This Life: The Mercat Café’s Laura May Wilson weaves style and soul into Culross

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Interior designer, guesthouse host, and now cafe owner: meet the woman weaving style and soul into the heart of Culross

words Natasha Radmehr photography Laura Tiliman

Laura May Wilson is founder of The Mercat and has an eye for improvement. Take her into a house, or a restaurant, or a hotel, or any environment where aesthetic decisions have been made for the delight of others and she will determine what, if anything, she would change. Not in a judgy way, you understand. That’s not her vibe. It’s just the interior designer in her that never seems to switch off; the way she has viewed the world for as long as she can remember, even when she was a young girl growing up in West Fife. “And there’s part of me that doesn’t like being that way, you know,” she says, laughing. “Because sometimes I’d like to just be able to enjoy things for what they are.”

The exterior of The Mercat Cafe in Culross, photographed by Laura Tiliman
IMAGE | Laura Tiliman. The exterior of The Mercat Cafe in Culross

The rest of us can be grateful, perhaps selfishly, that she’s built this way, because we’re the ones who get to bask in the fruits of her discerning taste. Laura is the person who transformed an 1850s coaching inn in Culross (pronounced ‘coo-riss’) into The Dundonald, a boutique guesthouse with Scandinavian-inflected interiors. When we meet, she is putting the final flourishes on her soon-to-open venture, The Mercat, a cafe, provisions and homeware store just along the cobblestone road at the Mercat Cross. Originally a butcher’s shop, over the years it has had stints as a cafe, gallery and gift shop. “It’s funny – we used to come in here and Paul, my husband, would ask, ‘So, what would you do with this place?’” says Laura. The idea for the business was prompted by guests of The Dundonald regularly asking where she had bought the various knick-knacks dotted around the house. “I thought, I could source things for them, then have a cafe serving toasties, soup, ham-and-cornichon baguettes, great scones. Nothing fancy – just a real focus on good quality.”

 The interior and main sitting area of The Mercat Cafe in Culross
IMAGE | Laura Tiliman. The interior and main sitting area of The Mercat Cafe in Culross

Laura is warm, grounded and welcoming; the kind of person who derives genuine pleasure from looking after others and making sure they feel comfortable. Within minutes of us meeting she’s pouring a pot of lemon-and-ginger tea. Hospitality is a natural fit for her, but she didn’t come to it until 2020, when she was 45. Prior to that she had been living in Toronto for a decade with Paul and their daughter Taylor, managing a design studio for a land developer and home builder where she conceptualised the interiors for show homes. But she missed her family and her life back home, so when Taylor decided to return to Scotland to do a master’s degree, she and Paul weren’t far behind.

fresh cherry red tomatoes and garlic on a plate
IMAGE | Laura Tiliman

“I’ve always been a real homebody,” she says. She and Paul met in their teens – she was 15 and he was 16 – and had Taylor young, when Laura was just 18. They married a few years later, and this year will celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary. “I was really contented being a young mum. I felt a real sense of purpose, and was very happy with that,” The Mercat owner says.

Shelving units mounted on white tiling at The Mercat Cafe in Culross photographed by Laura Tiliman
IMAGE | Laura Tiliman

When Taylor was three, Laura began studying interior design, bringing her toddler along with her to college. “I didn’t even know interior design was a profession until I watched Changing Rooms,” she laughs. “I realised it was something I had always loved. I was constantly rearranging the furniture in my mum’s house, and asking my dad, who’s a joiner, to build me things.” Her talent is obvious, her style elegantly spare and understated.

In the evenings, when the guests are out to dinner or have settled in their rooms, Laura and Paul relax in their private living room, which syncs with the style of the rest of the home. The powder-blue Ligne Roset Togo was a recent investment.
IMAGE | Laura Tiliman. In the evenings, when the guests are out to dinner or have settled in their rooms, Laura and Paul relax in their private living room, which syncs with the style of the rest of the home. The powder-blue Ligne Roset Togo was a recent investment

The Dundonald has a serene, painterly quality, washed in earthy neutrals and decorated with thoughtful restraint. Antique finds, Danish furniture, wicker baskets and sculptural ceramics all gather together with ample breathing space. Cluttercore is not welcome here, nor in The Mercat, where a palette of cream, tomato and sage (drawn from the original butcher shop’s Art Nouveau wall tiles) pairs with Ercol chairs and modest marble tables. “I don’t like waste or frivolous things,” says Laura, who loves a trawl round charity shops and antiques markets for vintage pieces. She tends to make purchases with her heart more than her head. “I often don’t know anything about the things I’m buying. If I like it, I get it.”

At home with Laura May Wilson, founder of The Dundonald and The Mercat Cafe
IMAGE | Laura Tiliman. At home with Laura May Wilson, founder of The Dundonald and The Mercat Cafe

Despite her spot-on instincts, The Mercat owner didn’t pursue interior design as a career for many years. She put what she learned into practice in her day-to-day life, stripping back and renovating a Victorian family home in Dunfermline and doing odd-jobs for friends. But until the Canada move, she worked in a bank. Was it a confidence thing? “Well, we grew up in a working-class mining village,” she reflects. “So I didn’t imagine that becoming an interior designer was even a possibility.”

This is an excerpt from our regular This Life feature about the founder of The Mercat in issue 161 of Homes & Interiors Scotland magazine.

Click to here to get your hands on a copy and read the feature in full.


Learn about another of Scotland’s favourite local business women below. Katy Rodger shares insight to her life as an interior designer and head of Knockraich Farm.

This Life: Katy Rodger on her life as an interior designer on Knockraich Farm

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