Every time I'm lucky enough to stay in a swanky hotel or stylish home-from-home, I inevitably come away with a new idea for my Dream House. The wall-mounted ceramic plates in a Lisbon rental; Gleneagles Townhouse's spaniel-patterned Brunschwig & Fils wallpaper; the striped headboards at the Deux Gares Hotel in Paris. The list is now significantly heftier than my bank balance, and I'm yet to actually buy the dream gaff. Still, it's fun to tickle the ol' imagination.
Sometimes it's just the feel of a place that burrows into my bones. That's what Usonia, a self-catering retreat in Melrose, does. It's a window into the life I could have if I emptied my handbag more than once a year and stopped hoarding clothes. In Usonia, I can be the woman who wears billowy white shirts and smells like Aesop. Underfloor heating and an outdoor sauna will do that to a person.
Usonia didn't possess these modern luxuries when Seamus Shanks, co-founder of Draw Architecture, bought it last April. That didn't matter much, though; he was far more interested in the building, which dates from the 1960s and doffs a cap to Frank Lloyd Wright's flat-roofed, cantilevered Usonian houses - hence the name. "It really is a good example of what modernism was trying to achieve, particularly when you relate it to residential dwellings at the time," says Seamus. It felt a fitting addition to Draw Architecture's existing clutch of holiday properties, all united by their interesting architectural credentials (including a modernist cottage on the shores of Loch Rannoch called Elemental that, like Usonia, can be booked via Unique Homestays).
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July - August 2023 من Homes & Interiors Scotland.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July - August 2023 من Homes & Interiors Scotland.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Escape EASTSIDE COTTAGES
This tiny house, full of clever architectural solutions, is hidden away in a valley near Penicuik
THE WRITE ANGLE
This glasshouse in Edinburgh was a necessary upgrade for two writers who needed an escape from family life
Turn back the clock
Sometimes we have to look back to step forward. This home was stripped of its ultra-modern interior - and it has never looked better
A place of our own
Bold, brave choices paid off handsomely when the owners of this Edinburgh flat decided to put their stamp on the place
REFUGE FROM THE STORM
Two hundred years of Atlantic gales reduced this cottage to a wreck. Now, though, the gently restored Mull bolt-hole has a brighter outlook
The starting point
As the first project of both its original architect and the one who would reshape it 150 years later, this little coach house in Argyll has been on quite a journey
MORE THAN SKIN DEEP
The beauty of this Edwardian home lies not just in its gorgeous surfaces, but in a full-scale retrofit that's made it as energy efficient as a new Passivhaus
SPACE TO BREATHE
Several ugly extensions marred this cottage in rural Aberdeenshire until a rethink gave its owners a simplified layout and much more eco-friendly home
MELANIE O'DONNELL - Ceramic artist
The best thing about creating ceramics is the way you can get lost in another world.
Reading LIST
Design that will stand the test of time is the focus of our latest batch of books, all of which deserve a prime spot on a very stylish coffee table