SCHOOL OF DESIGN

This former boarding school is an object lesson in how to turn a period property into a modern family home

- SHARON PARSONS

Kitchen

Mairead knew exactly how she wanted the space to work with plenty of room for relaxing and entertaining. The cabinets with reeded glass keep everything to hand without being on show. Cabinets, Herringbone Kitchens, painted in Sinner, Mylands. Counters and splashback, Dekton. Floor tiles, Tim’s Tiles

It sounds ridiculous, but despite having lived on the same road for years, I’d never really taken any notice of this house before,’ says Mairead Holland. ‘It was sort of shut up and neglected looking. It was only when a friend told us that it was for sale four years ago, that I actually stopped to look at it properly... and then made an appointment to view it!’

What she and husband Alexander were to discover was rather daunting. The mid-Victorian property had endured myriad changes over the decades. Originally two perfectly symmetrical houses that had been knocked together, it had at one time been a boarding school for the local college, then was later converted haphazardly into four separate flats. Having renovated several properties over the years, however, the couple could immediately see that the solid ‘bones’ of the three-storey red-brick house were still there. It had plenty of space and a large garden, and they had no doubt it would make a wonderful family home.

AT HOME WITH