Bold moves for Bonnyrigg blank canvas
After an extensive renovation to a grand period house, redecoration was the fun part, finds Kirsty Mcluckie
Edgerton House is a magnificent, late-victorian detached property, situated just to the south of Edinburgh in Bonnyrigg, by Lasswade.
Scott and Lesley Mackintosh bought it eight years ago, moving from Inveresk.
The couple are directors of a financial services company but in their spare time have transformed the house in a project of an impressive scale.
Scott says that one of the reasons they bought the house was practical: “Our son Simon was 21 when we moved here so it was a great opportunity for him to get his own space, in the separate coach house, but still be part of the family.”
The couple also have a daughter Tara, who was 15.
Lesley adds: “We fell in love with the house, slightly with rose-tinted glasses but it was exactly what we wanted in terms of a size and the room layout.
“We thought the work was going to be largely cosmetic, but on closer inspection it needed rewiring and replastering, so essentially we have gone through every room and redone it in the last eight years.”
The more involved work included a period of four months to redo the kitchen area. Lesley says: “Floors were lifted and the walls had to be re-strengthened. “We actually moved out for a month, as the room was full of rubble.”
The sun room was also largely rebuilt, as it had no electricity or lighting and was only single glazed. Lesley says: “It looked as if you could blow it down. Now it has double glazing and as well as power has underfloor heating.”
Once the practical messy work was done, the couple could finally get to the task they really enjoy, creating the interior design.
Scott says: “We are really like-minded and tend to be drawn to the same things, without much disagreement.”
Apart from the dining room, that is. He says: “That was Lesley’s project and half way through I absolutely hated it, but when it was finished I had to concede that it is a spectacular room.”
Lesley says: “As inspiration for each room, we tend to buy one piece and then work round it. For instance in the dining room there is a dramatic abstract artwork, bought on a weekend away in York, which started my thought process and everything in the room has been brought in to have some relationship with that.”
In the master bedroom, the starting point was the huge gold sleigh bed while the wine cooler set in the room’s fitted wardrobes – supplying “water for me and champagne for Lesley,” jokes Scott – is a luxurious touch to the magnificent Parisian themed room.
They tend not to work with a single designer. Scott says: “We have a good relationship with Jeffreys [Interiors] and they have photographed the rooms to use in publicity, but we take ideas from where we’ve been in the world, pointing out nice ideas in a hotel to each other, and trying to achieve the look when we come home.”
The house has a wealth of public rooms, ideal for socialising which the couple love. Scott says: “The drawing room is formal, there’s no TV, but there’s a fire and that is definitely the Christmas room.
“The sitting room is where we spend most of time. That is the heart of the house connecting the kitchen and the sun room.”