Keeping it in the family
This ravelston home was the ultimate try before you buy, says
Catherine Bailey grew up in a fine house at 36 ravelston Dykes, which her parents bought in 1976 when she was just seven. Built in 1933, it is the sort of large solid home, with a good sized garden, in a leafy area surrounded by good schools and within walking distance of the city centre, that are so prized in edinburgh.
She liked it so much that when her parents came to downsize after their retirement in 1997, she and her husband Jonathan made the decision to buy it themselves.
She says: “We had renovated a house in Murrayfield, but quickly outgrew it when our daughter Olivia came along. When mum and dad broke the news to us over Sunday lunch one weekend that they had decided to sell, it was actually Jonathan who first came up with the idea and said: ‘We have to buy that house’ on the walk back home.”
at f irst Catherine thought he was joking, but, thinking about it she soon saw the sense of the proposition.
the couple asked her parents to hold off for a short time, to see if Catherine and Jonathan’s house would sell, and when it did and the new owners wanted entry in three weeks, they moved in to number 36. She says: “We actually bought the house on Olivia’s first birthday, but mum and dad didn’t have anywhere ready to move into, so, for three months, we all lived there together. We were their lodgers for the f irst six weeks and they were ours for the last six.”
nor did the younger generation wait to make their mark. Catherine’s parents went away the f irst weekend after the exchange of contracts only to find on their return that a wall had been taken down in their absence. “i think their f irst thought was: ‘What have you done to our house?’ But actually they have been incredibly supportive of all the work we’ve done and more than once have said that they’d wished they had made the changes years ago.”
and the changes have been huge. their early work was to update the look of the house; the wall that came down was just a stud wall and gave them a bigger space to use as a dining room. Fireplaces were uncovered and the balustrades and bannisters stripped back to their original beauty.
the greatest reconfiguration has been of the kitchen, however, which previously was an awkward L-shape, with a galley type preparation area and a dining space; not big enough for the size of the house and certainly not conducive to modern open plan family life.
the solution was radical but didn’t happen quickly; Catherine says that the couple took about a year to formulate what exactly was to be done, and longer to save up for their ambitious plan. the old kitchen and a downstairs toilet were demolished and a large extension with new foundations built out of the back of the house.
this houses a new spacious kitchen, separate utility room, open plan dining area and morning room which leads out to a raised patio overlooking the garden. the space is stunning, lightfilled with roof lights as well as floorto-ceiling glazing, modern and highly family friendly.
as Catherine says, once you start of project of this size, it can grow arms and legs. the couple were advised that the chimney which ran up the back of the house was not properly supported and would need to come down. the reclaimed space from this allowed them to create an extra en suite bathroom upstairs, however.
the central heating boiler was replaced by two modern ones, plus a new hot water tank, and they took the opportunity to insulate the loft at the same time. Catherine says: “it was a colossal project and we camped out in the house for seven months while it was done. a few kitchen units were set up in the garage to make a sort of camping kitchen and that is how we lived.”
they couldn’t have been more thrilled with the result, however, and the additions transform the house into a well balanced home with a drawing room, sitting room, dining room and study as well as the new living kitchen, five bedrooms upstairs – two en suite – plus a family bathroom. there is also the full footprint of the house in storage at below ground level.
Outside, as well as the patio adjoining the kitchen, is a sun terrace at the bottom of the private garden, with much of the rest of the ground lawned – a perfect low maintenance garden for a young family with paved off street parking at the front.
With Olivia off to university this year, they have decided that the house is going to be too big for just two.
For the next family, however, 36 ravelston Dykes is in perfect move in condition, with no requirement to rough it before getting all the comfort and enjoyment of living here.