MY husband and I viewed this garden flat in Edinburgh's west end on a miserable November day.

It was in need of some TLC and a bit depressing, but we could see the potential so put in an offer not thinking it would come to anything. However, we got it, and set our minds to making it ours. After getting some building work done, we moved in early last year with our three daughters, aged three, six and seven.

It was the first home we'd bought together. Hugo and I had met during freshers' week at Newcastle University when we were 19. After uni, he was in the army, in the Black Watch, and I lived in London and worked in advertising, so we did our own things and had a long-distance relationship. When he left the army we got married and moved here to Edinburgh to make a fresh start together. For a few years, we rented in the New Town and Murrayfield areas before buying this place.

While the bedrooms are downstairs in the basement, the lounge and kitchen are on the ground floor, and the living space is really light and airy. The lounge is a funny room because it is north facing, but even in winter it is really light because of the enormous window.

It's had a lick of paint but we've left all the period features and the woodwork as they were. There is a hatch to the hallway on one side of the room and the plan is to eventually fill that space with a giant fitted fish tank. It would let light through from the lounge to the internal hallway and be a bit of fun really, for the girls. One day, we'd like to replace the gas fire with a wood-burning stove so it's still a work in progress.

The house wasn't love at first sight. It's been a slow burner, but we absolutely love it now. It is definitely our forever home.

Cate Cannon is a founder of www.lumitrix.com, an online gallery specialising in fine art photographic prints

Painting

I commissioned this painting for my husband's 30th birthday. By Campbeltown artist Ronald Togneri, it shows Hugo and our eldest daughter Rose, walking on the beach near where my parents live on the Mull of Kintyre, where I grew up. The artist took their images from a photograph and went down to the beach to paint the scene from sight. The spot is Dhorilin, off Davaar Island, and that's Arran in the background. The painting records a memory of a special time, when Rose was around 18 months old and I was expecting our second child. Hugo loves it.

Green chest

Just after we married, Hugo and I went travelling for six months, on one of those round-the-world tickets. Because we knew we would be making a home together, we picked up a lot of stuff while we were travelling, things we really fell in love with, and shipped it back. Quite a few bits in this room are from Vietnam - including this cabinet. There was a village which is really well-known for beautiful hand-painted ceramics and all our crockery is from there.

Framed tarantula

Hugo has quite a taxidermy collection: lots of moths, tarantula spiders, beetles and bugs, and they are scattered throughout the house. He's quite sentimental, because they are from his childhood growing up in Costa Rica. The girls are fascinated by them, and people always ask about them.

Framed stallion photo

I love this photograph. It's called Sindri and it's by Astrid Harrisson. It was taken on a farm in the far north of Iceland and when we were setting up Lumitrix, our online business which sells framed photography, it was one of our founding images. I'm quite sentimental about it because setting up a business is a leap into the dark, it's a journey, and I've got fond memories of selecting that image.

Gold penguin

I tend to hide this behind the sofa because of the children. It's about a metre high. It normally sits in the fireplace. The room is not precious but it is one of those things that if any children ever come here to visit, the penguin always gets it, so I end up hiding it a lot. I am really fond of it. It was a Christmas present from Cara Connell, who I work with.

Cushions

These are really beautiful, in an Indian print - which is done using hand-crafted wooden blocks. They were made by a friend of mine called Molly Mahon who lives in Sussex. I'm obsessed with her stuff. I want to fill my house with it.