Homegrown Hoose in Mortonhall blends sustainable timber construction, horticulture and playful interiors to take Scotland's Home of the Year
The Edinburgh property known as Homegrown Hoose has been declared the winner of Scotland’s Home of the Year. The mid‑century bungalow conversion, occupied by Emily and Robert Hairstans and their children Jackson and Ada, impressed the panel with a long arc of thoughtful improvements that place sustainability and family life at the core of design.
Built up over 15 years, the house reflects the owners’ professions and passions: Emily works in horticulture while Robert is a Professor of Timber Engineering. Together they have layered practical upgrades, reclaimed furniture and a bright, nature-inspired palette to produce a home that the judges described as both soulful and resourceful.
The house and the people behind it
Homegrown Hoose sits in Mortonhall and is shared with the couple’s children and the family chickens. The Hairstans originally hated the property when they first saw it, but gradually reshaped it into a place that mirrors daily life and seasonal routines.
Over the course of a decade and a half the building has been adapted rather than replaced, which the judges saw as an example of a home evolving to meet changing family needs.
Design choices, craft and sustainability
Timber methods and structural gestures
A defining characteristic of the renovation is the use of offsite timber methods and inventive joinery that stem from Robert’s professional expertise. The property incorporates a striking tulip wood staircase and a cantilevered extension that together demonstrate a deliberate approach to materiality. The judges highlighted the importance of these choices as more than decorative: they are a demonstration of how structural timber technologies can be applied to domestic projects in unconventional and highly effective ways.
Interiors, upcycling and the garden connection
Inside, the Hairstans mix salvaged pieces with custom elements and a palette of vivid block colours inspired by the garden. The kitchen, lowered slightly within the open plan, acts as an everyday hub where cooking, muddy boots and family life intersect. Outside, horticultural practice informs layout and planting: the family have been steadily developing a vegetable patch that now forms a major part of their ongoing project list. Together these features show how sustainable living and imaginative reuse can produce a warm, lived-in aesthetic.
Judges’ response and the finale
The judging panel — interior designers Anna Campbell-Jones and Banjo Beale and architect Danny Campbell — awarded the house high praise for its narrative of growth. They celebrated the way each alteration reflected the household’s priorities at the time it was made, and they commended the project as a model of playful, low-impact design. In the broadcast finale held at Glasgow’s House for an Art Lover, the finalists met and the Hairstans learned they had taken the top prize, a moment they kept private until the programme aired.
What comes next for the Hairstans
Now that the trophy is out of the drawer, the family are turning their attention to practical and environmental upgrades. Planned works include external repairs and a push to add more renewable technologies, while ongoing efforts in the garden — especially expanding the vegetable patch — give them a constructive project to focus on. For the Hairstans, the award is less an end point than an encouragement to continue the slow, organic process of making their house fit the life they want to lead.
Final reflections
As viewers learned, Homegrown Hoose is neither a white‑glove showhome nor a single dramatic overhaul; it is the accumulation of many small, intentional decisions that together create a distinctive and functional family environment. The judges called it a blueprint for modern family living rooted in place and material intelligence, and the couple’s story underlines how design, craft and everyday care can transform an ordinary bungalow into a celebrated home.
