Home of the Year: 'We can tell people's houses by looking at them'

SHOTY judge Anna Campbell-Jones stands side-on, her arms folded, smiling at the camera in a bright airy living room. There is a chair with a fluffy throw beside her, a table with a big lamp and a huge gold plant pot and a floor-to-ceiling window at the back shows us a leafy garden.IWC Media/BBC Scotland

Anna Campbell-Jones has been a judge in all series of Home of the Year

Scotland's Home of the Year judge Anna Campbell-Jones has become so adept at her job, she can tell which homes belong to which owners - just by looking at them.

The interior designer returns for a new series of the hit show where she gets to look inside strangers' homes and judge them for their inspiration and originality.

When Campbell-Jones and her fellow judges, designer Banjo Beale and architect Danny Campbell, step into the competing houses, they have no idea who lives there - something she says shocks people.

"People are always quite surprised that we don't meet the homeowners," she told Reporting Scotland's News at Seven programme, "because we appear to know so much about them.

"But it is incredible how much you can divine about a person or a couple or a family from the place they live. And that's exactly what we are looking for - something that really shows us who they are."

Anna with her fellow judges Banjo Beale and Danny Campbell, each peeking out of a doorway in a corridor of a lovely bright house. A glass door lies at the end of the corridor with a beautiful view of a lawn, a hedgerow and then a field.IWC Media/BBC Scotland

Anna Campbell-Jones with her fellow judges Banjo Beale and Danny Campbell

It's only when they get to the final that they meet the people who live there.

Campbell-Jones said: "When we are visiting the homes we are focusing on the homes and trying to work out what is going on and look at all the exciting ideas that people have been trying out.

"And when we meet the finalists it's a bit like how people look like their dogs - we are looking at everyone and saying I wonder if they are the people from that house - and we usually get it right."

The seventh series of the BBC Scotland show begins on Monday. The competition has become a firm favourite with audiences who can't get enough of seeing where people live.

Campbell-Jones believes it's human nature that makes it a success.

"It's a fundamental part of human nature, to snoop about other people's homes and see how they live," she said.

Home to Tracey, Scott and their children Alfie, Blossom and Marley. Deceptively traditional from the outside, Seaside Conversion is an upper four-bed beachfront flat packed full of colour and creativity. IWC Media/BBC Scotland

Episode one looks at a seaside conversion in Saltcoats

Home to Tracey, Scott and their children Alfie, Blossom and Marley. Deceptively traditional from the outside, Seaside Conversion is an upper four-bed beachfront flat packed full of colour and creativity. IWC Media/BBC Scotland

Bright colours make the Seaside Conversion stand out

Although the judging line-up has varied over the years, Campbell-Jones has remained constant, and she says the current three complement each other.

"The three of us get on really well - we think about homing in different ways, but we share a philosophy about the bigger picture - that it is about what a home means."

Monday sees the team visit three very different homes in the west of Scotland.

Open for viewings are a colourful family flat in Saltcoats, a Victorian villa in Helensburgh and a 1930s sandstone bungalow in Giffnock.

First up is Seaside Conversion in Saltcoats, home to Tracey, Scott and their children Alfie, Blossom and Marley. Deceptively traditional from the outside, it's an upper four-bed beachfront flat packed full of colour and creativity.

Owner Shereen, in a floaty navy top and statement necklace, smiles while standing in front of her Victorian Villa in Helensburgh. The house has a porch with a high pitched roof and a bright cornflower blue door with massive intricate ironwork hinges.IWC Media/BBC Scotland

Shereen shows off her Victorian Villa in episode one of series seven

The lounge area in the Helensburgh Victorian villa shows off bright red expensive-looking rugs, wooden floors and two pillared archways. A large set of two sofas with wooden surrounds and a deep seating area looks more like a day bed and the walls have unique artwork IWC Media/BBC Scotland

The interior of the Victorian Villa is filled with objects collected from the family's travels

Scotland's Home of the Year

Scotland's most unique and heartfelt homes compete to take on the crown

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0l1pnbz/scotlands-home-of-the-year-trailer-scotlands-home-of-the-year-series-7

Inside the Victorian Villa's spacious bathroom - with a dark wood floor, a free standing claw-footed bath in the window, and Victorian chinaware. There is an added shower in the corner, a wooden chair and a jute rug. One feature wall is painted in a forest green while the rest is bright white.IWC Media/BBC Scotland

The Victorian Villa retains many original features which have been tastefully shown off

Next up is Victorian Villa in Helensburgh, a sandstone property which became home to Shereen, William and their family in 2017 after years of living abroad.

The huge seven-bedroomed Victorian home is full of items they've collected on their travels over the years, and each has a story of someone they know or somewhere they've been.

The final contender in the west is Sandstone Bungalow in Giffnock, home to Pamela and Gordon, their son Caleb and Rosa the Irish Setter.

The couple say they have blended old with new, retaining the beautiful original 1930s details whilst bringing the house up-to-date with a bright and modern kitchen, dining and living spaces.

The lounge of the Giffnock house shows a neat white-painted lounge with a TV on one wall, an olive=green velvet sofa with a green, blue and white checked throw on the other, a blue area rug and open black frames double doors through to the next roomIWC Media/BBC Scotland

The Sandstone Villa aims to blend old and new

Campbell-Jones is clear on what she is looking for in a winner: "It should be inspirational, atmospheric and accessible but have that most important ingredient…love."

Scoring them on architectural merit, distinctive design and personal style, the judges will choose which home will represent the west in the grand final held at House for an Art Lover in Glasgow.

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