THE walls at Braehead House would certainly have an interesting tale or two to tell if they could talk – not only because the date plaque on the west wing of the converted steading dates it to 1896, but because its current owners have filled it to the rafters with interesting personal belongings.
A stroll round the five-bedroom family home, which was converted in 1992 from a U-shaped granite steading at East Newton, reveals a mixture of eye-catching traditional features from the original building along with interesting artefacts from around the world.
Emma Clanfield and her husband, Steve, bought the property in 2003 when they were living in the Middle East with daughter Isabel. Emma wanted a place that Isabel, who was born in Abu Dhabi, could call home.
“I viewed the house on my own and instantly felt comfortable in it, so Steve didn’t actually see it until we returned to Scotland to complete the sale six months later. He trusted me that it was right for us,” Emma said.
Although Emma, who moved to the north-east when she was 11 and attended Monymusk Primary and Alford Academy, loved the house, she knew that she would have to carry out a great deal of work to transform it into a family home – something Emma, who runs her own interior-design business, couldn’t wait to get her hands on.
After completing an art and design foundation course in Aberdeen as a teenager, she left the area to study textile design in Huddersfield, where she met her husband.
Several years later, Steve’s job took them to Qatar, followed by Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and after taking a career break to have her daughter, Emma retrained as an interior designer.
One of the first jobs at Braehead House was to alter its internal lay-out to better suit the family’s needs and, aside from decorating, they have installed a great deal of insulation and a large wood-burning stove to keep themselves warm and reduce fuel bills.
The house can be found at the top of a hill 580ft above sea level near Insch and has a south-facing aspect looking on to Bennachie. This, along with the double-storey east wing, protects the face and courtyard from cold north-east winds.
“It is likely that the dressed pink granite used on the steading came from Kemnay quarries 15 miles away and was used with well weathered field stones gathered from the local farmland to form the coursed rubble walls,” Emma explained.
Throughout the house you find eye-catching furniture and interesting artefacts, all collected during the family’s travels.
The large living room is in the west wing and is where the farm workers would have had their bothy. Now, the centrepiece of the room is an old Omani door bought from a collector in Qatar, that was shipped back, along with the large rug from Jaipur.
Blinds and cushions in Zoffany & Mulberry fabrics, a stag’s head from a local antiques dealer, an open fire and walls painted in Snettisham Gold from the Paint & Paper Library all come together to create a warm, welcoming room.
The family room in the east wing has a large wood-burning stove which contributes to the central-heating system. The upper floor of this wing has two bedrooms, one en-suite and a large dressing room.
There are paintings and antiques from many of the countries they have visited, and a picture wall, covered with photos, shows the family in a number of different locations.
“I prefer to display photos like this rather than in frames dotted around a room. I find it much more interesting – and a lot easier to dust.”
One of Emma’s favourite rooms is Isabel’s, which she has recently decorated with a Scottie dog wallpaper from Jane Churchill mixed with 1950s-style florals. The fabrics and furniture in her room have all been recycled, with blinds being made from existing curtains, a desk from the British Heart Foundation painted white and a 1950s Lloyd Loom chair rescued from a skip.
“I try and recycle things as much as I can,” Emma explained.
“You should think about how to reuse existing furniture before you throw anything out.”
After carrying out so much work at Braehead House, and buying family pet Saffron, the Labradoodle, Emma said that the family wouldn’t be tempted to move from the property for some time yet.
“We love it here,” she said.
“The house has real character and the views are amazing. It would be hard to find this again.”
As well as working hard to give Braehead House a new look, Emma also designed the interior of the new showroom and restaurant at Touched by Scotland, in Oyne, where she now has a showroom area displaying a colourful and eclectic interior design display which mixes wallpapers by Kerdova Print, Neisha Crosland, Paint & Paper Library and GP & J Baker with curtain fabrics by Kate Forman and a mixture of salvaged, original, charity-shop and new Lloyd Loom furniture.
The display reflects the way Emma likes to mix up and resuscitate vintage finds or your own treasured furniture with well designed fabrics and wallpapers to give your home a new lease of life – the fact that Emma was a textile designer before she retrained as an interior designer is evident in the fabrics she chooses, mixing textures and tweeds with large-scale patterns and vintage fabrics.
Emma will be on hand in the Touched by Scotland showroom every Friday in May and June between 11am and 3pm to answer your decorating queries.
For further information, call 01464 821371 or 07789 914, or visit www.emmaclanfield.com