Space exploration
EXTRA DIMENSIONS: Once a tiny cottage, this cleverly designed family home is a lesson in how to maximise the use of space. Sharon Dale reports. Pictures by Simon Hulme
AJOR renovations hold no fear for Andrew Freestone. He is the archetypal “man who can”.
So when his home was reduced to four walls, with just two supporting walls inside, he felt nothing but excitement. Stripping the property back to its bones was all part of a plan to turn a cramped Victorian cottage into a family-size home.
The chance to renovate and extend came when he and wife Martine spotted the end of terrace house in a desirable village near Harrogate.
They had modernised their former vicarage, near Leeds, and were looking for a new challenge.
“The cottage used to belong to the local manor house and was staff accommodation. It was smaller than their vicarage but it needed work and there was also scope for extension.
“Best of all, there was an opportunity to buy the paddock at the back, which appealed because I had always wanted to keep pigs,” says Andrew.
A designer, builder and maker, Andrew can turn his hand to anything from sculpting and joinery to building and plumbing.
He is best known as one half of Harrogate-based interior architecture partnership Grafton Freestone. The other half is interior designer Richard Grafton. Together they tackle everything from whole house remodelling to kitchen design, bespoke cabinet making and luxury bathrooms.
His talent as a designer maker was apparent as a child, so much so that his father built him a garage, which Andrew filled with tools, lathes and welding equipment, before going off to university to study 3D Design. His first job, designing and making contemporary staircases for Helmsley-based Bisca, gave him the chance to jump on the property ladder in 1998 at the age of 22.
“It was a cottage in Sinnington and it was £62,000 in the days when you could get a mortgage for three times your income,” says Andrew. “I did it up myself for £10,000
We sacrificed space
for location, but the house now has everything we need