By Emma Dunn

A mum-of-three has decorated her house in a 1940s style for just £3k - and says she loves it despite trolls saying it is “disgusting”.

Josephina Finch, 36, has loved that era of décor since watching the TV show Royle Family as a child and has taken inspiration from the home of her grandmother, Patricia Minshull, 87.

Josephina has spent the last two years transforming her two-bed home in Canterbury with her partner, Chrissy Harrison, 35, a carpenter and builder - who loves their velvet sofas, floral and doily curtains and mahogany furniture.

She finds everything second-hand – searching charity shops, car boot sales and Facebook marketplace and eBay for floral wallpaper, trinkets and old furniture.

The mum-of-three estimates she has only spent £2 to 3k on the house and says it is her “happy place” despite strangers telling her it is “disgusting”.

Josephina, a make-up artist, from Herne Bay, said: “My nan started it off – it’s quite old-fashioned.

“It’s nostalgia for me. My happy place.

“I started watching the Royle Family on TV and I was obsessed with that style.

“It’s homely and old fashioned.

“I love 1940s style.

“I’ve created magic in every room.”

Josephina loved her nan’s house growing up and took comfort in that style of décor.

She decided she wanted her home to look like the ‘Royle Family’ house and spent the next 10 years decorating her previous home in that style.

Josephina moved next door in February 2022 and has spent the last two years creating a vintage paradise for her forever home.

She said: “I never liked anything from Ikea or Next.

“I never buy anything new.

“Everything has a bit of a story.”

Josephina found her 1955 three-piece sofa for £500 in North London and a wardrobe for her son’s room for just £30 on Facebook Marketplace.

The couple made their own kitchen from sanded down scaffold boards – and carved hearts into it.

Josephina said her boyfriend, Chrissy, loves the 1940s style too but her twin girls, 17, and son, 11, are not so sure.

She said: “The twins hate it.

“They say it’s ‘old lady stuff’.

“But they wouldn’t want me to change it – it’s home.”

Josephina has a floral staircase and curtains – taken from her nan’s old home.

She loves finding little trinkets to fill up the house – such as 50p old photos of Victorian families, cigarette tins and foot powder from the war.

She said: “Everything in the house is in keeping with what I like.

“You spend all your time here.

“Why not make your hub your favourite place?”

Josephina works as a make-up artist from a cabin in her garden and says her clients always have a nice response when they see the inside of her house.

She said: “They says it’s like Narnia.”

But she says she gets a mixture of response from strangers online.

Josephina said: “I get a lot of hate.

“They say it’s disgusting.

“People say ‘why have you decorated your house like a 90 year old?’

“I don’t care – I love it.

“I wouldn’t want it to look like an Ikea catalogue.”