Wild Isle Style: Resourceful And Sustainable Interior Design Ideas

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Located on small Inner Hebrides island of Ulva with a two-hour walk from the nearest road, locals enlisted interior designer Banjo Beale and a team of tradespeople to help give the property a much-needed makeover.

Banjo Beale : Goodhomes Magazine Designing the Hebrides Banjo Beale : Goodhomes Magazine

From a family-owned fish shop in Tobermory, a bothy on the remote island of Ulva to a bookshop and café on Skye, each week, Banjo and his design team embrace a unique interior design project, fulfilling the client’s brief on a limited budget and a fast turnaround. The weather is unpredictable, the locals are straight talking, the budgets are lean and you can’t just run to the shops to buy supplies - you have to be resourceful!” BB: I'm kind of over bobbles and bubbles. So, bubble shelves, bubble lamps. Anything bubbly or bobbly isn't for me. Are you green-fingered? Left: Banjo Beale on Designing the Hebrides. Right. Rubha nan Gall lighthouse, north of Tobermory, is one of Banjo’s projects. Photos: DSP/ BBC Scotland / BBC Two Becoming a judge I have three. I really love the 'drunk botanist' boutique hotel room in week two. It was quintessential, moody dark green. I love a nook anywhere you can curl up in. I really loved my shepherd's hut as well (week five) – it was full of little collections. But absolutely without a doubt, the café in Margate (week eight), with the shutters and especially the owners' reaction, it was such a buzz. And I was really blown away when in the same week, the café was used in that episode of [BBC drama series] Killing Eve, also on TV. What advice would you give to anyone thinking of applying to the show in future?The whole premise of the book is from the perspective of living on an island, embracing the materials that we have, using finite resources and only our own skills to bring them to life. So, it’s about taking that mindset into everything we do. Also on an island, you just have fun, there’s no pressure, and it’s not trying to be trendy. It’s just, it’s just a little bit of fun and tongue in cheek.’ The final result sees the bothy retain its rustic feel, while being transformed into a stylish and comfortable living space. Pieces of upcycled furniture add to the authenticity, while the wooden panels that cover the lower half of the walls are painted in neutral colours to reflect the natural landscape. Banjo has bold plans to utterly transform both the inside and outside of the shop but Sally is worried that her family will disapprove of the radical makeover. With his band of trusty locals including Eoghan the carpenter and handyman Tom, Banjo takes huge risks in realising his design ambitions but will the family feel approve of the new look? I can’t wait for everyone to meet the collectors, thinkers and tinkerers, from the Hebrides to Antipodes, who have opened up their world to share how we can all create cool, calm and collected interiors.”

Crumbling bothy on tiny Scots island with no power

The outland ish tale of how an Aussie boy ended up on a Scottish island and onto Interior Design Masters on BBC. Also, maybe Wes Anderson, actually too. If his movies look like that, I mean, imagine what his home looks like. Six-part series, Designing The Hebrides, will see the expert and his team of tradespeople doing up unique spaces, from a family-owned fish shop in Tobermory to a bookshop on Skye. And Banjo said his favourite part of the process was the people they encountered. He said: “On Interior Design Masters I used to create an imaginary character for my space, but I didn’t have to do that on the new show. These people are larger-than- life characters, you couldn’t write them.”Banjo and the team take on the challenge of renovating a variety of Hebridean establishments, including a family-run fish shop in Tobermory, a bothy on the isolated island of Ulva, and a bookstore and café on Skye. After eight weeks of decisions, dramas and driving thousands of miles to secure those very special reclaimed and second-hand items to make his super-stylish schemes stand out, Australian-born cheesemaker, marketeer and stylist Banjo Beale, 35, who lives with his partner Ro on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, has been crowned the winner of Interior Design Masters 2022. I essentially got a whole church for free. Basically everything inside the church – so the pews and panelling, all sorts of things, that I was then able to use across a range of different spaces and projects on the show. Beale, also the star of the recent six-part BBC show “Designing the Hebrides” , as well as a judge on “Scotland’s Home of the Year”, said: “ Wild Isle Style is my roadmap for embarking on a design adventure, where we throw out the rule book and meet the colourful characters behind spaces that don’t cost the earth.

Banjo Beale fronts new six-part series Interior designer Banjo Beale fronts new six-part series

Since taking home the crown on the BBC’s Interior Design Masters in 2022, Australian-born Banjo launched his own interior design business from the Isle of Mull, his home with husband Ro for the last eight years. In Designing The Hebrides Banjo brings his unique design style to the people who welcomed him into their community and other Hebridean islands. Australian-born Banjo has had a whirlwind since winning 2022’s Interior Design Masters, the home-makeover TV show hosted by Alan Carr. Well, at the time, it was the most terrifying thing in the entire world. But I think that’s for all of us because it means so much to us. And genuinely, you know, that Michelle just wants you to do the best. And she knows our potential. So, it’s her job to make it uncomfortable and for us to stretch ourselves. With his own interior design business on the Isle of Mull, his home with husband Ro for the last eight years, and as the frontman for the popular BBC 2 TV show Designing the Hebrides, his style has captured the hearts of many. But what was it like to be on the side of the judging panel? ‘I thought it would be really hard because I have empathy for anyone that throws themselves open to judging. But when that camera rolls and then you see someone’s house, you have a visceral reaction, good or bad and there’s no hiding that! If I tried to lie, I’m wearing it on my face anyway. It’s a very lovely show, and all the houses are quite beautiful. But I’m not afraid to give my opinion on it.’ Sustaining local craft

Long-time fans of this column (Anyone? Come on there must be one of you) will know that I have a peculiar aversion to wholesome TV. This is, simply, because I am quite a nasty person. You can’t say that these days, can you? We all have to try to maintain the artifice that we’re all good and moral and true. Well, I’m not. I’m horrible. So fuzzy-sided, warm-hearted television that has absolutely no scenes where someone’s head explodes very rarely does it for me. Well, I would have said that the pace is slower, but I’m quite a chaotic person and anything I do tends to be a whirlwind, so I’m probably the wrong advertisement for slow living. But there is a definite pace that things move on an island, which means that you get to enjoy the smaller things. Tourism is a big thing on an island, and it just closes up in winter. It swells from around 10,000 people in summer, to 1000 or 500 people in winter. From contemporary to classic, his spaces are characterful, curated and eco-conscious. In Wild Isle Style, Banjo encourages people to give design a go and create their own signature style.” It’s about community and connection and stopping and being really grounded. And once you’re on [the Isle of Mull], you can’t get off. You’ve got to get a ferry and it’s a logistical challenge. When you’re there everything washes away and it’s just magic.’ Set against stunning Scottish landscapes and amidst the challenges of hard-to-reach locations and extreme conditions, Designing The Hebrides showcases distinctive makeovers, encapsulating Banjo’s irrepressible enthusiasm, ingenuity and design flair.

I won a reality TV show - but disaster struck my new telly job

BB: Well, my dog, for starters. And then my yellow kitchen. I've just moved into a newer place, so I'm trying to add lots more character to it. And it's so gloomy here outside that I wanted to paint a little bit of sunshine inside. It was actually like a kit home, so it came with lots of standard things. I'm wanting to just add a bit of personality to it. Tell us about your childhood home Designing The Hebrides is a DSP production (a Banijay UK company) commissioned by Steve Allen for BBC Scotland and Catherine Catton, Head of Commissioning, Factual Entertainment and Events. The Executive Producers are Donna Clark and John Featherstone. The Commissioning Editor is Clare Mottershead. In Wild Isle Style, Banjo encourages people to give design a go and create their own signature style. No matter your look, from budget to boho, nouveau or deco, this book will uncover universal ideas that you can easily implement into your home interiors.It doesn’t matter whether you’re living in London or the Hebrides, I think we can just decide to actually make a conscious effort not to run out to these big stores and buy flat things. ‘Because part of the adventure is just getting the free stuff, isn’t it? I love going and meeting the person that I’m getting it off and going into their living room and you’ve got a story then immediately where it’s from. BBC/Darlow Smithson Productions Out of all the schemes you've done on the show which has been your favourite, and why? Banjo is the winner of BBC's Interior Design Masters 2022, host of Scotland's Home Of The Year and author of a forthcoming book which will be released in October 2023. Based in the Scottish Hebrides, the interior designer is also the star of a brand new TV series, Designing The Hebrides . I’m staying with my friend in Herne Hill, south London. Before the show started I only had one friend in London. And I have nine friends in London now… Do you get recognised in public now? Designing The Hebrides is a DSP production (a Banijay UK company) for BBC Scotland and BBC Two. The series is part of the BBC’s co-commission strategy to increase portrayal, delivering high quality content from across the UK. All six episodes of Designing The Hebrides will be available on BBC iPlayer from Monday 12 April.