It was the fabulous garden, the views to Barra Hill and the spacious interior that first attracted Kevin Denholm and his wife Andrea to their wonderful Oldmeldrum home.
Over the past four years, the couple have put their hearts and souls into transforming what was a blank canvas of a property into a family home brimming with charm and character.
Here Kevin explains how they approached their home renovations.
8 Duncan Avenue
Who: Kevin Denholm, an ERP programme manager, his wife Andrea, who works for the NHS and is also a complementary therapist plus their cats Tigo and Binx and their black labrador Bella. Their children have flown the nest.
What: A five-bedroom detached home with a family room, snug and a sitooterie in the garden.
Where: Duncan Avenue in Oldmeldrum.
As told to Rosemary Lowne
“I met Andrea when she was renting a small former distillery cottage in Oldmeldrum and I was living in Dyce.
We wanted to have space for our blended family so each of the kids had their own space and we found this home while out walking in Oldmeldrum.
When we viewed the property, we loved the garden, the views to Barra Hill and of course the size of the home and the fact that it’s south facing.
We also loved its proximity to Meldrum Academy where the youngest has just finished up.
Covid delayed our original entry date but we finally moved into our home in May 2020.
When we moved in, limited work had been done on the property so it was a blank canvas.
The kitchen was falling to pieces so we changed the living space downstairs adding a new kitchen, snug and family room.
With the snug, the idea was to create a space for the adults and our friends and family to relax in while enjoying the views overlooking the back garden.
We also knew that we wanted to do something with the garden so we started work on that in 2021 and it took around six months to finish.
The garden used to slope terribly so we had to take six skips worth of soil out to level it off and create a space for a sitooterie.
The sitooterie itself was custom built by the same local joiner who did the work on the kitchen, family room and snug.
We also replaced the paving and fencing, put in the sleepers, and of course added loads of plants.
In terms of interiors, we wanted to put our own stamp on the home.
We love Middle Eastern and North African influences so that has inspired our decor while we added a Scottish twist in the whisky snug.
The paints we’ve used are mainly from Dulux and Farrow & Ball.
We particularly love Stiffkey Blue, a Farrow & Ball shade we used in the bedroom.
Some of our favourite features in the house include the Bioethanol fires from Imagine Fires that we have in the snug and sitooterie.
They give the look and feel of a fire but with virtually no emissions.
We also love the mango wood furniture we bought from Trade Furniture as it adds some warmth to our home.
Overall, we love what we’ve done with our home as it’s bright and sunny with an open outlook which makes us feel warm and cosy.
My tips for anyone else doing a property renovation would be to not judge a book by its cover.
We bought the house as a blank canvas but we knew that with a bit of effort and time we could make it somewhere special for us.
We’ve taken inspiration from places we’ve visited as well as from the many home programmes on the TV and of course the internet and our friends.
I would say to others, don’t be afraid to try something different.
We started gathering ideas before we even moved and we’ve started doing the same for our next project.
In short, if you see something you like take a photo and save it somewhere.”
8 Duncan Avenue, Oldmeldrum, Inverurie, is on the market for offers over £320,000.
To arrange a viewing contact Gavin Bain & Co on 01224 623040 or check out the website aspc.co.uk
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