‘I vetoed the pinkish colour in the pantry’
was like a 1980s time capsule. ‘I drew up some floor plans, which included a kitchen extension and the conversion of the double garage into the granny annexe. I was shocked when our architect, Greg Bratza, pretty much rolled them into a ball and tossed them into a bin. Although I wasn’t 100 per cent on board with his plans at first, using an architect was well worth it.’
Instead of putting the annexe in the garage, Greg suggested converting part of the huge living room and study into the annexe. The garage then became the TV room and much-needed laundry room. ‘As one of the things I absolutely loved about the living room was the windows, I insisted they stayed,’ Matthew says. ‘After a long discussion, we agreed the windows would stay, but the end glass panel would be boxed in,
‘I would do the school run an hour earlier than necessary to get away from the building site’
with one panel frosted as they would become part of a new bathroom.’
After getting Andrew’s mother comfortably settled, and new electrics, plumbing and heating were taken care of, the ‘West Wing’ was created. Cosy and stylish, it’s painted in Little Greene’s Pale Lime and has a bathroom kitted out with a walk-in bath, taps that turn themselves off and non-slip vinyl flooring, as well as its own kitchenette.
And while the existing first-floor bedrooms were usable, operations for the refurb of the rest of the house were set up in the garage – which was so dank and dusty, they all referred to it as ‘the bunker’.
The girls took it all in their stride, but Matthew says the lack of light, raw concrete floors and having to improvise a kitchen made of stacked up drawers got him down. ‘Andrew and I really had to put a brave face on things,’ he says. ‘I would leave to do the school run an hour earlier than necessary just to get away from the building site.’ From here, though, Matthew could unleash his passion – obsession, even – for interior design. ‘Andrew is the numbers guy, but he knows I have the vision,’ he says.
The large-scale renovation job was hard to budget for, however, Andrew says. ‘I kept a close eye on things, and we were frugal where we could be. Some things needed to be splurged on – the grey aluminium window frames, for
example, and good-quality taps. ‘I trusted Matthew’s interiors choices, although I did have to veto a pinkish dried plaster colour in the pantry,’ he laughs.
Neither of them wanted the interiors to look brand new throughout, so they added vintage and character touches. Against a muted backdrop of wall colours dreamed up by Littlegreene. com, sandersondesigngroup.com and valsparpaint.co.uk, there’s a classic navy and white kitchen, from Dorset-based handmadekitchensdirect.co.uk, with the pantry door hewn from a gnarly old piece of wood, found in a reclamation yard.
In the open-plan dining space, under the huge roof lantern, sits the dining table they brought from their old holiday cottage on the Isle of Wight, with an antique bench bought at The Cowshed antiques emporium on the island. Old timber stripped back from a Croatian barn was used to build the basin’s shelf in the dark and dramatic downstairs loo, with the walls painted in Zoffany’s Vine Black, and decked out with an unnerving array of antlers, old photos and portraits.
There are slouchy velvet sofas from snugsofa.com and made.com, wall lights from westelm.co.uk and grey and white geometric tiling in the utility rooms from porcelain superstore.co.uk. The family bathroom is yet to be overhauled, as the Shaws needed a breather from the year-long renovations, and they were stung a few times on pricing for labour and products. ‘Always do your own research,’ Andrew advises. But there are no regrets, especially in terms of creating a multi-generational space.
‘Bringing anyone with dementia into your home is no easy task, and none of us know how long these situations will go on for,’ Matthew says. ‘But it’s wonderful for Poppy and Grace to have their grandmother here. And we know whatever comes our way, we will all be facing it together.’
matthewshawinteriorstyling.com; Instagram@_matthew_shaw_styling_.
For more design advice and inspiration, head to the Homebuilding & Renovating Shows in Harrogate (Nov 5-7) and Bath (Nov 20-21),
homebuildingshow.co.uk