{"id":2229,"date":"2024-05-20T12:41:32","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T04:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/2024\/05\/20\/resourcefulness-as-a-design-principle-a-one-of-a-kind-remodel-by-two-artists-on-a-budget\/"},"modified":"2024-05-20T12:41:32","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T04:41:32","slug":"resourcefulness-as-a-design-principle-a-one-of-a-kind-remodel-by-two-artists-on-a-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homeofmaterials.com\/de\/resourcefulness-as-a-design-principle-a-one-of-a-kind-remodel-by-two-artists-on-a-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Einfallsreichtum als Design-Prinzip\u2019: Ein einzigartiger Umbau durch zwei K\u00fcnstler mit kleinem Budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Amy Dennis studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art and then went on to work in curatorial roles before returning to painting full time. Her husband, Neville Rae, has a degree in environmental art from Glasgow School of Art and worked as an artist and technician before launching Old School Fabrications, a metalwork, carpentry, and design studio. As trained artists, the two understand intimately how form and material, light and shadow can inform artwork. The same fundamental lessons, they realized, could (and should) be applied to a home remodel. (Go to The Modern House for an interview with the pair.)<\/p>\n

In 2014, the two bought the ground-floor flat of an 1890 Victorian townhouse in Portobello, a coastal suburb of Edinburgh. They were wooed by the idea of raising their son, Ossian (then four years old), in a tight-knit beach community. A private garden, something they had never had before, sweetened the deal. The family moved in, did some rewiring and plumbing work, and as Ossian grew and both Amy\u2019s and Neville\u2019s creative pursuits flourished, they decided to embark on an expansion. Working with architect Calum Duncan, they added an extension and shuffled some rooms around so that Amy could have a dedicated art studio.<\/p>\n

Just as they are in their artistic practices, Amy and Neville were adventurous in their materials palette for the remodel (Douglas fir, plaster, Jesmonite, and black Valchromat). They paid attention to the transitions in their home between light and dark spaces. And they played with shapes and scale, with Neville designing and fabricating many of their unique furniture pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Our home] reflects the way we live, our interests, our work,\u201d says Amy. \u201cAnd resourcefulness as a design principle. Many of our design choices are informed by\u2026not having a large budget but getting materials to do the very most possible by revealing them, finishing them, making objects carefully. We both work well within constraints and both love learning about new materials and processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Die Fotos wurden mit freundlicher Genehmigung von The Modern House zur Verf\u00fcgung gestellt.<\/p>\n


Above: The Victorian townhouse was divided into two apartments in the 1980s. Amy and Neville bought the downstairs flat, which had two bedrooms then, in 2014.
\n

Above: The new extension in the back, added in 2017, now houses the kitchen. The clean, modern lines of the Siberian larch-clad addition contrast with the traditional pitched roof of the former scullery (now Ossian\u2019s bedroom).,

Above: The couple\u2014with Balthus, their blue whippet\u2014relax in their new kitchen. The table and benches, inspired by Gerrit Rietvelt, were made by Neville using the leftover Douglas fir from the ceiling joists. The painting is by Tim Dodds.
\n

Above: Neville fabricated the cabinets; the doors are made from an engineered colored wood called Valchromat. \u201cThe walls are plastered in British Gypsum\u2019s magnetic plaster. We were pricing up Venetian plaster and micro-cement but it was outside our budget,\u201d he says. \u201c[It\u2019s] designed to be used in offices, so you can stick drawings to walls with magnets. I watched a video of how to apply and saw that it is black on application, then dries a lovely grey.\u201d
\n

Above: The couple, again playing with contrasts, chose to keep the palette dark and muted in the room that gets the most natural light. The sculpture is by Gordon Munro.,

Above: \u201cThe path [from the living room to the kitchen] moves from dark to light, with a large angled skylight that bridges the high Victorian ceiling [in the living room] to the lower Douglas fir rafters [in the kitchen], a transition that works really well as you see this interesting composition from the living room.\u201d
\n

Above: The TV cabinet (designed to look like a dartboard) and Donald Judd-like plywood sofas were DIY\u2019ed by Neville. Pops of cobalt blue appear throughout the home. \u201cAmy was using the colour in a painting\u2014it\u2019s a very powerful colour. We started using it sparingly and accumulatively, starting with door handles,\u201d explains Neville. \u201cThen we found two tubular steel-legged tables in sort of a classroom blue, then cushions.\u201d
\n

Above: \u201cOn removing a wall of plasterboard in the living room, we discovered the original range hearth and an incredible large stone surround that is blackened with bitumen and has a line of sculptural tooled marks.\u201d The walls here are \u201cjust the standard multi-finish skimmed plaster, which dries a lovely pink.\u201d,

Above: Amy\u2019s art studio, which on occasion acts as exhibit space, is in the front of the home. All the millwork in the home is painted Downpipe by Farrow & Ball; the walls here have been plastered with British Gypsum\u2019s magnetic plaster. Displayed in the pigeonhole cubbies (salvaged from a local mechanic\u2019s garage) are works by artists Ben Arnup, Brent Millar, James Rigler, and George Wyllie.
\n

Above: The furniture in this room is mostly secondhand. Amy\u2019s paintings, works in progress, are displayed on the wall shelves at left. The trellis window blinds, made by Neville, were inspired by window screens spotted in Spitalfields.
\n

Above: The green steel cabinet was bought from the local community hall. The Magnus Olesen chairs are vintage. And Neville cast the fireplace surround from black Jesmonite. \u201cOur interiors are all based on thrift and a desire to space save,\u201d says Amy. The painting on the mantel is by
\n
Orkney artist Sylvia Wishart; on the green armoire is art by Scottish painter Barbara Balmer.,

Above: The window in the main bedroom glimpses out onto the new addition. <\/p>\n


Above: \u201cWe thought it would be fun to paint a bedhead [headboard] inspired by the artist Oswaldo Licini\u2019s bedroom in Italy.\u201d For more creative interiors, see: <\/p>\n