Quirky and crafty in the heart of the city

WHO:

Rachel Snedden, 40, owner of the multi-awardwinning bridal

styling company Rachel Scott Couture and her husband

Scott, 47, manager of Edinburgh

Corn Exchange, their two sons, Max, 17 and Hamish, 12, and chocolate Labrador, Jake.

WHAT:

Four-bedroom semi-detached,

newbuild constructed in

2009 and designed for

city living.

WHERE:

In Scotland’s vibrant capital,

Edinburgh. We moved here from the countryside. Our previous home had more character and some lovely rustic period features, but we were willing to sacrifice that for the freedom of the city.

Life was much more car-dependent in a village and we wanted our boys to be able to walk to school and to easily be able to get together with local friends.

We searched for a while to find a home that ticked all the boxes, and fully expected that we would need to downsize in exchange for more convenience.

But we were delighted to find a newbuild that was within our budget and had four generous bedrooms. The whole experience was much better than we expected.

It’s been great to layer our personalities over the blank canvas of a newbuild. On reflection, we now feel that a period home imposes so much in terms of style and atmosphere.

We bought the house in January, 2011. No one had lived in it before and the décor was neutral throughout. The first thing we did was to convert the garage into a home cinema. Our deadline was Christmas and we just made it. We also decided to use the fourth bedroom as a dressing room, which means that our bedroom is so much more spacious.

We had to be very inventive to inject the character we wanted into our new home. It was challenging, but fun. We have used pops of colour, 3D elements and bold, adventurous textures.

The starting point might be a piece of fabric or a vintage find and we would brainstorm ideas for using items in an unusual or quirky way. Crafty touches can be found wherever you look in this house, some are humorous and some are meaningful and designed to bring back many of our happy family memories.

Our home is full of things we love. And while we do love luxury, we do not choose things for the designer label, we would rather make something ourselves. We look for quirky vintage pieces rather than expensive items. They don’t have to match. We believe that rules are there to be broken. We like to mix it up and team luxury finishes with bargains that we’ve discovered when we’re out and about. Everything in our home is affordable and relatable.

It is also highly functional actually, with the interior designed to be as convenient and comfortable as possible. We created a semi-open plan kitchen, lounge/diner rather than have entirely separate rooms. It creates a sense of space and lets light in but still has the advantage of having two distinct areas to enjoy. We also installed a cocktail bar in the space under the stairs! I studied textile design at university and am passionate about my work in bridal couture so it will come as no surprise that I have made many of our home accessories myself. P.S To do more with less, be inventive and use what you already have rather than buying everything new. interiordesigntoolkit.com