Old school ties

When Julie Gokce announced that she was planning to strip her home back to its stone shell, friends 
threw their hands up in horror.

The converted school oozed rustic charm and had already benefited from a major makeover that gave it a cosy country style.

To the untrained eye it was gorgeous, but Julie is an interiors expert, exposed to the latest trends, and her tastes had been swept towards contemporary design.

“When I did the first fit-out I loved that Laura Ashley look so it was done in a very traditional way with swags and tails, lots of wood and dried flowers hanging from beams but as time went on I just saw it as dated.

“That’s the price you pay for working in the interiors business. You are continually discovering new ideas and styles and that can make you dissatisfied with what you have at home,” says Julie, who is sales and marketing director for Leeds and Brighouse-based Norwood Interiors

“When I told people what I was going to do they thought I was mad. I really did strip out everything, even the staircase went.”

She bought part of the old school in Queensbury, near Halifax, 20 years ago from a builder after falling for its location and its character. The developer had worked the original corbels, columns, beams and trusses into the scheme.

“He put in the staircase and divided the rooms and I took over from there and finished it myself,” says Julie. “ I was really happy with it for a long time, but when I decided to rip it all out I was looking for a new challenge. The original idea was to create another bathroom and re-do the kitchen but I got carried away. Every wall upstairs and downstairs came out. I basically started again.”

Although she had intended to stay on site, she and her son, Arin, now 13, ended up moving into a rented flat for six months while the builders completed the work.

What were three small rooms and a hallway on the ground floor became an enormous open plan entrance and living kitchen with a separate cloakroom. The kitchen leads through to a dining area, while the adjoining garage was converted into a study and utility room.

“Years ago when this was first converted it was all about how many rooms you could squeeze in but the trend now is for open plan space. Our clients want large living kitchens and they work really well. I love mine,” says Julie, who designed and project managed the refurbishment and extension.

“We spend most of our time in the kitchen. Everything happens in here. We eat, chat and watch TV in this room. It’s a fantastic, roomy and full of light making it a really sociable space.”

She fitted it with a gloss kitchen from Norwood Interiors, while the lights over the island are from Dwell.

The island provides an informal place to eat and a large sofa looks on to a false wall designed to hold a TV and store a host of gadgets, games and DVDs.

The dining area is dark and atmospheric and Julie played to these qualities when she decorated in bold black and red.

The ground floor also has a separate sitting room and a new spiral staircase from Italy that replaced wooden steps and a galleried landing.

“I love it but we put the furniture upstairs before we fitted the staircase, so I’m not sure how I’ll get everything down if I ever move,” she says.

Upstairs, all the walls came out and what were five bedrooms and a bathroom became four bedrooms, a house bathroom and two en-suites.

A former bedroom is now a luxurious bathroom with Duravit sanitary ware and Julie designed a master bedroom with en-suite bathroom and steam shower.

Arin has the perfect boys’ room and thanks to his mum’s attention to detail it makes for easy living.

His wet room shower can be turned on via a button next to his bed so the water heats up nicely before he gets up.

He chose his own colour scheme, while the rest of the property is decorated in mostly neutral shades with splashes of red.

There are no curtains at the windows, which are left bare or fitted with blinds, and furniture and clutter is kept to a minimum thanks to fitted wardrobes and storage from Norwood designed by Julie.

Accessories are from Redbrick Mill in Batley, TK Maxx, Home Sense, Dwell, Habitat, Ikea and interiors shops in her favourite city, Barcelona.

Altogether, the makeover, completed six years ago, cost about £80,000, though without Julie’s contacts in the trade, it would’ve been £140,000.

“It sounds a lot but I was looking at moving to get what I wanted and this was cheaper than buying another house and definitely worth it for us.

“It perfectly suits our lifestyle and I love the contemporary look I have now.”

She wouldn’t change the layout again, but she is already thinking of changing the kitchen.

“There is a definite move towards hand-painted kitchens in a contemporary 
design and we do a lot of those for clients. I’d like one, though it is hard to justify,”she says.

“I’m also planning to buy a bio-ethanol ribbon fire for the sitting room. There’s always something new and exciting to lust after in my job.”

Norwood Interiors, www.norwood-interiors.co.uk

JULIE’S TREND REPORT

Open plan living kitchens are sought-after and they are perfect for families. Hand-painted kitchens with contemporary units and matching worktops are also very fashionable, though gloss units are still popular. Colour blocking, where kitchen units feature two colours, is also a strong trend. Work surfaces are getting thinner and granite is being replaced by granite quartz.

Bathrooms are getting bigger as people want a spa experience. Showers are all the rage, though not the old cubicle style. In fact we are seeing clients getting rid of baths and replacing them with large walk-in showers. Tiling is giving way to glass splash backs, which are easy to clean and don’t give you the issues that come with grouting. The other big trend is for 
bi-folding doors, rather than French doors.