We were approached by a professional couple who lived in their Edwardian semi in West London for seven years in a lot of square footage, most of which did not work for them. It was a long and narrow fronted house typical of the early 1900s.
The Kitchen was an odd arrangement of interlinked rooms leading on to a narrow dining space that could hardly accommodate a dining table. There was a UPVC conservatory at the back which blocked the light and views and was extremely cold to sit in. A coal storage and out-house were located in the side passage.
The Clients contacted us after seeing images of our house, another Edwardian semi, in a national newspaper, the Times magazine. They really liked the clean and sophisticated style that we had used.
In order to create an open plan living and dining area which would link to the garden, the conservatory, the coal house and a number of walls were demolished and removed. We wanted to prevent a show room effect so we kept traces of the old walls which helped to create cosy corners for sofas and furniture as well as keeping traces of the past.
We used full width and height floor to ceiling glass folding doors, complemented by two generous roof lights, one along the line of the kitchen, the other parallel to the glass folding doors further back to flood the whole areas at the back with light.
“On a sunny day we fold back the huge glazed doors back to blur the boundary between the house and the garden and to make the outside feel at one with the inside.”
