House with room for inspiration

Ian's graphic pictures are literal and bright and a complete contrast to Stef's powerful abstracts. Their work hangs side by side in the cottage they bought from friends 12 years ago.

"We were living in Fridaythorpe but we wanted somewhere more isolated

with more land and this property only really came into the equation after we decided to club together to buy a house with my parents,"

says Stef.

"We knew it well because our friends lived here and we loved the location."

The property was created from two farmworkers cottages knocked into one in the 1970s. The couple, who met at Goldsmiths University, now have half of the ground floor, all of the upstairs and share the conservatory. To create more space and light, Ian and Stef, who have a daughter Hannah, 19, and son Tom, 22, have embarked on a series of projects over the years including knocking walls down and creating an extension to house an office/studio and dining area.

"I started off wanting a verandah and ended up with an extension, but it works really well for us and knocking the walls down has brought more light in, especially to the kitchen," says Stef.

The kitchen features a clever mix of conventional units, an island from Habitat, mirrored bathroom cabinets from Ikea and stainless steel units, sink and power washer tap from a bistro in Helmsley that was closing down. Salvage and recycling has played a big part in furnishing the property. "As a child I went to farm sales and auctions with my dad who was a talented carpenter specialising in selling stripped pine. He revamped a lot of pieces using his skills," says Stef.

The doors leading from the snug to the sitting room are from Andy Thornton's reclamation yard in Elland, near Halifax, and are thought to have come from a gentleman's club. The table and chairs in the extension are from a charity shop in Scarborough.

Affordable pieces from Ikea include the long table and chairs in the conservatory. "The table is brilliant for mono printing on as well as eating off. It's multi-purpose," says Stef, who is also a printmaker, with a workshop and Portakabin in the garden serving as

her base.

She admits she has little interest in interior design preferring a practical and thrifty approach to furnishing. "I hate waste in any way so we re-use everything we can. When we first moved in we had some cabinets from Ikea in the kitchen but when we refitted the room, we moved them to the sitting room. They don't match perfectly but they provide useful storage and do the job."

The couple have also tried to make the 1900 property as energy-efficient as possible by replacing the windows and dry lining and insulating the walls. The sale of an Aga installed by the previous owners meant they could install a new efficient heating system and some underfloor heating. "I know Agas are desirable and this one was state-of-the-art but it ran on bottled gas and cost a fortune. Selling it meant we could fund the new heating and replace the Aga with a stove," says Ian.

The walls are decorated with their own art and with work by favourite artists including Sally Taylor, Andreas Ruthi, Alan Salisbury and Ronald Ceuppens. They feature in their contemporary graphic and fine art gallery Duckett and Jeffreys in Malton, which was launched in March. "We'd always wanted to open a gallery. I like organising and hanging work and we've sourced it from all over the world including Switzerland, France and Venezuela. We also wanted to do something city galleries do in a market town setting," says Stef.

"So we have solo shows in two rooms and our third room features more affordable work from a selection of artists with prices from about 40."

Unusually none of their own work is displayed at Duckett and Jefferys (called after their grandmothers' maiden names) but it does feature in other galleries.

"We didn't want to compromise ourselves as artists, so we keep our work separate from the gallery," says Stef.

Ian's freelance graphic design work, creating their own art and running the gallery has left little time to devote to their home and garden. It's one of the reasons they decided to get some soay sheep, which act as natural grass cutters and also eat nettles and other weeds.

"We started off with four but our animal husbandry isn't the best and we ended up with 14," says Ian. "We've got two now and they're both boys."

Stef adds: "I've never been that interested in interiors or gardening.I'm obsessed with art and that's what I spend all my time on."

Duckett and Jefferys, Old Maltongate, Malton www.duckettandjeffreys.com

For Ian's work see www.ianmitchell-art.com

Stef's blog www.possessedby process.blogspot.com

YP MAG 19/6/10