RENOVATED AND EXTENDED VICTORIAN TERRACE
HOMEOWNERS
n architect’s aid on your extension or renovation project can provide a multitude of benefits. Not only can they help to bring your vision to life, but they can also lend an expert eye to suggest where you could be making better use of a small space, bringing more light into a room, or adding seemingly simple features that become invaluable to your daily routine.
Ludivine and her husband Phil saw these benefits and more when they enlisted a local architect to help them realise their aim of remodelling and extending their Victorian terrace to create a family home.
Keen to create a flexible house in which their young family could grow up, the couple collaborated with a team who helped them consider the ways they use their home — and then shaped the new design around that lifestyle.
“We looked at the archives when we bought this house and discovered that its first owner was a book binder in the 19th century,” begins Ludivine. “It had always had four levels, but owners since had created a makeshift loft conversion. It’s a narrow house, but it’s also very long and very tall.
“The kitchen and dining room were on the ground floor and the living room on the first floor, and there was a bathroom and separate toilet. It was all in pretty good condition — it even had original floorboards.”
Ludivine and Phil lived in the house for two years before embarking on any major work with the view of extending and renovating as and when finances allowed. They met with architect Trevor Brown and his team, including interior designer Odeta, to discuss their ideas.the building work would subsequently be divided into two main stages
“We were pretty far-sighted at the beginning of the project. We knew we wanted kids and didn’t want to have to move later on, but the existing layout would have been a nightmare with children,” explains Ludivine.
The first step was to transform the loft into a usable space. Trevor drew up plans for an open, airy conversion, creating a new master bedroom with a dormer and picture window looking out onto the garden. “The work started when Elliott was six weeks old and we were sleeping on a mattress in the living room for weeks!” smiles Ludivine.“it taught me a lot, especially that building projects, as well as motherhood, are hard!” she adds.
However, the work on the house was far from over. Creating a kitchen, dining and living area all on one floor for their young family was paramount. So, the next step involved rearranging the layout into a more open-plan space, and extending out.
Plans for an extension, again with Trevor’s help, were discussed two years after the loft conversion had been completed.
Essential to unlocking the potential of the house was Trevor’s contemporary remodelling scheme and a plan for a two-storey rear extension. The couple had originally imagined a typical addition with doors opening out to the garden, but decided to move away from the standard model.
Instead, they have a huge window on one side of the stove and French doors on the other to create a room suitable for year-round use. The ground floor, lost without a proper place for the family to convene, now has a cosy living space leading out to the garden, while a panelled seating booth links the new space with the renovated kitchen.
“The stages of renovation actually coincided with major milestones in our lives: the children,” reflects Ludivine. “I had Elliott right before we completed the loft conversion, then Camille when we did the bigger extension. We also remodelled the first floor bedroom right before Raphaëlle was born, turning into a guest room with large storage cupboard and built-in study.”