‘A side extension has transformed the house’
Before & After homeowners’ story from Liz and Paul Humphries who extended
the ground floor of their Victorian terrace and created a marvellous multipurpose
space.
on space.
There’s lots of glazing in the new side and
rear extensions which resulted in a brighter and spacious living area.
When Liz and
Paul Humphries originally purchased their Victorian terraced home in south
London they had no children, but when twins Tom and Olivia were born the couple
realised they needed more downstairs space.
‘The ground
floor was too cramped for a family,’ says Liz. ‘There was just enough space for
a table and chairs in the kitchen, but we wanted a larger room where we
wouldn’t be tripping over one another.’
The couple decided to use Plus Rooms - as a design and build company we
quote a fixed price for the entire job.
rear extension, a cosy living/TV area looks out onto the garden.
CREATING SPACE: The Plus Rooms design involved
building out 1.5 m into the side return, as far as the original rear wall, and
extending the back of the house outwards by 2m which created a TV area with
bifold doors opening to the garden. This created a more appealing layout
with clearly defined kitchen, dining and living areas.
After planning permission was
secured we broke ground – the building phase took 8 weeks to complete; with
kitchen fitting, flooring and decorating the project took four months from start to finish. ‘We
put some of our belongings into storage and carried on living here, so Plus
Rooms set up a temporary kitchen and we had just six plates and glasses between
us’ says Liz.
Plus
Rooms demolished the existing single-storey rear section, inserted structural
steelwork and dug foundations by hand for the new brick and block walls.
Demolishing the rear and side walls meant there were enough reclaimed bricks to
use in the extensions to match the existing house, and aluminium bifolds doors were
installed. The striking custom glazed
panel at the rear of the kitchen draws instant attention the moment you enter
the room and this, together with the
bifolds and frameless roof lights, ensures the space is filled with natural
light.
now the house feels so much larger’
STYLE
DETAILS: Liz and Paul chose modern white gloss units with a
bold lime-green splash back for the new kitchen and used the same ceramic floor
tiles on the patio and in the kitchen and living areas for a seamless look.
The couple bought the property for £410,000 and have spent £95,000
extending and renovating it, £58,000 of which was the build element – it’s now
valued at around £1.2 million. Liz and Paul are delighted with the
transformation. ‘The extension has completely changed the way we use our
home,’ says Liz.
Homeowner questions:
What was the high point of the project?
‘Seeing how
well the finished room works for us and how bright the new space is’.
Any low points?
‘The noise
and mess of living on a building site with toddlers – it was like camping’.
Who or what was the project saviour?
‘Using a
single design and build company made it much easier’.
Comments (6)
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Comments (12)I see what you mean, It's a good idea in theory, however, practically, I don't think it's going to work, and you will end up ruining the nicest room in the house. There are no walls that remain unbroken by doors or windows, so where are you going to put units and unbroken worktop space. They can't go on the left as there are three doors. There's a door on the right, which although you could put a unit and a bit of worktop back right, it wouldn't be very big, and the biggest run of wall goes straight down to the glass doors, so you probably can't and wouldn't want to go straight up to them. You could move the door into the hallway from the front end to the bottom end by the patio doors and this would give you a better run of wall. If you put an island in the middle, 5' into the room to give yourself room to walk in and gain more worktop, it'll only leave you with around 6' at the other end for a dining space. However, i'd still advise getting a kitchen planner onboard before you start, as i'm not convinced the room is big enough to achieve what you want with the available wall space, and it stands a good chance of spoiling a very nice and elegant entrance to a house. The other big problem is the plumbing, there isn't any currently in that room, so you'll need to dig up the floor for drainage and almost definately that of either the utility or one of the bathrooms! I vote for keeping the house exactly as it is!...See Morehelp with new extension kitchen/living layout
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