‘we have created a space that suits us perfectly’

Having lived happily in a small village nearby for a number of years, Esme and Alex Seymour were ready to make the move closer to North Berwick. ‘It’s such a magical spot, beside the seaside, but still close to all the amenities of Edinburgh,’ Esme explains. ‘So we wanted to be closer to the high school for our daughter, and to the station for an easier commute into the city.’

While the property they found was in a better location, it was tired and dated, having not been decorated since the 1980s. ‘We were fortunate, though, to have a two-week overlap when we moved, so we could stay in our previous home while we gutted the place,’ recalls Esme. Ripping out all the carpets, sanding the floors and painting the whole house white, the family lived in the house as it was for a year while they had plans drawn up to renovate it with a more open-plan layout, removing two glazed lean-to add ons and creating a new bedroom in the loft with a dormer. They then moved out for six months when building work began, renting a small flat nearby but spending every weekend at the house at the end of the project decorating to save money.

Esme and Alex had a clear vision of what they wanted from their new home, but after discussing with architect Keith Macdonald from local practice Somner Macdonald, realised they had to rein their ambitions in a little. ‘Our budget restrictions enabled us to come up with some more creative solutions, though,’ explains Esme. ‘Alex created a virtual walk-through of the plans using a 3D Floor Planner tool, which was simple to use and helped us make some tricky decisions. The location of the staircase, for instance, was definitely a compromise, but the resulting layout really works.’

The couple wanted to focus on creating spaces that suited them as a family, investing in quality finishes rather than extending to add extra rooms they didn’t need. So apart from removing the old glazed add ons, they maintained the property’s original footprint, and to reduce costs, made a point of using the door and window openings that were al