Reshaped for socialising and dressed up to the nines after an 18-month renovation, this mansion just outside Edinburgh is all set for party season
Asense of fun permeates every part of the energetic revamp of this large early-19thcentury house near Edinburgh, from the lively colour choices and vibrant patterns and textures, down to the way it has been reorganised for hosting big social occasions. Even the experience shared by the owners and the design team during the 18-month project speaks of the job’s joyful ambience.
“We had a right laugh with everyone,” says Darren who, together with his wife Gillian and three sons, bought the handsome B-listed mansion in 2023. They promptly engaged award-winning Edinburgh studio Jeffreys Interiors to give it an overhaul. “A lot of the people we’ve worked with on it have become friends,” he adds. Jeffreys’ creative director Jo Aynsley describes how, right from day one, it was “a really nice and collaborative project” – not least because ever-proactive Darren arrived at their first meeting armed with full moodboards for several rooms (which included inspiration plucked from the pages of this very magazine).
“That was nice to see,” says Jo, “especially as it included some of our own projects. Obviously, they’d really taken the time to decide who they wanted to work with.” “Darren does love a bit of research!” smiles Gillian, pulling her husband’s leg. Some items in the house’s final design, such as the orange velvet dining chairs, derive from ideas developed from Darren’s moodboards.
But, enthusiastic as he was, he was also wise enough to step back and listen to the sage advice of the professionals. “I made some bad choices along the way,” he admits, smiling. “But Jo worked out how to diplomatically let me know that certain things wouldn’t look good.” The project didn’t get off to the most fun of starts, though; the family had assumed their new home needed no more than a cosmetic makeover, but that quickly escalated into much more invasive surgery. Previous owners had renovated the house, but when floors started being lifted and walls stripped back, all kinds of problems came to light – including an entire plumbing system done in plastic. “The mice were already starting to chew through it,” Jo recalls. A six-month facelift quickly turned into an 18-month full renovation.
“There was a bit of stress in terms of budget,” Darren admits with a touch of understatement. But he and Gillian managed to remain philosophical about it all, despite the setbacks. “We’re pretty practical people,” he says, “and we thought: we really, really only want to do this once. So let’s do it right.” The couple’s two older sons are 19 and 22, and soon won’t be living here full-time, and the youngest is 14, so quickly getting there, too. But they all have their own rooms in the six-bedroom home to return to whenever they like. The idea is that, over time, the house becomes somewhere the whole family can grow into and enjoy together as adults, for many years into the future.
This is an excerpt from issue 163 of Homes & Interiors Scotland. Want to read more? Buy your issue here.
An ingenious architectural rethink gave life to Kilberry House
