Contemporary Church Conversion in the Scottish Borders

The solution was to take a chunk out of the hall to bring light into the centre of the building, allowing the reconfigured living space to be arranged around a central courtyard. “This would create a private outdoor zone,” says Thea. “It also establishes a connection between the front of the house and the back.”

The proposal presented to planning was for an accessible three-bedroom home spread across two levels, with an open-plan kitchen and dining zone to the front of the house and a main double-height living area tucked behind, with access to a new glazed courtyard. The master bedroom is located at the building’s former entrance, and a main bathroom and study/bedroom also feature at ground level.

The inclusion of an internal courtyard allows natural light to reach the centre of the floorplan

A new staircase, leading to the living room below, leads to an upper level, where the former attic has been opened up by means of extending the hipped roof to the front of the building, forming a gable. This area now includes a bedroom and shower room, as well as storage space. As the project offered preservation and the continued life of the building, full planning consent from commercial to domestic use was granted.

The Build Begins

Christine took the plunge and decided to project manage the entire scheme herself. She decided to appoint tradespeople directly, many of whom she had worked with before during the course of her career. “I was determined to use local people and all work together,” she says. “I really enjoyed collaborating with everyone in the team, chatting through every decision.”

When construction began, Christine initially commuted from Edinburgh (over an hour’s drive away). However, she eventually moved in with her parents who live nearby. “I’ve renovated houses before, but I’ve never done a project like this, on this scale,” she says. One advantage was that Christine’s work was only five minutes away from the site, which allowed her to balance the demands of her job with her duties as project manager.

The striking kitchen table was a design collaboration between Christine and her joiners Mark and Craig Logan. Steep legs support the weight of the Mistral top, which has been cut to fit the available space

“I would aim to be on site every day by 8am, where I’d meet all the trades that were in that day and discuss what the plans were, as well as iron out any issues from the day before. During the course of the project I climbed many a ladder before turning up at work!”

Christine would also visit the site on her way home once everyone had left, so she could keep a close eye on the day’s progress and check up on any jobs that had been left for her to do. “I painted all the woodwork so I would often arrive to see it all laid out for me to get started,” she says. However, she also recalls that not all the tasks she had to undertake were enjoyable.

The stairway has been painted in Little Greene’s Mister David shade, adding a bright splash of colour to the middle of the house

“I sometimes had to do horrible jobs, like pulling an electric cable under the floor for a socket as no one else could fit into the solum space, (beneath the suspended floor),” she says. “But I wanted my floor socket so it had to be done – despite my fear of potential rodents.”

As the building fabric was stripped back, Christine and the team encountered a few surprises that forced them to tweak their original plans. “When we lifted up the floorboards downstairs it was revealed that the joists were all wonky, so they had to be replaced,” says Christine. “I needed regular centres so I could give myself a better chance of laying the underfloor heating pipes correctly.”

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The vaulted ceiling in the living room is one of the property’s standout design details. The exposed steels overhead add an industrial flourish

The fabric of the existing building was fully upgraded, including removal of asbestos and the addition of a new roof, along with the restoration of the existing finials. In terms of the new structure, vertical steel posts with horizontal rolled steel joists were installed to create the courtyard space.

Expansive glazed panels and sliding doors have been installed at ground level, where a ramp forms the new entrance and leads to the courtyard area. Smooth cement render in a shade of pewter grey characterises the lower part of the house, which is in keeping with the adjacent stone buildings on the street. Christine took on the task of scorching every piece of the larch cladding herself, using a blowtorch. The original concrete tiled roof was replaced with Spanish slate, plus black zinc finishes to the flat roof, valley gutter and flashing.

Contemporary Vision

Christine was also responsible for sourcing and designing the interior finishes. “I wanted the same large format tiles throughout the ground floor because I thought it would make the spaces flow into each other and open them up – and it worked!’ she says. “I also asked for the biggest sliding internal doors possible into my bedroom and study – they’re 2.3m high. The joiners found amazing hidden sliding mechanisms, so the overall aesthetic is very sleek.”

A set of large sliding doors connects the ensuite to Christine’s bedroom upstairs

The bespoke joinery, including the kitchen table and chairs (which are based on an adapted version of Reitveld’s Zig Zag chair) were made by the joiners Mark and Craig Logan, in collaboration with Christine. The top of the dining table is the same Mistral material as the worktops. “I asked for the steel in the kitchen to remain exposed so I could paint it a funky colour,” she says.

In terms of sustainability, the house features large amounts of Kingspan insulation and double-glazed windows. It also benefits from substantial solar gain via the south-facing courtyard, which opens the house up to the morning light and is in direct sunlight until the early afternoon (and later during the summer months). Underfloor heating has been laid on the ground floor.

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Striking glazed doors allow light to pour into the church conversion’s kitchen-dining space

The project took 18 months to complete. “I decided it was best to be chilled about the timescale,” says Christine. “There was no rushing as I wanted everything to be right. I spent hours painting, which became quite meditative. It was very peaceful, spending my weekends and evenings doing it,” says Christine.

The financial and emotional investment in the project finally convinced Christine that the house would not end up as a rental property. “I feel so proud of everyone’s hard work,” she concludes. “I spent so many hours here and it’s so beautiful, I knew I had to live in it. I think I might be here forever – I love it.”