Episode Information Stirling: The Cedar Clad Home

Date Published:

09/06/2008

The Project

Theo and Elaine Leijser hoped to bring a bit of Dutch style to Scotland in the building of their first family home - a colourful, contemporary three storey house, with a striking cedar clad exterior. The couple stumbled across the perfect plot overlooking the beautiful Campsie Fells near Glasgow, bought it and began to plan their dream build.

Theo and Elaine have only ever owned one house for just three years and have spent the rest of their time jumping between rented accommodation. They felt it was important to settle down and create a house that their sons, Timo and Rowan could return to over the years and really call home.

With a double height living room, roof lights and open plan layout, the house is a radical interpretation of the traditional family home. Clad in imported red Canadian cedar shakes, the exterior looks like it's covered in shaggy wooden tiles which will change colour as they weather. The spacious, contemporary box has been specially designed with windows on all four walls, to maximise light.

The house has a decidedly international flavour as Theo, who is from Holland, isn't keen on traditional Scottish homes and chose to import a lot of his building materials from abroad. Making sure all these different products worked together however, proved to be a bit of a headache for his builders; Theo had to go through 27 before he found someone willing to take on the project!