The couple who live at Kin Cottage, Mark Cunningham and Mark Strachan, have a favourite saying. It’s; “buy cheap, buy twice”.
Thus, they’ve invested cannily in their beautiful home, where they live with their miniature dachshund, Chip, in the small settlement of New Deer in Aberdeenshire.
They’ll be appearing at 8.30pm on May 11 on Scotland’s Home of the Year, in the North East and Northern Isles episode of the BBC Scotland show. This is going to be a particularly tense round, as a last slot in the grand final at Glasgow’s House For An Art Lover is up for grabs.
The usual crew, Anna Campbell-Jones, Danny Campbell - “my favourite judge,” says Cunningham - and Banjo Beale will be doing their thing, and measuring up this place, as well as a converted crofters house on Shetland and a modern new build in Chapleton.
It’s been a long time coming, as the SHOTY production team have been very eager to have the two Marks on the show.
They approached the couple three times after initially, back in 2023, spotting their Instagram account @homewiththemarks, which details their eight-year-long home renovation journey.
“We started it off purely as a place to document what we were doing. It was easy to put photos online, rather than sending them to friends and family in different WhatsApp conversations,” says Cunningham. “But over time, it's growing. I would say it's quite a small following, but it's quite crazy when you think that about 26,000 people are following our little haven”.
However, it was only last year when they felt ready for SHOTY to come calling.
“I just thought, what a lovely way to wrap up on us completing the project, to have it documented in that way,” Cunningham says.
The pair are very excited to be on the telly. They’ve been glued to the series thus far, and have enjoyed the edit of properties.
“The houses this time are so wildly different. In each episode, there's not one that you can compare directly to the other, which is really lovely to see,” Cunningham says. “It’s also been really nice to see the amount of older houses. There's not so many brand new builds in this series compared to previous. And that's really great to show that you don't always need to have a brand new property”.
Their home certainly has history. The granite Victorian house has been in Strachan’s family for over 60 years. After his grandparents passed on, it went on the open market briefly, before the couple decided to take it over.
“It’s got a lot of family history and connections behind it,” Cunningham says.
Although it looks pristine now, it was in need of some serious work before they could get onto any of the more fun decorating stages. It was dated, there was damp and woodworm to tackle and an extension to build.
“We literally took the house back to the bare bones. Like, at one point we didn't even have floors. It was mud,” says Cunningham. “And we took down every single partition upstairs and built it back up from the ground, basically. So it's fully insulated, with brand new electrics, heating, windows, doors and everything. It's basically like a brand new house”.
Strachan’s dad grew up in the property, and he’s a joiner, so he got involved in the refurbishment, which was a “true labour of love”.
The finished home is very distinctive.
After the renovations, they painted the walls white at first, so they could get a feel for the light, then they started gradually adding colour.
They’ve used lots of dark smoke, dove grey and plum tones, with wallpapers including a version that features elegant cats and Martinis, and another, above the bed, with a skyscape of plump clouds. In the living room, there’s a gorgeous orange BoConcept chair and the dining room has various shades of the same John Lewis chair. The stairwell features gorgeous Tala Voronoi lights that resemble molten bubbles.
There are also pieces from Strachan’s place of work, Laings - Kitchens, Bathrooms, Bedrooms, in Inverurie. These include a rather cool fitted black bathroom, with double sinks.
In contrast to the darker rooms, the kitchen extension is light and bright, with parquet floors.
Although they seem to prefer more brooding tones, there’s also a fun calamine lotion pink colour that’s a motif throughout the house, appearing in almost every room and on the front door.
“We’ve got a pink neon sign and a lot of our artwork has got pink in it. We like to introduce pops of colour and it’s nice to be playful,” Cunningham says.
It seemes that the pair draw their style inspiration from various places.
“My husband is a creative director for a kitchen and bathroom company. So we call his job an occupational hazard, as he's constantly seeing new trends and things coming in. But I would say we take inspiration from everywhere, including hotels, restaurants, bars and magazines,” Cunningham says.“One of our favorite things to do is to go and visit show homes to see what interior designers have introduced".
They don’t pretend they’re buying, but are upfront when it comes to “just having a nosy”.
We’re sure lots of people would love to do the same at their little haven.
Scotland’s Home of the Year, Ep6/7: North East & Northern Isles, is on Monday May 11 on BBC One Scotland from 8.30pm-9pm, and on Wednesday May 13 on BBC One Scotland from 8-8.30pm.
Read more: “Inside the handsome and grand period property that's appearing on Scotland's Home of the Year”
Read more: “Inside the five-star luxury St Andrews hotel that's unveiled refined and stylish new look”
Read more: “Inside the plush and welcoming Fife house that's appearing on Scotland's Home of the Year”
