THINKING in colour

Fran Newman's unusual approach to colour helped her achieve a dramatic transformation in every room of her Georgian home

PROFILE

THE OWNERS

Fran Newman, a designer, and her husband, Matt, a building project manager, plus children Ruben, Trinity, Huxley, and twins Willamina and Bronwyn

THE PROPERTY

A Grade-Il-listed, three-bed Georgian house built in 1830, previously used for the village doctor with an adjoining surgery, near Berwick-upon-Tweed

Fran Newman has an unusual gift: she has the ability to see and think in colour (synesthesia). It slowly dawned on her, however, that other people don't share her perception that spaces and people all have a colour, and that colours have a sound. 'Soon after moving in here, I stopped sharing my plans with friends, as the colour schemes that I could see so clearly were met with bemusement at best,' she says. Her instinctive vision of the property, bought in 2015, never wavered, and the results are exactly as Fran imagined - and she's been delighted by everyone's reaction.

It started as a long-distance project. We were living in West Sussex but had family up here,' says Fran. We saw the house and loved the Georgian architecture and high ceilings, the soft light and sense of space.' She kept the ceilings white in every room, but picked bold colours for the walls to emphasise the height and proportions.

The couple initially turned the doctor's surgery next door into a holiday let and camped occasionally in the main house when they visited. They moved into it in 2017, selling the holiday let to fund the renovation. Getting started, they found the house was in worse condition than they'd thought. It was damp, nicotine-stained and the kitchen unit doors were falling off. The bathrooms were freezing and there was only ever enough hot water for half a bath,' says Fran.