LIVE HERE FIRST

When designer Ben Pentreath moved into a Georgian house on a remote island in Scotland, he did what he thinks everyone should do first: nothing.

- By BEN PENTREATH

It’s not always that I get to follow my own advice, but with our recent move to Orkney, an island chain north of Scotland, here’s one bit that I most certainly plan to heed. It’s guidance that I offer to every potential client, if it’s at all possible: Spend time in your house before you do anything to it. Of course, the previous owners’ taste won’t be yours (unless the gods are truly aligned). Of course, there will be things that don’t work as well as you would like in the long term. But if it’s feasible, try to do whatever you can to live there for a few months, or maybe a year, before you embark on wholesale restoration plans. It makes a huge amount of difference.

First, practicalities: The roof must be (largely) dry. The electrics must be (reasonably) safe. You need to be able to cook in clean surroundings and bathe and shower with plenty of hot water.

I’d strongly recommend removing old carpets. Maybe you get a contractor in to paint the whole house basic white if there are colors that are giving you nightmares. Who knows, you could even put in a basic rental-quality kitchen if you really had to. You can throw a little bit of money at it—but the whole idea is not to spend too much.

ABOVE: The author. LEFT: The 1790s house that Ben Pentreath is renovating for himself and his husband Charlie McCormick on Rousay, one of Scotland's Orkney Islands.