Interiors: Running a design business means that Eddie and Audrey Smith worked harder to keep away from obvious trends with their home in Edinburgh’s Joppa

As joint partner of the design and manufacturing business Smith & Co with his wife Audrey, Eddie Smith understands this all too well. For example, when looking for a new kitchen for their home in Joppa, Edinburgh, Eddie says: “I wanted a kitchen that I hadn’t done for anyone else.”

It seems one can grow weary of finishes when you see them too often, so for his own kitchen he chose zebrano, a richly grained timber that was unusual in 2005, when the kitchen was put in. As fashions evolved, Eddie found himself designing and fitting zebrano kitchens for clients. So he changed the finish on his, staying with zebrano but using a vertical rather than horizontal grain, combined with aluminium detailing. The chunky white Corian worktops remain, as does the pink glass splashback. “It’s maybe not everyone’s taste, but I wanted to provoke a reaction,” says Eddie. The kitchen is practical and functional, and anything but dull.

The same can be said of this entire interior, which combines the functionality you would want from a family home – the couple have two daughters: Lauren, 11, and Ella, 7 – with beautiful bespoke detailing and bold design touches in the wallpapers, lighting and accessories.

The couple bought this detached four-bedroom house at 17 Coillesdene Crescent, in 2000. After offering unsuccessfully on a few Victorian and Edwardian houses, and wanting to stay in the area, they decided to try a different property type. “We picked five bungalows to view and this was the first we looked at,” Eddie recalls. “This was like a magnet,” Audrey adds. “As soon as we left, we turned to each other and said, this is actually all right.”

While many houses of this type have been converted on the upper level, here the first floor is original. The house was built in 1935 and the Smiths are only the third owners. In terms of the decor, the interior was stuck in a time-warp with polystyrene tiles on the ceilings and woodchip on the walls.

But the house had good proportions and much of the original detailing was intact, such as the internal doors with original handles and keys. The house also has a garden and driveway to the front, and a large enclosed garden to the rear.

As soon as Eddie got the keys, there was a skip outside. Lauren was born five weeks after the couple moved in, so Eddie was working to a tight deadline to make the house comfortable. The electrics were upgraded and central heating was installed; the woodchip was stripped off the walls and the place was redecorated. By the time Lauren arrived, two bedrooms were finished and a temporary kitchen was in place.

In fact, the ‘temporary’ kitchen ended up staying put for five years until the zebrano redesign. This space needed a bit of rejigging as the doorway into the kitchen from the hall was closed off and a utility cupboard created, while the original back door from the kitchen was made into a window. French doors were then installed in the sitting-dining room that adjoins the kitchen, opening onto decking outdoors.

The existing staircase was improved: while the stairs and the newel posts are original, Eddie added the wooden bannister and spindles. The bathroom was redesigned with large-scale mosaics and bespoke walnut detailing, while new flooring was laid throughout, including cherry and American black walnut timber finishes. The living room previously featured a bookcase that extended along one wall, which was stripped out and a new fireplace installed with a cherry wood surround matching the floor.

Upstairs, Eddie started by creating the office space by moving doorways and the dividing wall between the two bedrooms so that everything lined up. The smaller bedroom – now Ella’s room – was expanded, again by integrating storage space, and the larger guest bedroom was transformed when Eddie added a Velux window. A large, walk-in cupboard off this room has been plumbed to form an en suite, but the couple are leaving decisions on tiling and fittings to the next owners.

Audrey, whose background is in visual merchandising, has made a great impact with the finished look. The hallway has a striped Romo wallpaper (hung horizontally rather than vertically), where one wall features three plywood stag and roe deer heads, while another features the now iconic Cucú clock by Diamantini & Domeniconi.

The living room has a mix of classic, retro and modern pieces, including the Eames-style lounge chair and ottoman in red and an Isamu Noguchi-style coffee table, along with an original 1970s sunburst clock that used to belong to Audrey’s grandmother. The dining-sitting room features a bespoke sideboard-cum-audio-visual cabinet in stained oak – designed and made by Eddie – paired with two Kartell Bourgie lamps, while the Arco-style floor light was an £80 bargain Audrey sourced at a trade show. “I really like these iconic pieces,” she explains.

This interior isn’t all about serious design pieces: the leather chairs in the master bedroom, which look like scaled-down versions of classic Barcelonas, were unearthed from a skip by Eddie’s father and reupholstered. The display cabinet in the sitting-dining room was made by London cabinet makers Unto This Last and although designed as a CD/DVD rack, the couple have filled the shelves with a quirky array of salt and pepper cellars picked up on their travels.

This interior also gives a nod to boutique hotel design, from the oak bedhead in the master bedroom (again made by Eddie) to glamorous wallpapers like the Romo print on the staircase, and lighting, although Audrey is savvy with her sourcing, and the chandeliers in the hallway turn out to be from Next.

The result is a vibrant living space filled with cool touches and inspired combinations, and a house that displays the benefits of craftsmanship and bespoke detailing.

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