The Art

Discover the Story

 

So much of the furnishings of the cottage are handcrafted art pieces or upcycled vintage furniture so I thought I would make a list so you can appreciate the story behind each item!

 

The artwork

Almost all of the paintings on the walls are original works of art painted by myself in either acrylic or watercolours. They are all available to purchase should you fall in love with one during your stay!

• Dusky Blues – £150

• Callanish Stones – £150

• The Blue Tin House – £75

• Mini machair flowers - £25

• Mini Animals and birds - £25 - £55

• Mini seascapes £25

• Berneray Blackhouses – pen - £100 (framed)

• Golden Road Ruins – pen - £35

• Highland cows at Huisinis - acrylic - £900

• Medium Seascapes - £100

• Sanderlings and waves - £75

• Reef Machair - £400

• Highland cow – acrylic - £75

• Sunset - £75

 

The Tweed

All the tweed used throughout the cottage – the curtains, cushions, throws, table runner etc are all handwoven by ourselves in our weaving shed and are completely unique us. The downstairs tweeds are inspired by the colours of the sea while upstairs is an autumnal palette (none of the tweed pieces are for sale but we have a huge selection in our shop and are very happy to make to order)

Seascape wall hangings

There is a large seascape wall hanging on the stairs and a medium seascape wall hanging in the twin room, both woven by us to mirror the surrounding landscapes. We have similar ones available in our shop!

 

The wardrobe, desk and coffee tables

I painted the images directly onto the tables, wardrobe doors and desk to turn ordinary furniture into something a bit different

 

The bathroom installations

The wall installations in the bathroom are pieces of driftwood I collected from local beaches, two of them I then decorated with nature inspired forms fired, glazed then raku glazed to pick up the copper tones of the bathroom fixtures

The mini ceramic sculptures I also made myself

 

Copper fixtures

The copper towel rail, toilet roll holder, towel hooks, door hook and kitchen towel holder are all made from copper plumbing pieces by my husband

 

The Kitchen

The main unit under the sink is an upcycled dresser with handcrafted ceramic knobs I made myself, the wall unit was the top of a bureau. The sideboard is an antique dresser base, the table around 100 years old with the original paint patina on the legs!

 The vintage Isle of Lewis and Harris Map in the kitchen is printed on woven cloth and a wonderful piece of history to see the island in the past! (nfs)

The cupboard under the stairs was specially crafted to mimic the original tongue and grove wooden boarding that covered every wall and ceiling in the house when it was built. Unfortunately, we couldn’t save any of it due to rot and woodworm so we recreated it instead.

The four natural colour mugs were made by Mirranda Forrest from Bornish, Isle of South Uist using glazes made from local plants

The blue and green mugs were made by Interlude Ceramics, hand thrown and glazed.

The drinking glasses have been decorated by myself with hand drawn and painted Celtic inspired art. I also painted the bottle base of the lamp in the living room

The shelves are made of driftwood and decorated with antique pieces (not for using to cook with!) the tin cake cases, shaker and jelly mold are around 100 years old, the stoneware jars and bottles were in the garden when it was dug up, the stoneware hot water bottle I bought locally and is the kind of thing they would have used here 100 years ago!

The coasters and placemats are all made from photographs I have taken around the islands. They are available to purchase in my shop.

The light above the table is made from a piece of driftwood I found on the beach!

 

The master bedroom

These two rugs were woven on a wooden loom by Pocket House Studio from natural undyed wool

The chest of drawers is an antique pine set that had been badly painted so I stripped it back to showcase the natural wood and sealed it to bring out the grain.

The textile piece framed is a tying-in ends from our weaving process. 696 knots hand tied to join the old warp and the new warp together (not for sale but we have plenty in-stock in the shop!)

 

The Living Room

The chair by the desk upstairs is a proper antique with original horse hair stuffing and sacking still inside. I reupholstered it in our autumn check tweed and covered buttons and made a matching button cushion to go with it. The cupboard behind the desk covers the underfloor heating system and was create by cutting down a vintage sideboard, which ended up being a lot more complicated than expected!

The standard lamp is an upcycled loom beam with the original drum on one end from a single width Hattersley like the ones we weave on. My husband wired it up to turn it into a lamp!

The fireplace is Victorian tile surround cast iron with an over mantle made from a piece of reclaimed timber with an amazing story. My brother dug it out of a croft where it was being used as fence strainer. Before then it had come from a house in Stornoway where it had presumably been a beam of some sort looking at the size. It is however African Azelea wood it almost certainly must have been salvaged from a ship that had been built or repaired using the timber when in Africa! The side panels are reclaimed oak that was also being used as fencing!

The ceiling light is a piece of driftwood from the shore that I got my husband to drill and turn into the light feature

The sheepskins are Herdwick crosses (not for sale but we have plenty of sheepskins in our shop!)

The two rugs are woven on our wooden handloom, manually passing the shuttle through the weft and beating it tight by hand to create unique rugs. 

 

The Twin Room

In the twin room we find two antique chest of drawers that came out of a house clearance on the island. The larger piece is very unusual with the deep bottom drawer. The left hand side table is an old coal scuttle bedside table which would have held the coal for the bedroom fire! The righthand table is an antique gentleman’s’ shaving stand with wee compartments and an adjustable mirror.

The two rugs were woven on a peg loom from natural undyed sheep fleece

 

 

The stairs

The ceiling light is decorated with pieces of twisty heather stems washed up on the shore. The carpet to create a bridge between the autumnal upstairs and sea coloured downstairs with a middle green colour which matches both palettes.

Discover the Story

 

So much of the furnishings of the cottage are handcrafted art pieces or upcycled vintage furniture so I thought I would make a list so you can appreciate the story behind each item!

 

The artwork

Almost all of the paintings on the walls are original works of art painted by myself in either acrylic or watercolours. They are all available to purchase should you fall in love with one during your stay!

• Dusky Blues – £150

• Callanish Stones – £150

• The Blue Tin House – £75

• Mini machair flowers - £25

• Mini Animals and birds - £25 - £55

• Mini seascapes £25

• Berneray Blackhouses – pen - £100 (framed)

• Golden Road Ruins – pen - £35

• Highland cows at Huisinis - acrylic - £900

• Medium Seascapes - £100

• Sanderlings and waves - £75

• Reef Machair - £400

• Highland cow – acrylic - £75

• Sunset - £75

 

The Tweed

All the tweed used throughout the cottage – the curtains, cushions, throws, table runner etc are all handwoven by ourselves in our weaving shed and are completely unique us. The downstairs tweeds are inspired by the colours of the sea while upstairs is an autumnal palette (none of the tweed pieces are for sale but we have a huge selection in our shop and are very happy to make to order)

Seascape wall hangings

There is a large seascape wall hanging on the stairs and a medium seascape wall hanging in the twin room, both woven by us to mirror the surrounding landscapes. We have similar ones available in our shop!

 

The wardrobe, desk and coffee tables

I painted the images directly onto the tables, wardrobe doors and desk to turn ordinary furniture into something a bit different

 

The bathroom installations

The wall installations in the bathroom are pieces of driftwood I collected from local beaches, two of them I then decorated with nature inspired forms fired, glazed then raku glazed to pick up the copper tones of the bathroom fixtures

The mini ceramic sculptures I also made myself

 

Copper fixtures

The copper towel rail, toilet roll holder, towel hooks, door hook and kitchen towel holder are all made from copper plumbing pieces by my husband

 

The Kitchen

The main unit under the sink is an upcycled dresser with handcrafted ceramic knobs I made myself, the wall unit was the top of a bureau. The sideboard is an antique dresser base, the table around 100 years old with the original paint patina on the legs!

 The vintage Isle of Lewis and Harris Map in the kitchen is printed on woven cloth and a wonderful piece of history to see the island in the past! (nfs)

The cupboard under the stairs was specially crafted to mimic the original tongue and grove wooden boarding that covered every wall and ceiling in the house when it was built. Unfortunately, we couldn’t save any of it due to rot and woodworm so we recreated it instead.

The four natural colour mugs were made by Mirranda Forrest from Bornish, Isle of South Uist using glazes made from local plants

The blue and green mugs were made by Interlude Ceramics, hand thrown and glazed.

The drinking glasses have been decorated by myself with hand drawn and painted Celtic inspired art. I also painted the bottle base of the lamp in the living room

The shelves are made of driftwood and decorated with antique pieces (not for using to cook with!) the tin cake cases, shaker and jelly mold are around 100 years old, the stoneware jars and bottles were in the garden when it was dug up, the stoneware hot water bottle I bought locally and is the kind of thing they would have used here 100 years ago!

The coasters and placemats are all made from photographs I have taken around the islands. They are available to purchase in my shop.

The light above the table is made from a piece of driftwood I found on the beach!

 

The master bedroom

These two rugs were woven on a wooden loom by Pocket House Studio from natural undyed wool

The chest of drawers is an antique pine set that had been badly painted so I stripped it back to showcase the natural wood and sealed it to bring out the grain.

The textile piece framed is a tying-in ends from our weaving process. 696 knots hand tied to join the old warp and the new warp together (not for sale but we have plenty in-stock in the shop!)

 

The Living Room

The chair by the desk upstairs is a proper antique with original horse hair stuffing and sacking still inside. I reupholstered it in our autumn check tweed and covered buttons and made a matching button cushion to go with it. The cupboard behind the desk covers the underfloor heating system and was create by cutting down a vintage sideboard, which ended up being a lot more complicated than expected!

The standard lamp is an upcycled loom beam with the original drum on one end from a single width Hattersley like the ones we weave on. My husband wired it up to turn it into a lamp!

The fireplace is Victorian tile surround cast iron with an over mantle made from a piece of reclaimed timber with an amazing story. My brother dug it out of a croft where it was being used as fence strainer. Before then it had come from a house in Stornoway where it had presumably been a beam of some sort looking at the size. It is however African Azelea wood it almost certainly must have been salvaged from a ship that had been built or repaired using the timber when in Africa! The side panels are reclaimed oak that was also being used as fencing!

The ceiling light is a piece of driftwood from the shore that I got my husband to drill and turn into the light feature

The sheepskins are Herdwick crosses (not for sale but we have plenty of sheepskins in our shop!)

The two rugs are woven on our wooden handloom, manually passing the shuttle through the weft and beating it tight by hand to create unique rugs. 

 

The Twin Room

In the twin room we find two antique chest of drawers that came out of a house clearance on the island. The larger piece is very unusual with the deep bottom drawer. The left hand side table is an old coal scuttle bedside table which would have held the coal for the bedroom fire! The righthand table is an antique gentleman’s’ shaving stand with wee compartments and an adjustable mirror.

The two rugs were woven on a peg loom from natural undyed sheep fleece

 

 

The stairs

The ceiling light is decorated with pieces of twisty heather stems washed up on the shore. The carpet to create a bridge between the autumnal upstairs and sea coloured downstairs with a middle green colour which matches both palettes.