The founder of Farrow & Ball's remote Scottish country house

Few people can claim that, through the success of their business, they have introduced a phrase into the national lexicon. But Tom Helme and his business partner Martin Ephson did so when, in 1992, they took over the paint company Farrow & Ball. Tom had been working as the advisor on decoration to the National Trust when he came across the Dorset paint firm and suggested to Martin, an old school friend, that they take over the business together and produce historical paints.

Over the following years, on seeing a newly painted earthy and subtle interior, people far and wide began to use the phrase: 'You've been Farrow & Ball-ed.' The paints started selling in more than 20| countries, and eventually they were producing more in a week than they had in their first year of ownership.

In 2007, the company was sold and the pair earned themselves a much deserved break, during which Tom spent two years at the Prince's Drawing School and Lavender Hill Studios. However, they both felt that they were not old enough to retire and their combined entrepreneurial zest led to them setting up the fabrics firm Fermoie in 2011. Producing fabrics with colourings and patterns that appeal to the Farrow & Ball customer, they work from their printing factory in Marlborough, producing over 260 designs that sell in the States as well as this country. Hand drawn and roller printed - no digital here - they print lightly to create a subtle impression but with the depth of a woven fabric.

You would think that setting up a new business might be enough but, not satisfied with one challenge, Tom decided that same year to take on another: the purchase and renovation of Carskiey Estate. It consists of 7,500 acres of pasture, hill and sandy beaches, combining a beef herd of Aberdeen Angus, forestry and the Edwardian Carskiey House and Shore Cottage, all with spectacular views of the islands of Sanda and Rathlin on the furthest point of the Mull of Kintyre.

Tom first saw Carskiey just 10 days before it was to go under the hammer. Under Scottish law, prospective buyers have to make a written offer by a certain date and he was faced with making a huge decision based on very little information. Travelling up twice during those 10 days in November - perhaps not the most attractive time to visit an unloved house in Scotland - Tom saw enormous potential. Built in the early twentieth century by James Boyd and his wife Kate, an heiress from the Coats family, of textile fame, Carskiey was essentially their house for entertainment - a retreat from business life in Paisley.

Two impressive entrance doors lead up to the gunroom and cloakrooms on either side and further on to the enormous reception hall, its sweeping staircase leading up to the library and nine bedrooms, all of which enjoy views of sea and skies. There are a further four staff rooms in the kitchen wing. The ground floor houses three large, main reception rooms, which lead into one another, with a central hall giving access down stone steps to the garden and the sea. 'I think the amount of work that needed to be done scared a lot of people, but with a National Trust background, I could see that it had been well built,' Tom says. 'All the windows, for example, are teak. The oak and stone floors had never moved and the house still had its original Edwardian roof slates fixed with copper nails. The biggest problems were with the plumbing, heating and the outside stonework, much of which had fallen off.' Normally, all the stones around the windows that were weathered beyond redemption would have to be replaced, but the historic building's surveyor, David Gibbon, suggested using Lithomex, a new product of specially formulated mortar, which aggregates to repair masonry.

When Tom bought the house, there were but a handful of sockets and it has now been electrified throughout. The only room with 'central heating' was the gunroom; in one upstairs cupboard, the enormous boiler, sourced by coal, used - according to a note written on the walls of the coal hole - 15 shovels at breakfast time, 20 at lunchtime and 10 at supper time. With the expert help of two plumbers, Steve Mills and Alex Holt from Castleton, Tom installed ground-source heating, laying it in 5,000 metres of trenches in a next-door field. It is now so efficient, it heats the whole house without fail. 'The field is very wet, which helps,' Tom says. 'With the best ground source from a stream, the bills are now tiny - lower than when there was partial heating.'

The Edwardian plumbing still survives, with taps displaying hot and cold saltwater and hot and cold freshwater in the magnificent bathrooms - though the salt water pipes have now corroded and are no longer in use. Very little had been done to the house since it was built; Tom describes its previous owners as 'great conservationists'. As was normal for such houses, its sale included much of the furniture and books, including the original carpentry bills, which list the price and provenance of each piece.