On April 21, at 6.25pm, Tracey Moore will be doing the same as thousands of other Scottish folk.
She’ll be settling down on the sofa in front of the telly, along with her family, including her husband, Scott, children Alfie, Bloom and Marley, and maybe even their two rabbits, Coco and Rocco.
They’ll be tuning into BBC One Scotland to watch their favourite programme and the seventh series of the much loved Scotland’s Home of the Year.
All very normal, except this year, the Moore’s Saltcoats property is in the shortlist. Until the public airing, it’ll be news to some acquaintances that they’re having a moment of fame.
“We’ve kept it quiet and not really told anybody. So we’ll have a wee night in the house and a glass of wine watching it,“ says Moore, 38, who works as a bridal technician. ”We put the application through, and a few weeks later we heard back that we got in. That was so exciting”.
Her home is the first to feature in the inaugural episode, which is a regional heat with a West theme, and also includes a Victorian villa in Helensburgh and a Thirties sandstone bungalow in Giffnock. As always, the presenters include interior designer Anna Campbell-Jones, architect Danny Campbell and the newest addition to the team, Banjo Beale, who will all be going on search for outstanding properties across the country.
We hope that they love Moore’s home, which is an upper four-bedroom beachfront flat that she’s owned for the last two years.
She certainly had to do a lot of prep for their visit, though there were no last minute paint jobs or other decor updates.
“We never changed anything. Just kept it as was. But it was a bit of a quick tidy up, making sure that the kids’ stuff was tidied away,” says Moore, whose favourite judge is Anna Campbell-Jones, since she’s ‘the OG’. “The night before they visited, we actually ate on the beach, because I thought I shouldn’t even use the kitchen. We were first to be filmed in the morning, so it was like eight o'clock. An early rise”.
It was a thrill for the whole family to have the camera crew and judges over.
“The kids were really excited. It was good to see it all come together, because there was a buzz about the house and the amount of people that were in it, “ says Moore, who describes her interior style as ‘quite eclectic’.
Their home is especially notable in that it’s full of cheer.
She’s certainly not scared of colour. Although some rooms, like the modern kitchen and the bathroom with free-standing bath, are chicly muted and monochrome, in other spaces, there are accents of brightest orange, but also pops of pink, from calamine lotion pale to electric.
In their converted loft bedroom, there’s lots of teal and a Japanese vibe, with bird print gilded wallpaper and bedding.
The accessories throughout the house include Keith Haring prints, and, in her son Marley’s bedroom, Moore created a hand painted mural that’s inspired by this artist’s graphic work.
In the living room, there are other colourful artworks, including one of Frida Kahlo, with colours that are echoed in the soft furnishings, which include bright orange tiger pelt print cushions.
It might look expensive, but this isn’t designer gear. As far as the decor goes, Moore is a seasoned thrifter and adores a bargain.
“I do a little upcycling just for friends and family and I've sold a couple of pieces online, but mainly it's just for the house that I'll do my own work,” she says. “I think the house is probably about 90 per cent secondhand. I'll also get people that know me that will message me and say things like ‘I've got this old unit, is it of any interest to you?’”
The kids have also inherited the creative gene. There’s a stairway in Moore’s house that they call The Hall of Fame, as it’s where the children display their artwork.
The youngest members of the family have also designed their own bedrooms.
"It's not just our house, it’s the kids' house too, and they put their stamp on it as well. So that's been quite nice,” says Moore. “My youngest one, he's nearly eight. So he's quite happy to go with the flow, but my middle one’s room is covered in her own pictures and paint ,and she’s decorated the hall as well. She goes to art class and drama club and stuff like that, so she follows me in terms of design”.
As far as the rooms go, Moore doesn’t really have a favourite.
It’s more about what you can see, especially from the lounge, where the family play games, do homework and spend most of their quality time together.
“We are lucky enough to live right at the shore front in Saltcoats with the most amazing views of the Isle of Arran,” she says. “Before we moved here we lived a few towns away in a relatively new building. It was a nice home but just not our forever home, as we wanted a period property with a bit more character and to live beside the sea”.
Now that Moore has the house just as she likes it, does she have the urge to up sticks, in order to start an entirely new project from scratch?
As she says; “It’s always been a case of, if we get a house by the sea that’s big enough for us all then that was the dream goal. So we've managed to achieve that and we won’t be moving any time soon. I wouldn't imagine so, unless it was to downsize”.
Scotland’s Home of the Year is on BBC Scotland at 6.25pm on April 21, and on BBC iPlayer, www.bbc.co.uk
