We are super exited to be opening our doors this weekend to our first guests!! After months of renovations, the Old Mill has been transformed into a modern, rustic escape for two. We always had in mind that we’d like our first holiday cottage at Dod Mill to be a place where our guests can fully unwind and disconnect from hectic lives. Fingers crossed our first visitors can do just that!

The Old Mill has been professionally interior designed by the fabulous DecorAir duo Rachel Richmond and Xanthe Weir. They’ve brought a serious eye for design, “edge” and creativity to the project.

During the design phase, we knew we wanted our first holiday cottage to be unique. The Old Mill is already a quirky building – it has a waterwheel on the end after all! The brief was to create a property with modern styling as well as furniture and finds to give a hint of the Dod Mill site’s industrial and eclectic history.

It’s been a bit of a labour of love for Jamie and I (Ruth). We’ve burnt a LOT of midnight oil with project management, multiple coats of Farrow & Ball, product sourcing (aka Googling!), unpacking, measuring, picture-hanging and snag-list fixing. We’re so pleased with how it’s come together…now holding our breath now as we await our first paying guests.

COLOURs & HANDMADE FEATURES

The most fun bit of the project was in finding lots of unique and interesting pieces. We searched high and low, online and on the ground, for furniture, cushions, rugs, fabrics, tiles and paint colours to give the look we were after.

The paint choices came from Rachel Richmond – we went for a super-rich, aubergine colour for the kitchen (Brinjal, Farrow & Ball). The entire wall at the kitchen-end of the Old Mill is painted in the same shade, as is the island.  The floors are painted in Worsted, the walls in Strong White and the woodwork in Salon Drab. The tones area all earthy and natural.

All of the shutters in the Old Mill have been handmade by our excellent local joiner, Ian Young. They fit beautifully and with some paint and tactile leather handles (Dowsing & Reynolds), look fab. The sliding shutters which cover the Velux windows are also handmade by Ian – we asked if there was any way to avoid boring roller blinds here, and he came up with this brilliant design.

Interesting Finds

Our favourite finds in the property include the two monkey lamps on our bedside tables. They are available from Rockett St George and are such fun little characters. We upcycled the two cushions on the bed from ones I bought years ago in Anthropologie on the Kings Road in London – some repairs and new backing did wonders.

Xanthe Weir found the gorgeous vintage Morrocan rug in the living area. It is huge and so cosy, and really defines the space by the woodburning stove.  She also picked up a French balloon mould which is easily the most-asked-about item in the whole property!

I found the old printing letter tray in a local antiques store (the Old Melrose Furniture Studio & Tea Room) and the sputnik-style nail wall art came from Hendersons in Melrose.

Even the crockery, cutlery, glassware and serving dishes were subject to hours of Googling. We went for handmade crockery in beetroot, fennel and mushroom tones. I have developed a bit of an artisan mug obsession in the process.