SCOTLAND’S Home of the Year will come to Glasgow this week as the search continues for the country’s best property.
The BBC Scotland series will showcase homes located in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley region on Wednesday’s episode at 8 pm.
Judges Anna Campbell-Jones, Michael Angus, and Kate Spiers will visit the three properties before they decide who proceeds to the grand final.
Each of the homeowners will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Glaswegian Hugh Berry whose property in the city’s Park Terrace was crowned last year’s winner.
Here we meet the Glasgow families set to let the film crews into their beautiful homes for this year’s competition.
Musician Tamara McDonald, 40, her editor husband Martin, 42, and two children Matilda, 8 and Hal 4 proved that they have the patience for a Victorian renovation by transforming their Broomhill property Tilmahara into a beautiful family home.
They moved in over four years ago after returning to Scotland from London for Matilda to start school – and had to start from scratch to make the home liveable, especially with an interior that hadn’t been touched since the 70s.
“We didn’t really want to buy somewhere that had someone else’s tastes. We wanted to make it our own.
“It was a replumb, rewire, the whole shebang,” explained Tamara.
She added: “I wouldn’t say we had a clear vision at the start, it just developed as we were going.
“We put our personality into this house. We don’t intend to leave, it is the place we hope to bring up the kids.”
The couple applied to take part in the show after some encouragement from friends and Tamara admits that she is nervous about its appearance on TV.
She said: “We have not created a home to be judged. It is just literally our home. It is us.
“It is kind of quite nerve-wrecking. I suppose we felt proud of what we have achieved and kind of amazed actually that we got to be part of the show.”
Meanwhile, West End resident Niki Jones described her house as being in a ‘shambles’ when she first moved in over three years ago.
There is, however, certainly no hint of that now to the viewer with the mum-of-one managing to transform the townhouse into her own little haven.
Living with teenage son Gilli, 15, it took textile designer Niki just a year and a half to get the three-storey property the way she wanted it.
The 46-year-old said: “The place was a mess, it really was a mess. But I could see that it had gone bones.
“There was certain aspects of the property that were really lovely. There was lots of beautiful cornice work.”
She added: “It was really important to me to bring back the period aspects of the house but at the same time make it a contemporary home to live in.
“The whole thing is about that balance of the comfort of a modern home to live in but paying respect to the fact it is a period property.”
The final property which will feature in the episode is The Moss in Killearn.
The stunning pink house is found in rural Killearn and sits on 26 acres of land.
The Georgian renovation has been home to Karen and Matt Welstead, both 43, their daughters Cora, 12, and Marnie, 7, and son, William, 9, since 2018. The family moved there after living in Milngavie for several years.
Karen said: "I always wanted to be able to have one foot in the city and one foot in the countryside.
"We are really lucky to be close to the city of Glasgow but still feel very rural.
"Being away in the countryside was something which really attracted me to the property."
She added: "I have pretty much been obsessed with interior design since I was a wee girl.
"My mum was quite into it. I have always read magazines. I am obsessed with it on Instagram. I also run a company and I dress properties for sale.
"So I love property and interior design, it is my passion."
She continued: "I was happy to do the show. It was a great experience. It is lovely that we can see all these different parts of Scotland not just the homes but the families.
"There is such a varied landscape as well between the islands and city. It has been really lovely watching the show."
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