How did your life change through the pandemic?  For Tristan and Jaimie who live opposite me, much of what they had imagined themselves doing suddenly came to a standstill.  But, the time at home gave them a new focus and allowed them to use their design skills to create new living spaces not just for themselves but for their friends and neighbours too.  

Right in the middle of work a major extension when the first lockdown hit, they found their own home turned upside down for over a year rather than for the few months they’d originally planned. The challenges of lockdowns included builders having to isolate and supplies simply not appearing.

Tristan was already training as an upholsterer and part of the building work was intended to create a studio where he could run his new business, Masterpiece Upholstery. After an about-turn from a career in advertising, he commented;

“In a day and age when we are all trying to do our bit to consume less, re-invigorating a piece of furniture, rather than sending it to the dump, is a great way to reduce your consumption and carbon footprint.”

Jaimie, meanwhile, found his own work as a theatre designer had ground to a halt completely. 

Looking out of my window one evening I spotted my next-door neighbours legging it across the street carrying an old Victorian bureau that had seen better days. The next day I asked – and discovered that Jaimie was going to restore it for them. A lifetime working in the theatre has meant he can turn his hand to all sorts of things as I was to discover.  

A few weeks later, I spotted him lurking in one of the gardens further down the street.  Honestly, I don’t spend my time staring out of the window normally!  That project was to paint a mural on the wall – a door into the park behind.  

Meanwhile, Tristan was managing the stop-start building project to transform their home.  I’d seen the white card model that they’d made before work started – as Jaimie explained, it’s the start of the kind of work he does when he’s designing for the theatre. It was fascinating to see it take shape, albeit with a few hiccups. I realised that the model itself made so much more sense to me than 3D drawings – and asked them if they could redesign my kitchen for me.  

I now have a lovely miniature kitchen which my very un-tech-savvy builder loves. And we are now about to start work on it! It’s a great use of Jaimie’s own skills and one where there’s an obvious value – it brings to life the design in the same kind of way that furniture makers in the past used to build models for their clients before starting work on the full-sized pieces. It’s an easy visual tool that really helps someone like me get a feel for what is planned.

My own personal shopping list grew and my local, very personal restore and renovate team have already transformed my garden by building new raised planters together with a bench seat and storage unit and by making bespoke cushions for the chairs and for the bench. Oh, and some matching bunting made with the left-over fabric.

Jaimie has taken charge of my dressing table. For years it sat in the corner of my bedroom, a travesty in limed oak that I planned to restore myself. Now beautifully painted, gilded, and refinished, it’s a piece of furniture to be proud of.  

The Victorian stripped pine cupboard that no longer fitted in my bedroom has been restored and hand-painted to echo a Chinoiserie cabinet I have in the living room. Now it can sit by the piano as a store for all my music. It’s totally beyond what I expected when I asked Jaimie to paint it so that it somehow matched the rest of the downstairs furniture. But, as he says,

“Working in the theatre encourages you to have a bespoke approach – there are so many different things to consider for each production.”

I spent some time talking to them both about what they are planning. The studio and the rest of the building work is now complete. The house is no longer the rather box-like 1990 building that had replaced the original bomb-damaged Victorian terrace. Now, without pulling anything down, it’s been transformed into a stunning contemporary building that has passers-by taking photos! Some of the work was contracted out. Other parts of the project, like the parquet flooring, are things they’ve tackled themselves. The silver lining of the pandemic is that it’s given them time to shape things the way they want. And time to consider what they both want to do.

As Tristan remarked when he showed me a Swan chair he has reupholstered

“There’s very little totally new design these days. Vintage chairs have a provenance that makes them special – and they’ve already stood the test of time.”  

He is now busy setting up Masterpiece, his upholstery and curtain-making business and I’m right at the front of the queue to get my living room curtains made. I count myself as very lucky that I know I will get stunning workmanship but also a real contribution to the design issues I struggle to visualise. 

I have a long-term plan for some of my furniture which needs work too. As Tristan notes, 

“Heritage furniture with the right upholstery can become statement pieces that reflect individual style.”

This armchair, for example, has been upholstered to match the curtains and to help make a guest bedroom which might otherwise feel a little cold and impersonal, warm and cosy.

My own goal at some point is to have my vintage throne chairs reupholstered into something a little more dramatic. 

Jaimie has a queue of friends and family looking for help with various projects. I’m ‘borrowing’ his design skills to help with my own next project – to put in place feature walls to provide a focal point against the white and grey décor of my home. That’s another story though…

By Fiona Maclean