, which is good for cooking a roast, but it's very excessive daily. I'm using an air fryer. It's stupid really, but when we have a lot of people over, it's so great. And we've got two warming drawers as well.
We have this huge island in the middle with this little wine cooler. Everything is based around hosting, making sure we've got enough space for everyone's food and guests.
Love Island was, and still is, a big part of who you are. Is there anything in your home that reflects that?
OB: I am a bit of a hoarder in respect of little trinkets and things that are memorable. So my son's room is ocean-themed, sleep-themed. We have these trunks, but in the trunks are just old memories.
I've still got the final dress that I wore on Love Island. You know, you do the baby task in Love Island? I've still got the baby too!
We just purchased a villa in Spain and got the keys a couple of months ago, and everyone's like, oh, you've got your own little Love Island villa now. We have dedicated little areas. There’s a little bit where there's just these bean bags. And I'm like, have I done that because I like the bean bags or because I remember the bean bags from Love Island? (laughs)
Are you chaotic or naturally tidy?
OB: I do like being organised, but at the same time, when you've got two kids, they will throw everything everywhere all the time. I have started to learn to live with a bit more mess. I'm wasting all this time trying to make sure my house looks perfect for what?
I started this thing where I now let chaos be chaos at the weekend. Then on Monday, we do this big tidy-up. I do think there's something nice about just not caring at the weekend, and letting the kids be messy and have fun.
Tell us about your recent garden makeover with Valspar.
OB: I'm not the best gardener; I can't lie. We always wanted to do it, but we just never really knew what. And because we’re not great gardeners, we didn’t want to go with flowers; we didn't know what hedges to put in. So instead, we just went with paint.
We decided to paint everything to make it really fun and colourful. The inspiration was perfect for the kids, perfect for entertaining. I absolutely love it. It feels a lot more cohesive, more fun, more appropriate for what we use it for, which is mainly the kids and having family over.
What have you got coming up next?
OB: Once I've finished the house, I usually move again because I want a project or I think something's a good investment, even though it's my family home. When we moved from our previous house, people couldn't understand why. It was the perfect house.
But to me, it was done. We had made money and wanted to move on. We purchased the property in Spain because it was a really good deal. It was just off a plot. We're currently in the process of doing it all up, but we're already looking at new areas. We're already planning to move again from here.
I have ants in my pants. I just love a good project.
For more information about Olivia's Valspar garden project, visit valsparpaint.co.uk.
Follow House Beautiful on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest
