A beautiful modern conversion in Aberdeenshire

The property used to belong to my fiance Mark’s grandparents and has been in his family for years.

In 2017, after his granny sadly passed away, the house was put up on the open market for sale.

We had started our search for our first property together around this time, and it was one of Mark’s work colleagues who suggested the idea, saying that the project sounded like it was exactly the type of home we were looking for.

The family connection the house had made it so special to us.

Mark’s dad was brought up in the house as a child, and Mark and his brother also lived here for a period with his grandparents whilst his parents were building their own home in the village. The chance to take on a property like this, that had all those family connections and memories, wasn’t an opportunity that was going to present itself again.

The property had not really been touched in years and was slowly deteriorating – however none of us realised the true extent of it at first.

The home report highlighted that there was damp to the front ground floor of the property, the rear extension and in the bedrooms upstairs. The first challenge was to get it treated, which involved tearing down the walls and pulling the floor back

to reveal what was underneath, and also to take down the rear extension completely. This not only allowed us to get thorough treatment done, but provided us with the opportunity to start fresh and modernise throughout. We installed insulation in the walls, a new heating and electric system and new windows.

We slowly started to decorate the house because we wanted to settle in first to see how each space felt.

We always wanted to have quite a hotel chic vibe in the cloakroom, and so chose to hang Divine Savages’ Zsa Zsa wallpaper on all four walls. The heavy pattern makes a bold statement and makes the space feel extra boujee.

We wanted to go really dark with the colours in the dining room.

We painted the whole space with Farrow & Ball’s Down Pipe, even the skirtings and door. It creates such a moody vibe in the room and makes it feel nice and intimate – the perfect ambience for a dinner party.

The contemporary handles-less kitchen was designed by Mark, supplied and installed by Laings.

Having lived in the house for over two years now I would say that we’re happy with everything so far.

We always end up being pleased with our choices as they have been meticulously planned out.

What I love most about our home

is it has so many happy family connections.

The fact that we are being able to act as custodians of this house for another generation – who knows, maybe a further generation after us will take it on.

For Mark, this place is full of happy memories, and quite often we will sit and reminisce about what the house used to be like.

He’ll tell me stories of his childhood and what he remembers from spending time here. That is what is really special about our home.