When John and Kate Cameron had been trying to downsize from their Victorian household residence in a suburb of Edinburgh after their youngsters left residence, they determined to go for an actual change: a Nineteen Eighties brutalist-style brick home in a suburb near town centre.
The couple knew and beloved the home – inbuilt 1982 by Scottish architect Douglas Abrahams for his family, and set inside a walled backyard in one of many metropolis’s most picturesque suburbs – because the earlier homeowners had been members of the family who had lived in it for the reason that mid-80s. However for all its character and allure, it didn’t swimsuit the best way they lived.
The format, significantly ground-floor dwelling areas, was warren-like, with compartmentalised rooms (such because the eating room and kitchen, which had been separated by a serving hatch), convoluted corridors and strange stage adjustments. And with few home windows to the south the home felt darkish and smaller than it was. The bogs had been additionally dated and there was an extended, slender sunroom on the primary ground that wasn’t actually used.
In order that they determined to radically rework it. “The primary thought was to modernise and adapt it with out dropping the texture of the unique home,” says Kate. “The proportions had been designed round a smaller individual than John, so we eliminated a number of the uncommon stage adjustments and stair heights. And we wished to maximise mild and views to the backyard.”
They enlisted Edinburgh-based architect Jens Bergmark, with whom that they had labored on their earlier home. “The problem was to take care to protect and refine the character of the home whereas reworking it in fairly a radical method,” says Bergmark. “So, rationalising the areas, eliminating all of the passages, corridors and cabinets, and bettering the format.
Bergmark’s resolution was principally to make the home extra open plan, to create a smoother circulate. He lifted or lowered the flooring in sure areas in order that the extent adjustments disappeared, and added an extension with an open-plan eating/kitchen space: this overlooks and encloses a part of the south-facing backyard, forming a sheltered L-shaped courtyard with a slabbed patio space, edge planting and a much-used pizza oven. On the primary ground, the previous sunroom was transformed into an en suite toilet and dressing space for the master suite.
Inspiration for the interiors got here from the unique home, with an emphasis on uncovered brick. The brick that got here down within the demolition was reused to clad the brand new timber-frame backyard extension.
Bergmark added mild oak flooring, changing the previous brick ground of the lounge to melt the area, and moved authentic bespoke cupboards and shelving to new areas of the home, primarily the eating room, to swimsuit the brand new format. Inherited furnishings, equivalent to a set of Georgian eating chairs, mix fortunately with fashionable designer items together with a classic Ikea desk and light-weight fittings from Catalog Interiors. Additionally they discovered room for upcycled armchairs and eating chairs reupholstered by Kate.
One of many key options of the unique home was a two-storey self-contained flat to the left of the principle entrance. Though linked to the principle home, the small, one-bedroom pad might perform as separate dwelling quarters, with its personal kitchen, dwelling space and toilet.
“Its lounge missed the principle entrance to the home,” says Kate. This created privateness points, so Bergmark flipped the entire granny flat the wrong way up, with the kitchen and lounge upstairs and the bedrooms downstairs, looking of the home within the different course, away from the principle entrance. “There's much more privateness now,” she says.
The flat proved extraordinarily helpful throughout the pandemic, when it grew to become John’s workplace. “He can lock the door to it on the weekend and never return in till Monday,” says Kate. “We additionally stayed in it whereas work was occurring in the principle home.” The granny flat is now self-contained lodging for guests.
As a part of the renovation, the vitality effectivity of the home has been vastly improved, with extra insulation and triple-glazed home windows. “Opening the home up extra to the south has additionally elevated its photo voltaic acquire,” says Bergmark. “The home is so heat and environment friendly, mild and shiny,” provides Kate. “We sit outdoors far more than we might have imagined.”
Not solely is the home superb for post-pandemic working, it’s additionally a canny instance of updating and refurbishment, in the end preserving an enthralling architectural curio. “This mission is a few light contact,” says Bergmark. “It’s about modifying what you’ve bought and never making an enormous assertion. It’s not grandiose. If it appears seamless, that’s a praise.”
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