Creating the ideal home is a fine science
SCI-FI writer Lizbeth Crawford’s Hawick home is out of this world.
The author moved from London to the leafy Scottish Borders eight years ago with her Scots’ husband Jeremy and daughters Elise Maree, 14, and Sienna Isabel, 11.
Panama-born Lizbeth tells IN10: “I grew up in the tropics where everything is lush and vibrant. My environment is very important to me. I also wanted our girls to be able to have a lazier pace of life; to grow up without the sound of police sirens at all hours of the day.”
Jeremy has a company which sells and promotes British fashion in Japan and Lizbeth’s work involves travel in the US.
Says Lizbeth: “Hawick and the Borders married my desire to live in beautiful surroundings with good transport links nearby.”
But it was the striking category C-Listed Arts and Crafts Parkview House, designed by noted architect James Pearson Alison , that sealed the deal.
Built in 1892 they knew the Victorian house had the potential to be home of their dreams. But they had to see beyond the existing décor.
Says Lizbeth: “I fell in love with the house straight away, but it had been a B&B and needed some work. There was a lot of dark wood and wallpaper and the carpets were electric blue.”
Renovations took around two years to complete and transformed their home into the light and elegant dwelling it is today.
“We put in a new boiler, repaired the sash and case windows and stripped the floors,” explains Lizbeth. “We also did away with the existing wallpaper. Although it is a Victorian house we wanted it to have a lighter palette and to be a little more modern. It had to accommodate not only the furniture my husband inherited from his family, but some of our more modern pieces.”
The Crawfords’ eye for interior design is evident at every turn and perfectly complements the home’s stunning arts and crafts wood and plaster work and its spectacular stained and leaded glass window which graces the main staircase.
Both the drawing and dining rooms are flooded with light from large bay windows. The sitting room, which like the other reception rooms, overlooks a pristine garden, features fitted shelving which flanks the attractive open fireplace.
In the slate-floored kitchen, tasteful wooden base and wall units are finished with solid granite tops. It boasts a traditional Belfast sink, a five burner Britannia gas range and island with breakfast bar.
The dwelling’s lower ground floor – accessed via stairs from the kitchen – currently houses a laundry room with access to the garden but could become a self-contained flat.
Lizbeth is wistful as she takes in the period features that make her home so special. She reveals: “I’m heartbroken. I feel as if I have been living in a work of art but now I have to leave it.”
The Crawfords are selling their home through Savills for offers over £475,000. She explains: “Our work sees us travelling more and more these days and we feel we need to be in Edinburgh and much closer to the airport . The children are older now and have had some of their best years here.
“It really is a lovely happy home – a great party house – and we will take with us wonderful memories of our Hallowe’en and Christmas celebrations here.”