Runner-up: Best Kitchen

(Click on gallery images to view larger picture)

Steve shares his renovating tale:

‘My wife Jenni and I fell in love with a wreck of an old farm building that oozed character – it had originally been a coach house and stables. There was a four-sided turret clock that excited my mechanical sensibilities; we just had to buy it – there were dreams at stake here!

‘We’ve never really had a budget in the sense of “an amount of money to spend” but we have certainly had to achieve everything on a very tight one, doing all the non-structural work ourselves. We had learnt during our first self-build that you’ll probably never be able to afford a lot of major luxuries at the end of the project, so the first thing we purchased was a reconditioned Aga from John Wray (johnwraycountrystoves.co.uk); we also bought enough slate and oak for all the flooring, and the underfloor heating system.

‘Having spent three Christmas in the two caravans that we initially lived in on site, luxuries have been slow to appear but after 13 years (yes, 13!) Jenni finally has a completed kitchen. The room was originally two relatively small spaces, one stable and one for storage of coaches and traps, with wide arched doorways (although it had been used to house cattle and pigs more recently). Naturally, we retained the arches but removed the dividing wall and installed a massive steel beam to support the ceiling.

‘Johnny Grey’s design books helped us to plan our dream kitchen: we wanted a freestanding feel but without the designer price. We made about 30 drawings of our evolving ideas before settling with what we have (one of the worst things about having so long to complete a project is the amount of time you have to reconsider your plans!). The scheme incorporates a Chalon worktable with an oak top and a “choppy hole” for the island; this was a piece of furniture I’d coveted for years. The rustic cupboards with granite worktops, meanwhile, are all built around Ikea carcasses, which are solid and easy to clean. The timbered section of the walls and the boarded cupboard doors were all created using reclaimed wood that we removed from the building and stored. To add to the freestanding feel, we used an idea we found in a back issue of Period Living: we fitted the Belfast sink into an old sideboard bought at auction.

‘When it came to the finishing touches, creating curtains for the arched windows proved to be a real headache, even though we had expert help from my mother. We had to invent a method of drawing the curtains that would maximise the limited amount of light coming through the north facing windows. Shutter style folding curtains with giant dolly peg tiebacks do the job perfectly. For the paintwork, we used Farrow & Ball colours: Lime White on the walls; Slipper Satin on the ceiling; and Light Stone and Mouse’s Back for the woodwork. The flooring is Mexican terracotta, complete with cats’ paw prints, and the lighting is from Ikea, but we modified the chains to give the pendants more of a period feel.

‘Entering the Period Living Readers’ Awards has really brought home how much we’ve achieved over the years – we normally spend our time thinking about all the jobs that are still waiting to be done. I can’t claim that we spend every weekend renovating, but even when we’re not building, we’re usually roaming around the countryside searching for materials and ideas. With a fair wind behind me and continuing good health, I should be able to finish the house by about 2050, by which time Jenni will be ready to re-decorate – or worse: remodel!’

Edited by Naomi Jones

Voting for this category has now ended - The Readers’ Favourite Runner-Up will be announced in the January issue of Period Living - on sale Thursday 25th November.

View the rest of the runners-up
Find out more about the Period Living Awards

What do you think of this house? Leave your comments below...