Hidden history: Burnside Toll Cottage may look brand new after its makeover but it dates back to the 17th century

THE name of Burnside Toll Cottage gives the first hint of this property's origins, and the fact that it is a lot older than it might appear. Locals who knew the house didn't recognise the cottage after Claire and John Menzies-Smith had completed its refurbishment; some even asked if it was newly built.

Yet Burnside Toll Cottage dates from 1650, when it was a toll cottage on the drovers' route. The cottage is in the hamlet of Burnside, about three miles north-east of Milnathort in Kinross-shire. Claire believes the building fell derelict at one point until it was renovated in the 1980s, when the cottage was extended at the rear and also into the attic space, creating today's two levels of accommodation.

Still, the property was far from bonny when Claire and John bought it in November 2006. "It took a lot to convince John that this was the house we wanted," Claire recalls.

The couple had been living in Callander with their son Keir, now ten, and the impetus for the move was logistical as Claire works as a clerk with the Scottish Parliament and was commuting to Edinburgh every day. Given that Burnside is only around five minutes' drive from the M90, the geography made sense, and if anything this became even more crucial when Claire realised that she was pregnant with Inez, now three, while the couple were selling their Callander house.

"We both like older properties, and we wanted something that was a bit of a project," she says. The cottage didn't have any period features to work with, other than the thick exterior walls to the front, resulting in the deep-set windows, so they started with a blank canvas.

John, a plasterer, camped out in the cottage for the first three weeks while the fundamental work was being done: replumbing and installing an LPG central heating system, stripping walls and replastering, laying the solid oak flooring that extends throughout the ground level, and installing new windows.

The former sitting and dining rooms were also combined to create an almost nine-metre-long space, with French doors installed leading from the dining area onto the rear patio. The couple's initial plans for reconfiguring the ground floor had to be reconsidered when they discovered the internal walls were constructed in concrete block. "We assumed there would be at least one stud wall, but basically anything we did to the house was structural," Claire explains.

As well as being hands-on during the six-month project (the work was completed just two weeks before Inez was born) John also acted as project manager. "I hadn't grasped the enormity of doing a whole house," Claire admits. "I reached the stage at times where I just couldn't make decisions. There were a lot of late-night discussions. The house was the main topic of conversation for months."

Yet Claire relished the aesthetic challenge. "Our last house was a new build, and while we had the choice of kitchen fittings and tiling, we were choosing from a range. They weren't really my choices as such," she explains. Claire comes from an artistic background, having studied at Glasgow School of Art. "I don't get the chance to practise art any more, but we had a canvas here to be more creative and to get things we really liked. I wanted a comfortable family house with a nod to the old, but with all the mod cons."

Given that Claire had planned to host Christmas dinner in their new home, the pressure was on to get the basics finished – and things were still pretty basic when Claire and Keir moved in. Christmas Day arrived with the family's belongings still in boxes and minus a fridge, so food was kept cold in the shed outside.

"The hardest point in the whole project was getting the kitchen in, as after taking the old one out we were left with nothing but a cooker and a table," Claire recalls. When deciding on the new interior style, the couple opted for natural, timeless finishes that wouldn't date. In the kitchen, this translates into the Travertine tiled floor and tumbled marble-tiled splashbacks, combined with oak units and sleek composite worktops.

In the family bathroom upstairs, the contemporary freestanding bath sits in a timber cradle, while the large-profile ceramic floor tiles have a rusted appearance. "We wanted to keep the look classic but modern, and use as many natural materials as possible," Claire explains.

When deciding on the palette, she says: "I think the character of this house dictated how it was to be decorated. The colours are pale but on the grey side; they're more traditional colours, but they work well in the Scottish light." Claire carried this restrained colour scheme into the furniture, although the overall effect is striking, particularly in the all-white dining area. "I love the contrast of black and white; it always works. I'd rather save colour for the things that can be easily changed."

Many of the pieces here, including the white leather lounge chair and glass-topped tables, came from online retailer Quatropi, while Ron Arad'sBookworm shelf was an inspired addition. "I was looking for a different, more artistic way of displaying books," Claire says.

By contrast the family room has a warmer palette of greys and metallic finishes. "I've used grey over a number of years as it's a really versatile colour no matter what you put with it," Claire says. Again there are statement pieces, like Laura Ashley's Constellation mirror, while Claire added a pop of pattern with the Erin silk fabric, also by Laura Ashley, for the blinds.

"I have ideas overload, whereas John is very good at sifting through things and seeing what will work," she says. "He sees a space more as a whole."

Upstairs on the landing, what is now Claire's study was previously a wall of cupboards that John removed, and a large Velux window now bathes this space in light. Veluxes were also added to the family bathroom and the three bedrooms upstairs, creating 360-degree views.

"It's just opened up this whole upper level," says Claire. "It's almost like living in a greenhouse because of the light, and you get these great views out over the fields."

The couple also transformed the exterior look of the cottage with a fresh lick of Sandtex magnolia and with timber shutters on the windows which, like the front door, are painted a soft, traditional green that offsets the red pantiles on the roof. "We wanted to mark the fact that this was an old cottage," Claire explains. "This house was so unkempt when we bought it, it was sad to see it go into decline. It feels good to have put something back." k

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•This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday on 16 May 2010