Blood, sweat, tears...and a beautiful home
When we first found the property in 2002, it was derelict.
We were just about to get married but were both living with our parents at the time, and so were looking for our first home together.
We were originally going to build our own home, but I am so glad Allan had the vision to see the potential in this old croft house.
The original house is more than 100 years old and sat directly across from Allan’s childhood home.
It was built so that humans lived in one half and the animals lived in the other.
Even though no one had lived in it for years, Allan knew we could build it up to something amazing once we renovated it, so we renovated the original house in 2003 and added a stone extension five years later.
I was made redundant in 2008 and we used the money from that to help towards the build.
It allowed us to add a B&B room to the house, which in turn meant that I could be a stay-at-home mum.
When the work was completed, the house consisted of a living room, kitchen, dining room, snug, bathroom and four bedrooms, three of which have en suites.
I sometimes cannot believe how far we have come since first viewing it.
At the beginning, I was not
convinced we could make a derelict croft house into something habitable.
We had to gut what was left of the house and even had to lift and change the roof.
We removed a wall so we could make the house twice the size while retaining the look of a traditional croft house from the back.
We were able to keep the original stone wall in the kitchen however, which I love.
We started work in February 2003 and moved in on Hogmanay 2003, but it still was not finished and we had loads left to do.
We have done so much work to turn it into our dream home since, and we’re still doing things to the house all of the time; it will never be truly finished.
A lot of blood, sweat, and mainly my tears went into making it the perfect house for our family, and all the hard work has certainly paid off.
It is cosy, modern and has the most amazing views.
We have stunning uninterrupted panoramic views of the Trotternish ridge from the The Old Man of Storr to the Quiraing.
The beautiful mountains that we can see from our windows are famous worldwide.
When we moved in my style was very county cottage, and then I had
a shabby chic phase – then mid-century modern.
Eventually I found my love of dark paint, and nowadays I love mixing vintage pieces with new finds.
I do not like to match things and I never envisaged how it will look.
I buy what I like and just hope that it works!
We are so lucky that we can live on the island that we grew up on and raise our children here.
Sometimes it has not always been easy, but we are so lucky to call this beautiful house our home.