House Call: A Ceramic Artist's Enviable Life on the Scottish Coast - Remodelista
With an idyllic garden studio next door to her house, ceramicist Lucy Dunce has an enviable life on the East Lothian coastline of Scotland... Photography by Douglas Gibb via Her Indoors. ...one which she and her cabinetmaker husband, have been painstakingly fixing up over the past 10 years for their family of four. The group of structures was developed into four individual houses in the 1970s... ...and when the couple came upon the one that would eventually become theirs, it was in a serious state of disrepair without even a staircase connecting upstairs and down. An avid gardener, Dunce’s stone cottage is surrounded by her plantings. A turquoise door leads into the kitchen. A marble-topped dresser displays an array of ceramics and glassware in the entrance of the kitchen. A series of handmade wood shelves with brackets provide valuable open shelving by the door. A modern farmhouse table stands at the center of the kitchen. A Japanese-inspired open shelving system was built to fit between the cabinet and the end of the wall. Dunce painted the cottage’s low ceilings and beams white to keep things bright. The model ship and driftwood above the living room mantel are reminders of the nearby coast. Above L: A new staircase was crafted out of locally sourced sycamore. Above R: Skylights were installed throughout the house to bring in more light. A fuschia bedspread supplies some drama to the otherwise calm palette in the master bedroom. The blue-gray painted wood floor fits in seamlessly with the soft light of the British Isles. A set of bookshelves were built in to follow the attic roofline of the house. Above L: Painted beadboard creates a green base that runs around bathroom unifying the cabinets and the bath. Above R: A skyllight fit into the sloping roof above the sink provides light and extra headroom. Above L: In her garden, Dunce created a decorative path using small stones with a brick border. Dunce finds inspiration in the abstraction of nature. Above L: Dunce’s ceramic glazes ready to be applied. A collage of inspirations surround Dunce’s desk. To see her finished work, go to Lucy Dunce Ceramics. Here’s Gardenista’s advice for how to add some crucial greenery.