LEARNING CURVE

Buying a dilapidated cottage in a bankruptcy sale led Kirstin Eriksson to fulfil her dream of country living and inspired a change of career, too

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Taking on a near-derelict cottage is not for the faint-hearted, but interior designer Kirstin Eriksson took it in her stride with vision and tenacity, coping with the unexpected challenges that arose as layers of damp and decay were peeled away. When Kirstin discovered Foxcote cottage, it had come to market in a bankruptcy sale and had suffered years of neglect as a rental home. The interior walls had rising damp, the double garage was full of asbestos, the garden was a tangle of weeds and was overpowered by three enormous pine trees, and it was obvious that all the windows and doors would need replacing. Yet its exterior charm and location in the desirable village of Lower Oddington were a powerful draw and Kirstin felt confident she could transform it into the perfect weekend retreat from city life.

The property was in a sorry state and I certainly had my work cut out,’ she says. ‘All the woodwork, including the staircases, was rotten. I would have to re-screed floors, rewire electrics and even partially rebuild some of the walls, but I could see the cottage it could become.’

The sale was completed within days, but it took months of delicate negotiations, with the support of local company Apex Architects, to obtain planning permission to extend up and out before work began in 2015.

Maximising light - as well as the visual connection to the garden - was pivotal in all of Kirstin’s design decisions. The modest front room was knocked through into the original tiny kitchen, with rustic beams put back to restore character. This room was then extended with a single-storey dining area - Kirstin decided to forgo permission to extend upwards here, preferring instead to incorporate a large light well. This successful addition floods the kitchen and dining areas with daylight and sits comfortably with the new architecture.