House Feature
Each issue of UPTOWN features three house articles, complemented by stunning photography. We have included one of the features below, in full, for you to enjoy..
Family Friendly
When Kimberly and John Clement relocated to East Lothian they were searching for a property that would evolve with their family. 17 years later their cottage has done precisely that.
When the Clements moved out of Edinburgh in 1990 they were looking for a child and animal friendly property. Their daughter Holly was 11 months old and they also had a young Golden Retriever named Breck, and a roan Cocker Spaniel, named Piper. During their search for a new home they happened across an old farm cottage on the outskirts of an East Lothian town. Albeit the house required major work, including replacing the roof, its location, surrounded by fields and trees seemed to be perfect.
The price of tranquillity however, was the amount of work required. “The hot water tank burst about a week after we moved in and as all the pipes were lead they had to be changed. Due to the layout of this house, essentially two cottages with a large join in the middle, many of the floors were concrete – these had to be blasted up to get the central heating pipes in! Rewiring and fitting a new kitchen were next - the dust was endless!” recalls Kim.
The property originally purchased with five bedrooms has been reorganised and now consists of a drawing room, family room, snug (Captain’s Cabin), study, dining room, a large family kitchen, four bedrooms and two bathrooms. “The joy of having the cottages and the join is that we have a wonderful combination of proportions,” Kim explains. “On one side of the house there is a real cottage feel with smaller, cosier rooms, but then there are the wonderfully spacious public rooms to balance that out. When we bought the house there was a corridor running from the drawing room straight into the master bedroom. I hated this, so I had the space incorporated into the kitchen.
“The original drawing room had a 60s style wall of windows, which was really ugly so we rebuilt the entire wall in a traditional way, which was much more in keeping with the rest of the house – building on a chimney with open fire and adding sash and casement windows on either side. This unified the house as the rest of the windows and some internal doors were originally astragals. We have tried to restore features, keeping the traditional feel to the house, but have not compromised the modern and light airy feel that the house has by choosing the décor with care.”
Another feature that the family has made the most of is the fabulous room that they call ‘the Cabin’. This snug is used extensively during the winter months when the family take advantage of the open fire; due to the wood panelling there’s no other form of heating. The Captain’s Cabin was removed from the SS Leviathan, originally a German ship, The Vaterland, but she arrived in New York just after the First World War broke out. She was seized by the US Government in 1917 and used as a troop ship until the end of the war. The boat was refitted as an Ocean Liner in 1922 and used as the flagship of the United States Lines until 1934 when the Depression hit. In 1938 she was taken to Inverkeithing in Fife and broken up. The panelling was stripped out and the captain’s cabin was sold. Everything in the room, panelling, fireplace, carvings, bevelled glass book cases and corner unit, even the original oil lights, which are now wired for electricity, came from the liner. The panelling extends into the study where there are more bevelled glass bookcases and beautiful wooden scrolls on the ceiling.
As the house has evolved, so has the family, and the house and large garden are now shared by the couple’s daughters, Holly 18 and Jennie 14, Joshua the flat coated Retriever, a Scottie named Ruby Parsnips, Mr Rogers the cat, five Aylesbury ducks and a peep of hens. Barney the horse, and ponies Granite and Mo are kept nearby.
Although this house has to be incredibly family and animal friendly it certainly isn’t lacking in style. “Whilst I love rich colours,” says Kim “I much prefer to live with lighter more subtle ones around us, such as the lighter colour schemes chosen for the kitchen, family room, dining room and drawing room. In the Cabin I have chosen jewel like colours to add a feeling of warmth to the wood panelling, which is enhanced further by the glow from the open fire.
Kim enjoys shopping for her home too and is a regular visitor to Lavender’s Blue in Longniddry, Miam-Miam in Edinburgh and her favourite, RE in Northumberland. “I love to trawl places and often have something in mind when I’m looking but love stumbling on something unusual as well.
“I do love this house, in all its quirkiness, but there are still things that we could do to improve it – maybe one day! This is a lived in house – it is a constant trek of wellie boots and muddy paws, but that’s just how we like it – a real family home.”
Words: Nichola Hunter Photography: Douglas Gibb
