Interiors: The Cottage on the Beach, North Berwick

Five years ago, during one of many holidays to the town, Jennifer and Jim noticed this cottage for sale and popped in to an open viewing.

"We could hardly move for people," recalls Jennifer. Nevertheless, six weeks after making an offer the cottage was theirs.

With relocation to Scotland from London on the cards, the couple's original plan was to move here. Ultimately, however they decided the cottage was a little small for everyday living, and family connections later drew the couple and their two children back to the Scottish Borders, where Jennifer grew up.

Meanwhile the cottage, not upgraded in years and previously owned by two colourful characters who flew the Saltire out of the back window, was transformed into a desirable holiday let attracting year-round guests.

At one point during renovations – carried out within four months by Edinburgh-based builder James Dawson – all that remained were four external walls and the shape of the boxed-in stairs. Fundamental jobs included re-wiring and installing cavity-wall insulation. Rather unexpectedly the entire roof had to come off.

"It was nail sick," says Jennifer; "Sea salt had corroded the metal."

The roof timbers were rotten too, resulting in a costly job, although original slates were salvaged for re-use. Architect Rob Bruce of Robert Bruce Designs drew plans for the re-configuration of rooms and a new porch.

Although the couple weren't allowed to add anything on, they could replace the back porch as long as it remained in keeping with the original. The new porch with pitched roof and timber cladding is like a little beach hut, providing a handy space to offload coats and shoes after a day on the sand.

One of the biggest drawbacks to the old floorplan was the tiny sitting area, squashed into a narrow space at the back of the property.

"Some of the best views of the bay are gained from the window there, so we wanted to open this area right up," says Jennifer.

Space was borrowed from an adjoining room at the front, which, in smaller form, is now a double bedroom with a built-in cabin bed, a fitting choice for this seaside abode. With typical attention to detail, Jennifer finished this downstairs bedroom with a quirky pendant light by Danish designer Tord Boontje.

The door to this bedroom opens off the entrance hall, opposite another door that originally led to a narrow kitchen, but which is now home to a shower room. A new open-plan kitchen is to the rear of this, leading into a dining area that occupies the remainder of the ground floor.

Solid panels were removed from the staircase, and new uprights inserted to create a more open feel between the stairs and the adjacent living area.

The stair treads were treated to a light-blue Farrow & Ball floor paint, as were new timber floorboards throughout (the original boards were too rotten to save). Reminiscent of the seaside, the same paint shade is used over tongue-and-groove wall panelling custom-made for the living as well as the dining area, where it forms part of a space-saving, built-in bench/storage seat. Jennifer took measurements for the bench – including the angled back and seat depth – from a church pew in a friend's kitchen.

"I really wanted it to be just as comfortable as that pew," she says.

Jim grew up with the antique table (originally from an officer's mess in Lincolnshire), given to the couple by his parents.

Its long, narrow shape is a perfect fit for the dining space, teamed with chairs (also gifted by Jim's parents) for which Jennifer made brightly-covered seat pads using fabric bought in France. Framed black-and-white prints, taken at the nearby harbour, are by a local photographer.

Jennifer really wanted tongue-and-groove fronted kitchen units.

"I could only find them in buttercup yellow, which I knew would look dreadful here," she says, so she opted to have the units re-sprayed white. Another creative addition is a pinboard Jennifer made using old wine and champagne corks.

Nautical touches emerge throughout, such as wall-mounted oars in the living space, which came from a boat belonging to Jim's dad, while Jennifer carted the lighthouse floor lamp all the way back from France.

The fun compass and life ring cushions came from a children's mail order website, and the large timber chest was picked up years ago, as a birthday gift for Jim, in an Edinburgh antique shop. In one of the two upstairs bedrooms there's a handmade driftwood wall cupboard, bought at Number Four, a gallery in St Abbs.

These upstairs rooms reinstate the floorplan largely as it was, the two bedrooms (equipped with zip-link beds, so they function as a double or twins) flanking a bathroom, the latter again boasting the blue-painted tongue-and-groove panelling.

"We ate into the generously-sized upper landing a little, making the rooms bigger," says Jennifer.

Dormers give both bedrooms elevated views over the bay, and in one of these rooms cupboards were built on either side of the window.

The hard work didn't stop with the cottage; Jennifer completely re-landscaped the garden, which demanded a low-maintenance design. Her mum inherited most of the shrubs that came out, while a new patio was laid with sections of concrete that look remarkably like driftwood.

"It's much safer than wood, which gets slippery when wet," explains Jennifer, who also planted herbs for guests' use. Then, of course, there's that gate, accessing the most priceless asset any holiday cottage can have – a world where children and adults alike can lose themselves for hours on end.

Tel: 07931 530234, www.thecottageonthebeach.co.uk, Robert Bruce Designs, tel: 0131-552 0147.

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 16 October, 2010