EXTENSION AND REMODEL OF 1970S
SELF-BUILD LOCATION SIZE
BUILD TIME BUILD ROUTE HOUSE COST BUILD COST VALUE
oving away from their life in West London was not originally Kay Surman and Jon Doughty’s plan, but after taking on a renovation out of town to fund a place with more outdoor space in Chiswick, things soon changed. The Boathouse – a 1970s modernist self-build on a plot adjacent to the River Thames – soon gained Jon and Kay’s affection. They couldn’t bear to sell it on and decided to instead make it their home.
I’d first found the house in 2014 but it was priced well out of our range and someone else began talks to knock it down and start again. About a year or so later, after planning regulations restricted what they could do, it came back up on the market at a much reduced price, so I immediately asked for a viewing. I was up all of the night before drawing up sketches.
I had absolutely no interest in the place until we walked down the river about two months before we completed the purchase. It was the end of June and one of those beautiful days with big blue skies, as soon as I saw it I decided, ‘We’re living there’. I was very involved from that day onwards, and though Jon may have done the design work already, we’re very aligned in those terms so I agreed with it all!
JThe first drawings were of a wraparound extension, but by the time we got to site we had changed the plan slightly due to two beautiful beech trees we couldn’t bear to get rid of. The corner of the new space was removed, leaving the two ‘arms’ of the extension to the side and back of the house. All the work was done under permitted development because I was really interested from the start in doing it without having to make a planning application.
THE ULTIMATE INDOOR/OUTDOOR SPACE
“We always knew there was going to be a lot of glass added and, because of the way the building sat in the ground, it meant if we did it properly we could get the benefit of the garden being part of the house”, says Jon. “Having two corners of the lounge space as sliding doors and the big overhang means that even when it’s raining we can have them stacked back and it feels like we’re sat in the garden — it’s one of my favourite things.”
JIt was actually quite an interesting building from an architectural point of view.the original architect had designed it very cleverly but the owners hadn’t touched it since it was built so there was damp in places and holes in the roof.
It was very of its time with a spiral staircase up to a really 70s sunken lounge with shag-pile carpet. It was really cool and quite ‘yucky’ at the same time!
KJThings like the timber columns at the front looked awful through modern eyes and we originally wanted to get rid of them but they created a handy void which led to a kind of exoskeleton of insulation around the entire house. We used 4-6inch Xtratherm insulation followed by a damp-proof membrane and a modern cement board material to the ground floor.the roof had to be replaced so there’s new insulation there as well — we pretty much put a giant insulated box over the house.
Inside, we knew that the lounge upstairs had to become a master suite but we wanted to keep the sunken quirkiness so we introduced this idea in the rear extension.the ground floor is completely openplan, so the sunken area makes it feel a bit cosier.
JOnce we decided this was going to be our home while the plans stayed the same, things did evolve and we changed things, like the kitchen, as we wanted. I designed the layout of the kitchen really early on, with a very long and skinny bench and a simple row of cupboards. Once Kay got more involved we just adapted the design further so it worked for us it — Kay has a lot of kitchen stuff so everything had to be hidden! Now there’s a big pantry and a utility accessed through a wall of cupboards. In my head the island was going to be brass but Kay loves marble. I think I did a lot more work than I would have done if it had stayed purely a development. From the start we didn’t cut corners because our idea of luxury is the space and the materials, so the changes were quite simple.
KWhen you have lots of glass and open space it can feel a bit sterile but I love the cedar-clad ceiling in the lounge and out to the decking because it makes it feel homely. A lot of the house was already here, it just needed rethinking. I think the original architect could recognise it because if you took off the extensions, the 70s house is still there. It’s probably the bit I’m most pleased with and proud of.