With over 7.5 million followers across his channels, Jim Chapman is a social media phenomenon, He is also a best-selling author, illustrator, model, presenter and online creator. Jim and his family have recently moved to a beautiful Georgian house in the Cotswolds which he is completely renovating himself. He talks to Lynda Clark about his interesting career, his new home and has some excellent advice for first time buyers
I was slightly nervous about chatting with Jim because he is such a big name on social media, but I really need not have worried as he is one of the most charming, eloquent and fascinating people I have met for a long time.
Jim had a difficult but loving childhood growing up with his two older sisters and twin brother in Norwich. He said, “I was the only person in my family to go to university and graduated from the University of East Anglia with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. I then decided to go on and do my Masters but had to work full-time to pay for it, so it was tough. I did my first year and then I discovered social media!
“I was enthralled by it and initially thought it was just a craze and wouldn’t last. I started putting up posts on YouTube on men’s fashion and grooming and I had a ball! At that time not many people were into YouTube but it just grew and grew. I then progressed to putting up stories and updates on what I was up to. So, I was so busy and having fun I didn’t complete my Masters but it’s very unusual for me to quit anything as I always follow everything through. I was there from the dawn of YouTube and it’s now been 17 years and it’s been quite a journey.
“I used to make loads of contents for YouTube on just about anything. But that’s not really fun any more and I only post when I have a real story which catches people’s attention. Nowadays it’s mostly Instagram that I use. It is friendly, quick and very digestible. I like that the posts are only around 15 seconds and not 15 minutes as people don’t generally have the time to watch. I am putting up a lot of stories about the renovation of my new house and I know from the views I get that this has really caught people’s imagination.”
Jim has also done some presenting and writing and released his first book, 147 Things, in 2017. He is currently writing a children’s book which he hopes to illustrate himself and has another idea that he is working on.
He bought his first home in Norwich which was a two-up-two-down but he didn’t stay there for long before he moved to London. He lived in various places and he recently sold his house in Southfields, south west London and bought a beautiful Georgian house in the Cotswolds, which he is renovating himself. “With two children to juggle it’s pretty full-on. We went out for lunch for my birthday and the children had such a lovely time with their grandparents it made me think that maybe they were missing out on seeing them on a regular basis. I am pretty impulsive and it had been my decision on the location of where we lived for quite a while so I thought it was only fair that Sarah, my wife, should decide where we should live. She is originally from the Cotswolds and her family live there, so we started looking around the area. Sarah is much more grounded than me so we took our time and we found this place but neither of us were sure.
“It was a probate sale and it had been owned my an old man who had not done anything to it for years. It had been on the market for a couple of years and somebody had made an offer as they wanted to split it into two apartments but we saw it online and decided to go and have a look. It is certainly a project and it took some coaxing for us to decide to buy it. I could see the potential and thought to myself, ‘I can do this and make it work’ but I didn’t want to put any pressure on Sarah.
“I had some criteria for wherever we bought which was, we needed to park on the property, I could walk to the gym and I could have an office. We knew it would take a long time and cost a lot of money but eventually we decided to see if we could make the numbers work and spoke to the estate agent. He couldn’t tell us what the previous offer had been but our offer must have been somewhere in the same region and apparently they were very keen it was sold to a family. We made an offer, which was accepted and it’s been amazing! It’s given a new lease of life to the children and we are loving it.
“For starters it needed a new roof and had to be re-wired and all the plumbing replaced. There is a lower ground floor which is very damp so I have stripped it back to the brickwork so it can breathe and for the time being it’s used just for storage. On the ground floor it has a living room, utility and kitchen and this gorgeous staircase leading up to the bedrooms. I love my office which has a slightly different vibe from the rest of the house. It has some lovely mid-century furniture and the walls are full of my favourite art works including some of my illustrations. This is the space I love to work in and I do my editing and writing there – it’s a special place for me to think and get ideas.”
Jim has been busy getting the main bedroom done and said, “It’s sort of half-finished but we are getting there. It’s a beautiful room with an en suite and thankfully the chest of drawers we bought, which dates back to the 1860s, has just arrived so now my underwear isn’t scattered all over the floor! My daughter’s room is a four-year-old’s paradise. It is rather kitsch with yellow and white wallpaper which we have used on the walls and the ceiling and we have done the same in my son’s bedroom which looks rather like a circus with blue stripes. We have a junk room which needs a lot of attention as the lime plastered walls are crumbling. I store my ever-growing collection of tools there! We also have ‘nanny’s room’ for when my mum, who lives in Norwich, comes to stay. The garden is lovely but we haven’t started on that yet. Sarah bought a piano which is arriving today so that will be amazing too!”
Jim has some exciting plans for the future. He is a very hands-on dad and is enjoying watching his children grow up. He is reviewing his career and has appointed a new team and is excited about what the future holds. “My life has mostly been about social media but if other opportunities turn up then I am more than happy to give them a go. I would like to do more television work and I love an adventure so I am certainly up for a challenge. I am also writing another children’s book and will, hopefully, illustrate it myself and I have an idea for another one too.”
He has some great advice for first time buyers and said, “Think of buying your first home as an investment for the future and once you are on the ladder you can move up. Love where you live as you just can’t put a price on that and you should be excited about the prospect of living there, because if you don’t feel that, then it’s not for you. Do your due diligence and get a proper survey done and even though it’s heartbreaking if it falls through there will always be something else. You need to have foresight and a vision and then you are pretty much there.”
Jim’s enthusiasm is infectious and when we eventually finish I found myself looking round my home with completely different eyes. I made a list of jobs that need doing and promise myself I will tackle them at the weekend. I think we will be seeing a great deal more of Jim in the future and I personally can’t wait!
You can keep up to date with Jim over on his socials at @JimChapman
Photos: Kieron Webb
First Time Buyer is an exciting bi-monthly glossy which takes a stylish and comprehensive look at all the options available, setting them out in an entertaining and informative way, and helping potential customers navigate their way through what is often a daunting and complex process. We dispel the myths, reinforce the facts and arm the reader with the tools necessary to make their homeownership dreams a reality.
