From Fort to Family Home

Author: Emily Osmond

As designers, we have an innate desire to transform extraordinary spaces into stunning family homes, with often the most daunting of properties resulting in the most incredible spaces with just a touch of TLC and a pop of colour. 

Exposed brick walls, hardwood flooring and high ceilings have become increasingly popular, but nevertheless still overwhelming to many prospective buyers. When viewing a property, often the most monumental of all tasks, is imagining how you, and your family can make it your home, and when faced with a historic building and a blank canvas, this can sometimes seem impossible. 

However, with an increasing number of buyers seeking larger houses outside of cities, the market has opened-up to more unique spaces being transformed into homes. We’ve seen the likes of warehouse conversions to barn conversions and everything in between. Nonetheless, the property market never fails to surprise us…

On a recent excursion to the Isle of Wight, we were faced with just that. Presented with an apartment in Golden Hill Fort, a defence site built between 1863 and 1868 in Freshwater, the team had the task of transforming this 19th Century infrastructure into a warm and welcoming home.

When presented with high ceilings, winding staircases and original architectural features, the initial instinct is to shy away from putting too much into the space, and instead letting it speak for itself. However, this can leave the interior feeling empty and cold. Finding this balance is key to creating a warm and welcoming home, whilst still appreciating original features.

 Bringing light and colour into this space was the initial challenge we faced. With limited natural light available, the use of colour and lighting had to be well thought through and tactical. The goal was to emphasise the gorgeous original archways and features of this extraordinary home and take advantage of these natural shapes and shadows. 

Using these archways to frame pieces of furniture and statement art really brought the space to life and added a modern feel to this historic building. Our designer had a lot of fun playing with different textures and patterns to compliment the exposed brick, seamlessly blending the rustic interiors with softer and more modern furnishings. 

The outcome was truly remarkable and created such a bold and unique space, fit for any family. As the property market continues to expand and grow with property innovations, we cannot wait to see what exciting challenge we are faced with next!