The 'Alice In Wonderland' Home | Scotland's Home Of The Year

This time our judges are visiting the short list from the Hebrides and Arran and they're starting with a period property in the town of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis Artist Moira and partner Roddy have transformed this mid 19th century town house into a colourful wonderland bursting with artwork and recycled furniture for them their children and their cat If you're out and about, if you're in a second-hand shop or wherever You might see something that just gets the hook in you and you and you think yeah I could do something with that So you sort of do a wee inquiry and then you say maybe we could exchange a piece of art for the piece of furniture? So that's been quite fortuitous The sofas were a swap for a bespoke painting, yeah I never like a room to kind of say it one way cause you just get bored So quite often Roddy comes home and the room is completely different and he just goes Huh, what happened here? It's been really important to me to like It's almost like a really stimulating environment for me and Roddy and then for the children too It's not precious either, there's nobody you know like, wipe your feet or don't draw on the walls Yeah it's a very real home Set over three floors this unique Victorian home has four bedrooms two box rooms, one a studio, the other a sewing room plus two bathrooms and a kitchen in the rear 1950s extension This is our favourite place in the home because at the end of a hard day it's so nice to just come in here and chill out, put the fire on put the telly on catch up with each other The judges must now assess the home armed with only the basic facts about the property and its owners I love the way the bike matches the front door I know, that's adorable Yeah it's always nice when the dressed stone picks out the corner and picks out the doorway and then the rest is just left a bit rough I'm expecting a very colourful home if the front door and the bike outside are anything to go by Shall we? Aw! So it is colourful inside Love the white staircase painted floors as well I love the wallpaper underneath the dado rail Yeah I think it could be a bit busy to some but I actually think the balance of the white floors kind of makes it not too overpowering I do like that from the outside the indication by the door that the person that lives here is going to transform this place and they have from the moment we've come through the door this is not an old building anymore Yeah, it's got a new life This is wonderful Oh, look straight away I would have had the heart over here The heart was in the middle of the coffee table so, the whole room is the favourite spot yeah I can see why this is just magical isn't it I love this kind of smoky colour on the walls offset by the artwork just stands out so much doesn't it the contrast between the two is impressive It's a brilliant backdrop to such an eclectic collection of stuff And look at the fireplace is that an old buoy? That is an old buoy Yeah, that is an old buoy I think if they could have made a house out of marshmallows and pink fancies and stuff like that they would have I think they're probably regretting the fact that houses had to made out of bricks and mortar and wood and so on and I think they'd want to build a house you could eat It's Alice in Wonderland You do look like a giant in that tiny chair with a tiny tiny Tiny little guitar Oh, needs tuning Needs tuning I think we're only part the way through the story because there's definitely a change of character in this room than the hall It's a really good transition I think we'll get another transition Yeah, I think we're going to get more treats More treats! Whoa! This is a beautiful dining room I can't believe they've got a wall of tiles That wood burner's lovely isn't it And the crazy stripy sofa Look at this cabinet here it's just stacked full of bits There's really not a lot of like, storage tucked away it seems to be a home of let's just have everything out Aw, look it's got these Look at that Even the napkins are adorable That's beautiful They're all different They're all different It's a very sort of shabby sort of flea market style in here isn't it, not everything matches it's almost like they've kind of gone around and just found treasures Yes and their taste is what brings it all together and it just it just works yeah sort of naturally aligns I notice that even though this room isn't that big we've got four chairs around the table we've got the sofa here and really big generous window seat I can imagine quite a crowd in here Oh, this is lovely! Oh it's so much more muted in here and softer almost kind of like a romantic vintage vibe It's a completely different colour palette and feel isn't it to the rest of the home Yeah the rooms all do feel like they've got their own little themes going on I mean I notice downstairs there was a roses theme There were roses on the vases on the mantelpieces and then we get to this room and it is obviously the rose room Yeah there's a lot of pattern in here How are you feeling about that Michael? Nah, this isn't pattern I'm in a dream! That is a good point you make though about the roses being a connecting thread through the home I love that they've taken all these things and just brought them back to life but they've done it in a way nothing's jarring to me I think everything is incredibly well considered the colours are very clever I don't think there's a single thing here that has not been really thoroughly considered even though it's quite rough so I quite like that roughness The floor is marked The bed head is sort of marked It's not been upcycled to the point of you know, being sort of characterless I think it's amazing what they've done I'm a bit shocked that you're having such a good time in here, it's really not what I expected! Can the real Michael please come back! Getting worried! The home will now be marked out of ten with functionality distinctiveness and clever design in mind One score will be held back until the judges have seen all three homes when the combined scores will be revealed I think the main living room was probably my favourite I know I always say I love bright light spaces but actually those smoky gray walls really did it for me and I think the beautiful gallery wall which is very monochrome it just really really stood out I'm gonna give this home a 10 The thing that has attracted me most to this home has been the investment in the decoration Now that might typically be Anna and Kate's domain but I think it's been like a piece of scenography This is theatre design This is just about creating a whole different world a magical world I'm gonna give this home a ten There's an art to collecting objects and arranging them in your home that doesn't look pretentious There's a sensibility that connects the spaces They don't have matching colour schemes and that's part of the joy it's just such a pleasure to explore

Channel: BBC Scotland

Views: 59,364

Keywords: Architecture, Home Design, Scotland interior, Scotland, Scottish Homes, Scotland's Home of the Year, SHOTY, home design, design inspiration, interior design, BBC Scotland, BBC Scotland SHOTY, BBC Scotland Scotland's Home of the Year, interior design ideas, scottish views, scottish landscape, Scottish homes, Home design, artist, isle of lewis, the hebrides, outer hebrides, stornoway, Lewis, colourful home, lewis scotland, quirky decor, unique decor, island, scotland, scottish home

Id: NTYsFgS7980

Length: 8min 9sec (489 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021