AIthough Kim and Gavin Scillitoe's daughters Issey and Poppy have now left home, when Christmas rolls around everyone soon reverts to old family traditions. Come December, all four of them head to their local garden centre to pick out a tree. We've been doing this since our girls were little and we still always end up bringing home the tallest tree there,' explains Kim.
Not that that's a problem in this house, with its high ceilings and generous proportions. But while Kim loves decorating their home at this time of year, she got to know the house's character by doing almost the opposite: stripping away anything superfluous to reveal its architecture. One of the first things she did was to take down a set of heavy red curtains that hung at the living room window. They were thick with dust and their dark folds and a pelmet obscured the shape of the window and its delicate leading,' she remembers. 'As soon as they were gone, the beauty of this room emerged and it felt lighter and brighter."
This story is from the December 2023 edition of 25 Beautiful Homes.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 2023 edition of 25 Beautiful Homes.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
A Labour of Love
Morgan Scott-Murch and her husband Jon worked hard to turn bedsits into a beautiful home
LIGHT relief
Leila and Ali Mestiri called in the experts to modernise their dated period property and make it bright and beautiful
Grand ambition
Making changes to a listed historic house comes with many challenges, but that didn't stop Penny and Richard Ballard achieving their dreams
COUNTRY calling
Anita and Tom Storrar have cleverly enhanced their pretty stone cottage in the North York Moors National Park, which is the focal point of their idyllic family life
CUSTOM FIT
A contemporary Huf Haus proved to be the ideal home for David and Greta Iredale to showcase their love of mid-century design
Urban OASIS
Interior designer Ruchi A. Mohan was well placed to turn a dated and compact New York City apartment into a calm, cool and collected abode
Best laid plans
A renovation and significant extension have future-proofed Rossella and Tim van der Weyden's Victorian terrace for years to come
AT ONE with nature
The couple who built this home on the outskirts of Antwerp were influenced by their experience of living in Japan, so the inside is as peaceful as the outside
Dream come true
Moving from a semi to a detached period house in need of some care was a happy adventure for Am and Aman Hayer
CLEAR VISION
Katie and Andrew Probert couldn't resist the chance to buy a Victorian doer-upper on a street they'd always wanted to live on