“From a designer’s point of view, it’s good to have clients who aren’t afraid to say what they don’t like”


Kyle, one of Jeffreys’ lead designers. “The property had never been modernised; it didn’t even have central heating! It was a complete rip out, back to the bones.” Alan and Cynthia’s brief was for a cosy, stylish, and comfortable Scottish home. “I asked them to send me images of things they liked from an interiors and style point of view,” Carley explains. “They also referred us to a previous project of Jeffreys’ that they had seen and loved from the website. They were good at giving me ideas right from the start as to their likes or dislikes. From a designer’s point of view, it’s good to have clients who aren’t afraid to say what they don’t like; this is just as helpful to your design team than telling them what you do like!”


SOME STRUCTURAL CHANGES Aside from the visual brief, there were also some structural changes on the wish list such as adding an ensuite for the principal bedroom, a utility room, a small WC, and relocating one of the bedrooms and kitchen. Carleys first point of call was therefore to Edinburgh-based architects, GLM. “We had to do a lot of space planning and produce different layout options for the property. We don’t have in-house trades teams, but we do work alongside some excellent contractors that we’ve established good relationships with over the years, and we love getting involved with projects like this.” Carley and GLM put their plans to Alan and Cynthia through a series of Zoom meetings and eventually they were whittled down to a final oor plan. The original layout which consisted of a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom at the rear of


58 www.sbhonline.co.uk


the property, and a sitting room and second bedroom at the front, is now a distant memory. The kitchen has been relocated to the front and the wall between the bedroom and sitting room has been removed to create an open plan kitchen/dining/living space. A new dividing wall was then erected in the kitchen to incorporate the utility and WC. “In the middle of the property there was a room which wasn’t large enough to be called a boxroom, but it was bigger than a normal cupboard,” Carley recalls. “We borrowed from that to create an ensuite for the principal bedroom.“ This ‘borrowing’ still left a cupboard in the


generously proportioned hallway which was crying out for a bit of creative impact. “The door to the cupboard faces you as you enter the apartment, and we didn’t want to simply have a door.” Carley worked with cabinet makers Peden & Pringle to construct a bookcase and secret door, and while the space is essentially still just a store cupboard, aesthetically it’s much more interesting. “It was just one of the type of fun details that the owners were up for.” Another of these fun details is the delightfully inventive ‘doggy’ space in the utility room. As Alan and Cynthia’s dog travels with them, the couple asked for a designated space for the dog bed. Peden & Pringle made all the cabinetry in the property along with the secret door/ bookcase, and it was they who suggested the little pull-out drawer for the dog bowls. “It’s a lovely detail, and as a dog owner myself it made me so happy as I’m forever tripping over the water bowl!”


Peden & Pringle also worked their magic mar/apr 2023 LOW POINT


“To be honest I don’t think there was a low point. The teams we worked with were all fantastic and everything ran very smoothly – which I don’t get to say too often!” – Carley


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