The colour of the walls started out from a leaf,” says Edwige Trost-Mayman of the interior of her Macclesfield home. Sitting at a midcentury dining table and rescued Ercol chairs, she tells me how she came up with the burnt orange palette of the living and dining room, combined with the cocoa-walled staircase and sunflower-yellow kitchen. “White was too boring for me,” she continues, recalling how they painted the downstairs entirely in Farrow & Ball James White, when they first moved in. “It felt safer at the time, but I prefer this atmosphere. It suits my personality, and the colours give warmth, which is needed here in winter as the rooms can feel cold.” With their jewel-like touches, the rich background colours create a comforting, contemporary glow. Trost-Mayman’s home, which she shares with husband Ben Mayman, a sculptor, is an old silk weaver’s cottage in the market town of Macclesfield, 20 miles south of Manchester. It was built in the 1820s as a place in which to both live and work. The top floor of the terraced row was one large, open space for the looms, and the house has plenty of period character. “We like things that are old,” Trost-Mayman says of the eight-year renovation project, which involved much ripping-out and re-fitting of rooms. After moving around for many years – she grew up in Germany and has lived in London, New York and Amsterdam – they were looking for a derelict property to do up, and also a place in which they could settle down. Inside, most of the furniture has been bought secondhand in one form or another, accumulated from their years living overseas before ultimately relocating to this mill town, known for its textiles heritage, on the southwestern edge of the Peak District. “When Ben found this house, he was so excited,” says Trost-Mayman. Here, the couple can walk to work every day – she is employed in adult social care for a local company and her husband’s studio is in an old mill in the neighbourhood. There is also an open-air monthly market and independent shops. “Macclesfield gives me a good feeling,” she explains. “Every Saturday, I go to the fishmonger. I have a butcher and greengrocer who know me and ask what I’m cooking. It really makes me feel like I’m part of a community.” Trost-Mayman remembers the house in less idyllic times when they moved in. “It had no electricity; no water and the kitchen was infested with bluebottle flies.” The renovation was a lot of work, retaining original features where possible and adding their own twist. The flagstones on the ground floor were brought back to their original glory, after being discovered underneath a layer of cement. It took several months of work to clear them, while the couple camped out upstairs. Mayman fitted 1950s cabinets, which he found on eBay, in the kitchen. He then added a custom-made granite top. Georgian shutters were fitted to the windows and Victorian fireplaces were reinstalled, replacing the gas heaters. A collection of utilitarian tagines, West German ceramics and quirky, modern accessories from online homewares store Cup + Cloth are dotted around the house. These include a 1970s enamel fondue pan in the kitchen, twisted polyresin black candle holders designed in Denmark and African-print cushions on the couple’s favourite green 1950s chair in the living room. Avid car-boot sale, eBay and auction house attendees, they find that the same quality of secondhand and artisanal pieces is hard to find on the high street. “I think that secondhand is beautiful,” says Trost-Mayman. “New furniture, you can get tired of, and it won’t be as well made as it was in the 1950s when items were built from solid wood.” The house was made for longevity. However, to complete the decoration, it took a lot more than a coat of white paint to make it feel like a home.