Having looked at a number of houses, our clients decided the best solution was to buy a property that was in
need of renovation. The early 20th Century Victorian terrace house they chose was full of dark rooms covered in flock wallpaper. Working backwards from the likely value of the refurbished house, a target refurbishment cost was established.
Our clients were keen to have a light spacious house simply detailed with white walls and wood floors. The problem with the Victorian terrace house is that the front rooms always feel dark and cut off from the garden by the rear return.
The solution was to turn the house upside down and open up the whole first floor as
kitchen, dining room and living room and connect this space by means of a new second staircase with the conservatory and back garden. Structural alterations on the first floor are much easier than on the ground floor, requiring much less new structure to hold everything up, so this solution suited the budget. This left the ground floor for bedrooms and bathrooms.
The front ground floor room is open to the hallway and is used as a study. In the future, with the addition of a partition, it can be converted to the third bedroom. The remainder of the ground floor is planned as 'transformable space'. The master bedroom can have the dressing area and one or two bathrooms en suite depending on which doors are open or closed. Likewise a laundry room can be created, or the back 'den', a guest bedroom, can have the shower room en suite. A glass floor under a rooflight on the first floor brings natural light down to the ground floor dressing area.
A double height conservatory behind the new
glass rear elevation opens up the den and the upstairs kitchen / living room to the garden. A
clear glass balustrade to the breakfast area allows views down to the deck below.
The Victorian terrace house invariably has a change of level between the front rooms and the rooms in the rear return. A seven metre long stainless steel kitchen counter takes advantage of the level change; one end forms a low coffee table in the living room, the other end a breakfast table overlooking the garden. Kitchen equipment, fridge, freezer, etc. are concealed behind cupboard doors in the wall.
The addition of the second staircase connecting the living space to the conservatory and deck frees up movement around the house, one can take guests on a circuit, or simply vary your route during the day.