A Victorian train station conversion described as "the ultimate in adaptation and reuse" has been crowned Scotland's Home of the Year.
The owners of The Old Train House in Edinburgh were praised for transforming a "sad ruined" station into a beloved home with second-hand and vintage furniture adorning all three levels of the property.
“It was that indefinable thing, that lifted the Old Train up above the rest," said architect and 'SHOTY' judge Michael Angus.
“The echoes of its previous service so pervaded, the many brief ghosts that once passed through doubtless would linger comfortably in a place transformed."
Home to Christina and Ben Blundell, their daughter Vesper and Watson the dog, The Old Train House was awarded three tens by the judges, the highest possible marks and according to its owners was renovated on a modest budget, in a project that started during lockdown.
The station was boarded up and empty for 10 years before the couple lovingly transformed it into a welcoming family home, "full of light and life" and a lot of plants.
READ MORE: 'Dream' island cottage makes the final of Scotland's Home of the Year
In addition to extensive renovations, there are nods to the building’s past including graffiti on the exterior garden walls and vintage suitcases piled up below a window.
Anna Campbell Jones said the couple had responded to the renovation of a "gift" of a building in a very respectful way.
She said: "The Old Train House expresses the ultimate in adaptation and reuse, themes that are so important these days - the whole building was upcycled, transformed from a sad ruined train station to a very real home.
"I loved the balance of respect for the history of the building, clever use of bargain vintage finds and appropriate materials both for the age of the building and for its function as warm, fun family home.
READ MORE: Highland log house in the shadow of Ben Nevis was long-held dream for owner
The finalists met each other and the judges for the first time at Glasgow's House for an Art Lover, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, where the winner of the popular BBC Scotland TV show was revealed.
Mrs Blundell said winning the coveted title was a "genuine shock."
She said: "We're bursting with pride.
"Our home isn't the biggest home, it's not had the biggest budget.
"Neither of us are designers or builders or architects. It's hopefully just had a little bit of vision and lots of plants.
"I feel like it’s all the more meaningful because we got the building warrant through for all the alterations the day before lockdown in 2020, so for months we were in this, quite honestly, awful and depressing house at a time when you couldn’t leave your house and it felt a world away from being a home.
READ MORE: Edwardian mansion in Glasgow's West End judged a finalist for Scotland's Home of the Year
"It made us determined to see it through and make this building into a home.
"As the final was filmed last summer, the SHOTY trophy has been sadly tucked away while we’ve kept the secret of winning to ourselves.
Interior designer Banjo Beale said the couple had created a "sanctuary in the city, full of plants, light and life."
He added: "You could feel the love that had been poured into this building.
“It’s hard to pick one thing about Old Train House which made it unique because it had that elusive, hard to define and harder to create feeling of home.
"I felt right at home in the platform bedroom, a moody, inky blue cocoon."
The other, five finalists were: Snowdrop House in Aberdeenshire, The Old Manse in Auchterarder, Manor House in Peebles, Lochbay on the Isle of Skye and Kirklee Mansion in Glasgow.
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