Property · Renovation · DIY — Aberdeen

Renovate with Emma

I swapped the boardroom for the building site. Now I design, develop and rent homes for a living — and share every step of the graft.

Follow the graft @renovate_with_emma Who is Emma?

Emma sitting on the worktop of a grey shaker kitchen with a herringbone floor, holding a yellow spirit level — Tools down. Briefly.

01 — The story

Who is Emma?

Emma smiling, leaning on a half-stripped wall of old lath and plaster — **Emma Watson**Director, Square Lettings

**Emma Watson**Director, Square Lettings

Art-school drop-out. Two law degrees. Self-taught tiler.

A few years ago I had the corporate job in Cheshire, the nice house and a clear path to the top — the ‘right’ life, on paper. I spent my evenings and weekends tearing out kitchens anyway.

Eventually the side hustle won. I moved 360 miles to Aberdeen to give property a proper go, and now I design, refurbish and let homes across the city through my own agency, Square Lettings — sharing the wins, the tenant damage and the bold ceilings along the way.

Emma x

people following the graft on Instagram: 48.8k
views on one blue ceiling: 1.1M
homes managed through Square Lettings: 100+
miles moved to go all in on property: 360

Granite tenements seen through a bright bay window in Aberdeen — Aberdeen granite, from a bay window

Emma in safety goggles holding a cordless jigsaw on site — Safety specs: non-negotiable

Emma and Robert, the Square Lettings decorator, holding a finalist certificate — Robert, our decorator, and me

Chapter i
The boardroom

Corporate comms. A good salary, a nice house, a clear path to the top — everything I’d worked for. And still, something felt off.
Chapter ii
The move

Renovating after work turned into a decision: keep it a dusty side hustle, or commit fully. I committed — and moved 360 miles north to Aberdeen with one plan: give this property thing a go.
Chapter iii
The graft

No trade qualification. I taught myself tiling and decorating, did a plastering course, and learned herringbone the hard way. Not everyone on site took me seriously at the start. These days I get zero nonsense.
Chapter iv
The business

Square Lettings now looks after 100+ homes, with 20+ refurbs on the go across the city at once. Finalists at The Trades Awards 2025. Oh — and I hired my mum.

02 — The signature

Herringbone what, like it’s hard?

It’s the hardest thing I’ve tackled. One small mistake at the start and the whole floor turns to chaos — so this is how it goes down, plank by plank.

01Snap a centre line
02Set the first V — it decides everything
03Work outwards, to the millimetre
04Check it. Then check it again.

“Accuracy is everything on herringbone.”— Emma

03 — Design studio

Design studio

Cabinets — Charcoal

Worktop — White marble

Handles & tap — Brushed brass

Splashback — Marble slab

Floor — Herringbone, washed grey

Ceiling — Brilliant white

Charcoal, brass and marble. The one your friends get jealous of.

Material schedule

Cabinets: Charcoal shaker
Worktop: White marble effect
Handles: Brushed brass bar
Splash: Marble slab
Floor: Herringbone, washed grey
Ceiling: Brilliant white

Kitchen sorted? Do the rest of the house: bathrooms, living rooms and bedrooms from my real flats, each on its own ticket, sent to me in one go.

Design your home

04 — The work

Before & after

Before: a flat left full of rubbish, with a damaged kitchen

After: the same flat refurbished, with a slatted feature wall, new kitchen and fresh carpet

Tenant damage → re-let

A flat left in a state — rubbish to the ceiling and a graffiti’d wall — back to a home someone’s proud to come back to. Yes, I repainted that wall myself.

Emma assembling a kitchen unit on a herringbone floor

Project notes

The tight-budget kitchen

One of our tightest budgets ever. Affordable units, a new worktop and upstand, and antique brass handles to make it feel high-end. In a rental, spending smart beats splurging.

A bathroom with a slatted oak shower wall, black framed screen and round LED mirrors

Project notes

The bathroom that fought back

Awkward layout, supplier delays and panelling issues. My joiner Rich smashed it anyway: calm, clean and Scandinavian, with hidden stopcock access.

A navy bathroom vanity with brass tap and a round brass mirror over vertical tiles

Project notes

George Street, tiled

A full refresh on a two-bed: vertical tiles, brushed brass everywhere, and the laser level doing the heavy lifting.

Recent homes

Homes to let now

Emma taking a selfie in front of the maroon Square Lettings car

05 — My letting agency

We don’t do copy-and-paste rentals.

Square Lettings designs, refurbishes and manages homes people actually want to live in. For landlords, that means fewer voids, better tenants and less stress. For tenants, a home that doesn’t feel temporary.