Renovating a family home

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While Helen McCall and Kevin Woods were developing a property to sell on, they realised it offered them all the space they needed, so decided to move in themselves.

When Helen McCall first met Kevin Woods, now her fiancé, in 2004, he had recently purchased an Arts and Crafts property that he intended to renovate and sell on. The interior of the house was ‘stuck in a 1970s timewarp’, so Kevin planned to strip it right back to its original shell and then extend and refurbish it to create a spacious family home.

The property consisted of two reception rooms; a lean-to conservatory and integral garage on the ground floor; three bedrooms and a family bathroom on the first floor; and a further two bedrooms and a playroom in the attic. Kevin sought the help of a local architect, Bill Coltart of Coltart Earley, to work on the ideas he had about developing the property so that it would ultimately appeal to a broad spectrum of the housing market when he came to sell.

‘Kevin wanted to create one large open-plan living space downstairs,’ explains Helen. ‘The plan included removing the existing conservatory and extending the back of the house. This would create space for a downstairs WC, a garden room leading off the lounge and a utility room next to the kitchen. The dining area, kitchen and garden room would all then be one large space. He also wanted the open-plan area to be flooded with light, so Bill suggested we fit the entire back wall of the property with full-height glazed concertina doors.’

Upstairs, the plan was to create a master bedroom suite with a dressing room and en suite bathroom. This would mean forfeiting a small bedroom, but the rest of its space would be incorporated into the family bathroom, too, enlarging it.

However, being an Arts and Crafts property, the building was listed and consequently planning consent took some time to be granted. ‘Plans for the extension were submitted in spring 2005, but permission wasn’t granted until early 2006,’ says Helen. ‘We then employed a build team to carry out the work.’

As the project progressed, so did Helen and Kevin’s relationship, and this impacted on the development of the house. ‘At the time, Kevin was living in the West End of Glasgow and I owned a cottage-style property on the outskirts of Newton Mearns, south of the city, where I was living with my two daughters,’ continues Helen. ‘But as the work got under way, we realised this house offered a better option for all of us – with the added bonus that it was just across the road from the girls’ school. We decided to make the house our family home.’

With the extension build ongoing, the couple turned their attention to the design of their new kitchen. ‘We wanted a contemporary feel and, after some research, we asked Mark White from Robinson & White to come up with plans. He thought the slope of the ceiling really dictated the design. For example, Mark had to commission a 4.5m tall bespoke extractor fan system, which is operated by remote control, as a normal extractor would not reach the roof.’

The walls, ceiling, floor and a bank of units at one end of the kitchen have been kept white, to make the best of the light coming in from the wall of glass and windows in the roof. The units are veneered in a rich tobacco-oak but have pale worktops. An island unit provides lots of storage space and, Helen feels, adds warmth to the scheme. ‘I like the fact that there is only one wall with units, too,’ she says. ‘It helps to make it more of a living space, not simply a kitchen, and it’s perfect for entertaining.’ For extra privacy in the evening, remote-controlled blinds recessed in the ceiling can be lowered over the wall of glazing.

Kevin had enlisted the help of interior designer Jackie Latimer from 3D8 Design in Glasgow to get the décor and furnishings to appeal to as many potential buyers as possible. They had agreed on a neutral colour palette, which would work well with the dark timber features of the house. When Kevin and Helen decided to make the house their family home, they chose to stick with this, though Helen did ask Jackie to add more colour to the girls’ rooms. She obliged with a scheme that manages to be ‘girly’ though not overtly so, with just a few splashes of pink. ‘It’s a look they won’t grow out of too quickly,’ explains Helen.

‘As this is quite a traditional house, our challenge to Jackie was to create an interior that would accommodate modern family life, but also complement the building’s past and architecture.’

This has been achieved by keeping certain period features as focal points. For example, the inglenook fireplace in the lounge. Original, unusually shaped windows on the first floor and in the attic, too, add character to the bedrooms – although they did pose a headache for Jackie. ‘The curved shape of the windows really dictated the window dressings,’ says Helen, ‘as Jackie was trying to create a design that both framed and complemented them, and let in as much light as possible. They are on the small side, though, so it wasn’t easy.’

With the building work finished and the kitchen installed, the couple began to furnish the large space. They positioned their white dining table by the folding doors out to the garden, and a sofa and chairs in the garden room adjacent to this, to make the most of the light and the views. ‘With the folding doors, we can make the most of the garden whatever the weather,’ says Helen. ‘In the summer they’re open a lot of the time, but on winter evenings it’s lovely to be able to see so much of the garden when it’s too cold to be outside.’ The garden has also been redesigned, with a new patio and an outbuilding that has been converted into a workshop for Helen.

The family finally moved in when the work was completed in December 2007. ‘This is a very different style of house to what I’m used to,’ says Helen. ‘It’s ultra-contemporary, whereas my previous home was more countrified. But the open-plan design means there’s plenty of room and it is a beautiful property and a fabulous living space for everyone.’

WORDS NICHOLA HUNTER PHOTOGRAPHS DOUGLAS GIBB
Featured in the September 2009 issue of Real Homes