GO WITH THE FLOW

THE TWO HALVES OF THIS HOUSE HAVE BEEN BEAUTIFULLY STITCHED TOGETHER TO FORM A PRACTICAL, SPACIOUS WHOLE

- Caroline Ednie

Flaws and quirks are often part of the charm of an old building – but how many of these are too many? That was the question facing Katy West and Nick Evans when they bought a groundfloor villa conversion in Glasgow’s South Side in 2015. Initially smitten (“We fell in love with the flow of the house from the side entrance to the back door and out into the garden”), it wasn’t long before the couple uncovered its numerous shortcomings.

“The kitchen was in a former outhouse that was connected to the dining room,” explains West. “The well-worn original 1950s Formica units were still in place, and the kitchen and the utility areas were badly in need of work. The outhouse itself was damp and dingy, with low ceilings and rusting metal-framed windows. The back door was rotten, the toilet leaked and there was mould on the walls.”

It wasn’t just the structure that needed improving; the space was badly organised too. “It had such a strange configuration that you couldn’t sit in the kitchen or even adequately work there, and there was a funny dining room with two doors,” she says. “We really wanted a kitchen we could cook, eat and live in.”