Project

• Client Intro

Our clients had bought this cute house as a second home they would frequent from their usual residence down South. To offer the everyday comforts and an equal measure of wow factor, this little gem needed to cater to everyday casual living as well as heavy duty entertaining for guests.

• Scope/Client Brief

This impressive Grade II Listed four-bedroom house is significant to the history of Berwick-upon-Tweed. In a skilful collaboration between the developer Matt Wood Developments and Decodence the building was to be fully refurbished and restored to its period elegance. Our brief was to bring the new owners’ personality and character into the house and work closely with the developer whom they were buying the house from. The successful collaboration involved not just the full design service spectrum for the end client but also building material specification, sourcing, budgeting and on site management and consultancy.

• Challenges

As often is the case historic buildings have funny forms and shapes! While this indeed gives them their unique charm and character from a design perspective, unlevel and non symmetrical spaces present challenges. In this case, the first level floors were so unlevel we feared at one point we’d need to screw the furniture down to keep it in place! The floor was
skilfully made more even but still retains its old wonky charm. Furniture is however firmly in place! The stairs were also so tight that our original wardrobe choice would not have fitted through – in the end we opted for inbuilt storage as bespoke is often the best and sometimes the only solution for such quarry corners!

• Interior Design Solution

The ground level became a functional kitchen, dining, and living space, the first level an opulent entertaining space, with the master suite; and the second floor a work and guest area. The house is now filled with memories from our clients’ travels around the world, music, and laughter – all things they love and which we built into the bold design. The structural alternations were complemented by a complete furniture and styling package to create a new, fully personalised scheme from scratch.