Inside the chic Victorian sandstone villa that's made it to the final of Scotland's Home of the Year

Since she became a finalist on Scotland’s Home of the Year, Wendy H Gilmour has had a lot of enquiries about her unique sofa.

It’s a giant blue floral bespoke 12-seater that she and her husband Scott made themselves from leftover timber and upholstery fabric.

The judges had a lovely time testing it out, when her Kilmacolm Victorian sandstone, where she lives with her other half, two kids, Hunter and Summer and Tux the dog, appeared on the West episode of the show.

The expert trio - Anna Campbell-Jones, Danny Campbell, and Banjo Beale - loved the property, and gave it 10 points, 9 points and 10 points respectively. The final score of 29 qualified it to go through to the much anticipated grand final at Glasgow’s House for An Art Lover, which will be screened on Monday 18 May at 8.30pm on BBC One Scotland.

On their visit, Beale said that there wasn’t a thing out of place, and noted that even Tux’s dog bed matched the sofa, while Campbell-Jones said that she felt a home should tell the story of an owner, and that this house fulfilled that purpose. Danny Campbell said that it was “executed with absolute conviction”.

They all seemed completely smitten, as they toured the kitchen, as well as the sage-coloured Scandi bedroom, the kids’ bedroom with its cosy dark green bunks, and the gorgeous living room, with a toy yacht in an alcove and raw plaster walls that Anna Campbell-Jones described as “so beautiful”.

Gilmour was very touched by the comments.

“I felt like they really got all the love and care and hours that we've spent on the house, “ says this homeowner, who is something of a DIY and renovation whizz. “We wanted to create something that fitted our taste but also worked as a family home. It's not a home that the kids can't play in and have fun in, and they really captured that, which was so lovely”.

The contestants in this series have to keep their involvement a secret, for about ten months until their episode is screened.

Gilmour managed to do that, except for the fact that a canny neighbour recognised her sofa, when Danny Campbell shot an Instagram story from her back garden.

“They were eagle-eyed”, she says.

Thankfully, they didn’t spread the word, and her appearance remained a secret.

On the night of the airing at the end of April, the family had a viewing party at their house, and one of their kids’ teachers later held a screening event at the school.

Afterwards, they were bombarded with supportive messages.

"My phone was going absolutely mad,” she says. “I ignored everyone until the programme was finished, because I wanted to watch it myself”.

Many of these were through Gilmour’s Instagram account (@wendyhgilmour), as she has 58.1k followers who enjoy her fashion, home and lifestyle content.

“When you're on the show, you're excited when you film it, then you kind of forget about it until it's screened,” she says.“ Afterwards, there’s a reminder of how huge the show is, and how wide the following is. I had people, obviously in Scotland, who'd seen me on the show, and it was a surprise to them when I was able to share the news of us appearing on the afternoon it was going to air, and everyone was excited. But then people from all over - England, Spain, and even a follower in Bermuda said they’d watched it”.

Gilmour enjoyed seeing the other two houses that were on her West episode.

“They were great,” she says. These included a 200-year-old Ayr property, and a semi-detached sandstone home in Drumbreck.

“It had all that incredible furniture. I was really taken with that. She obviously had such an eye for these pieces from India. The dark wood and the carving was so pretty,” she says.

Since the episode aired, this contestant has started to take on more makeover projects in her home. She’s the chief designer, but her family gets a say as they are presented with “two or three options” to choose from.

As the judges did say that her quite understated hallway “didn’t give much away”, that’s gone on the list for an overhaul, in order that it’s “more in keeping” with the rest of their house.

There are other plans too.

“At some point, you ask yourself, is the house ever really finished? We're working on the utility room so that it's a kind of built in utility slash boot room. That's all about to get painted,” she says. “I've been upcycling the old kitchen cabinets from the previous kitchen that was here when we moved into the house. We kept all the doors because they were lovely and solid, and I’m painting them a gorgeous blue color, and they're going to go into the utility room. Also the office is getting a refresh and we’re putting in a Murphy bed”.

After putting in all this extra work to make her house even more beautiful, does Gilmour wish that the judges could come back for a second look? Perhaps film a part two?

As she says; “Maybe they'll do a Scotland’s Homes Revisited episode at some point. That would be cool”.

Until then, at least we’ve got the impending final to look forward to.

The grand final of Scotland’s Home of the Year is on Monday 18 May at 8.30pm on BBC One Scotland