WHAT MY HOME MEANS TO ME
Wayne Hemingway
WHERE I LIVE
We still live in the house that Gerardine and I bought in 1999. We added stone cladding and pebbledash outside and turned the house upside down, putting the bedrooms downstairs and the large openplan kitchen and family living space upstairs. You won’t find family pictures on display here. Instead, we prefer to add interest with colour and huge windows. We hardly ever use our blinds, because we prefer to watch foxes or deer in the garden. This connection with nature is an important element of our housing designs. When they were young, our children loved to run straight into the garden – so we make sure the homes we design now allow an easy flow between indoors and out.
We never follow trends. Although we’ve painted the wall in our living room, nothing else in our home has changed in 19 years. Much of our furniture is recycled – there’s a table light made from shrunken disposable coffee cups, and the sofas are made from our old family boat. We had restored the boat, but then it was shipwrecked – so we used the
salvaged wood to make a pair of sofas, and the rest was used for a garden shed and a treehouse. Even the cushions on the sofa are made from recycled coat linings.
One thing we did add was a climbing wall! We were out with the kids in London once and saw a 19-foot-high climbing wall, and one of our children said ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing to have one inside?’, so we had one built in our kitchen. Not only does everyone love to climb on it, but it also looks like a giant piece of art – the ropes are black and the climbing pieces are a mix of colours and the wall is a rich grey.
MY INSPIRATION
One of my most vivid memories is of when my mum, Maureen – a single mother then in her mid-thirties – had saved enough to buy a bright orange pebbledash 1970s bungalow in Morecambe. At that time, I was 10 years old and had been brought up by my mum after my dad, Billy Two Rivers – a wrestling champion and a Canadian Mohawk chief
– left when I was three. Mum felt such pride when she received those keys. I’d love to help
more people experience that same sense of excitement she did when she first opened that front door – whether it’s with council or social housing, private lets or their own property. Mum styled the front room with a fantastic 1970s purple shag carpet and a purple sofa. On the day after it was delivered, the dog bit a huge chunk out of the settee. Mum patiently patched it up, just as she did with everything. I remember her sitting at her sewing table in the window, making things. Now, I think of her when I design homes with work areas for people who are self-employed.
FAMILY LIFE
When the children were young, Gerardine and I would take turns to stay at home with them. We both cooked for them and made sure we enjoyed the best of their childhoods. Gerardine and I have been together for 36 years, so we know how each other thinks. We’ve always worked well together, whether we were bringing up the kids or designing – although she’s a better cook than I am! HB
For more, visit hemingwaydesign.co.uk