Why work is at the art of the home
In many cases, people's work spaces develop from or even within a living space. The opposite is true for Debbie and Steve Loane's home just outside Easingwold – their home has evolved out of the gallery they founded. And what they have created is a true live-work space.
Steve, who is a chocolate scientist, and Debbie, a painter, founded the Lund Gallery on Debbie's parents' 14-acre smallholding, transforming a series of outbuildings into a high spec art gallery with a focus on contemporary ceramics, paintings and etchings.
The gallery, with its beautiful high ceilings, Velux windows and exposed beams, has gained a strong reputation for showing both local and national artists, and Debbie, who also has her own painting studio adjacent to the gallery, commuted from York for the first few years to run the business.
When the couple decided to start trying for a family, their thoughts turned to their domestic situation – and to the barns where they'd had their wedding reception. They embarked on what they envisaged to be a simple building project – expanding the gallery and converting the redundant barns into a small two-bedroomed home that would provide immediate access to the gallery. In reality, the project became far more complicated than they could have ever imagined.
"Due to succession planning, the tax and planning aspects of the change of use of the building turned out to very complicated and it took several months for the accountant and lawyer to reach a suitable solution," says Debbie. Work began at the beginning of 2008, by which stage Debbie had discovered that she was pregnant. Then came their biggest stumbling block. The discovery of bats in the barn in March meant that the Loanes had to commit to re-homing them. This effectively meant that they stood to lose their second bedroom to accommodate a bat loft.
Following lengthy negotiation with Natural England, they were allowed to provide an alternative roost next door in the adjacent tractor barn gallery space, but at great cost to them both financially and in terms of space.
"At one stage, I thought we wouldn't have anywhere to live when our baby arrived because we'd had to delay work to allow for the bats' nesting season," says Debbie. "We were still trying to finish off the project with baby Finn on my arm." Once June arrived, so did the rain, which certainly didn't help matters.
By the beginning of the following February, four months later than scheduled, the family were able to move into their new home and appreciate its sound green credentials – heating with a biomass boiler that burns scrap wood, combined with high levels of insulation, have made the house super dry and warm. Building on this warm feel, Debbie has approached the decoration of the house with an emphasis on warm colours and practical materials. "My inspiration was a pot by Robin Welch," she says. It's a large ceramic vessel in strong earth and autumn colours that now sits resplendent by the woodburning stove in the sitting room. Unusually, Debbie had exterior stone tiles laid throughout the downstairs, mainly for practical reasons. "Being in the country, we often race through the house from one place to another in our wellies." But the effect looks very organic and fits in with the ceramic ethos.
Striving for a look of openness, Debbie kept background colours pale (whites, olives, beige and cream), infusing colour through display and brightly coloured shelves. In the kitchen she opted for floor- level cupboards but shelves at eye level, where she displays a collection of ceramic ware that varies from charity shop finds to potters' mugs by makers such as RAMP (whose work can also be found in the gallery).
The sitting room contains Debbie's more precious ceramic pieces, along with a reclaimed wire wall sculpture by gallery artist Celia Smith and paintings by Debbie and Val Bestwick. A mid-century sideboard that previously belonged to Debbie's parents provides storage space as well as display space, and the floor is home to a number of vintage rag rugs. Throughout the house there is a clever combination of key pieces with vintage finds. For example, Debbie's mum made bedroom curtains from pieces of fabric discovered in charity shops.
The couple have used as much wood in their build as possible, especially upstairs where there are more exposed beams and wooden floors. These, along with the Velux windows, give definite echoes of the gallery space next door, and continue the feeling of light and warmth, not to mention a strong connection with their rural surroundings.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -7 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
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