The Beaches Show Home: Meet the Interior Designers

Creating the perfect show home is an art form, and with our customers being particularly discerning we aim to create an experience that tells stories and transports customers into the Fotheringham Homes lifestyle.

To help us create the perfect show home, we entrust the interior design of these spaces to our partners at The Inside Story, a mother and daughter team based in Aberdeenshire who have a passion for telling stories through their work.

For the Aspen, it was about using colours that spoke of that local landscape, as well as showing that a minimal design doesn’t have to be bland.

A blank canvas

When buying a new-build, be it off plan, or under construction, you will be presented with a blank space to make your own mark on and, while it is advised that you wait for the building to settle for at least a year before painting, there is plenty that can be done immediately.

Lisa Watts, who co-founded Inside Story with her daughter Freya, said: “Oftentimes, show homes feel like they have been styled to show customers how much stuff can fit inside, but that is rarely how people actually live. That is why we try to take the opposite approach and create a style which feels genuine and lets the architecture of the home shine – our ethos is that interior design should enhance architecture, rather than try and mask it.

“We are honoured that Fotheringham Homes trust our process enough to let us have free reign over the look and feel of the Aspen at Johnshaven, and I’m delighted by how many customers have requested some of our design features in their new home.”

Local inspiration

Buying a Fotheringham Home is a unique experience, as customers have almost complete control over fixtures, fittings and finishings used, meaning that the show home had to tell that story.

To achieve this, the Inside Story duo used a colour palette of warm wood and natural tones of brass and deep green to add a sense of luxury and security as well as to temper the size of the vast open-plan kitchen/dining/living space which could easily feel cold and imposing.

Commenting on the colour palette chosen, Freya said: “While Johnshaven has a clear link to the sea, we decided to pull more on the tones of the beautiful surrounding countryside.  Neutrals are a huge trend at the moment so we used this as a base to add the richer green and walnut tones to.

“Following the response to the panelling we used at the show home in the master bedroom at Marykirk, we again wanted to show how adding panelling to a room is a simple way of adding depth and texture to a room.  The deep green panelling in the guest bedroom is already proving to be a very popular feature of the Aspen Showhome.”

The Aspen show home is now open at The Beaches, Johnshaven by appointment which can be booked by calling 01561 362299 or through our online contact form.

For more information on The Beaches, Johnshaven, or any of our other developments you can visit the New Homes section on our website.