THE CALL OF THE NORD

Bert & May’s founder Lee Thornley has elevated an ‘average’ home in York into a Scandi-inspired, timber-clad haven

- Natasha Radmehr

DETAILS

What A Scandi-inspired four-bedroom family home

Where Poppleton, York Architect Mass Architecture

Bland. Basic. These are not commonly sought-after qualities in a new home, but then Lee Thornley – who recalls this being his first impression of his current abode – wasn’t exactly a typical house hunter. The design entrepreneur’s eye for improvement has always been his calling card: his boutique hotel in southern Spain, Casa La Siesta, was built using salvaged materials, while the interiors brand he founded, Bert & May, was born of a passion for reclaimed Andalusian tiles.

So when he and his partner Phil happened upon an unassuming three-bedroom home on the fringes of York three years ago “with no remarkable architectural details”, Thornley felt the familiar stirrings of a design project ripe for construction.

“I was determined to prove you can take something a bit average and boring and transform it into something really interesting,” he says. “I think that was the vision, really; to create a cool space from something that most people would say was really dull.”

The two-storey home was built in 1959, so it felt natural to lean into a Scandinavian-influenced, mid-century aesthetic – but it was never going to be a simple case of ripping out the pink carpets and replacing the kitsch fish-patterned tiles.

After living in the house for a short period to understand its bones, the couple enlisted the help of York-based practice Mass Architecture to reimagine its structure and introduce a brighter, airier feel in line with Nordic design sensibilities.