‘I LOVE ALL THE LEAFY TONES’ Jane went for a contemporary jungle look in her kitchen

Choosing a neutral kitchen enabled Jane Vincent to create a jungle feel with a dramatic wallpaper mural and deep green tiles

Moving a few miles down the road two years ago enabled us to get our daughter into a good secondary school. The new home had more space and a bigger garden, but we knew we had a massive project on our hands,’ says Jane.

‘We’d totally renovated our previous home, and I had itchy feet once it was all done, so I was up for a new challenge. We could see lots of potential in the house, but it was muddled downstairs. Three different generations of the same family had lived there, and they had all added their own ideas, but there was no flow. We could see how we could create a really large open-plan space downstairs, with access to the garden. This would give us room to all be together.

To the drawing board

We put together a dramatic plan to extend out five metres into the garden, scoop out the middle of the house and just open everything out. We’ve kept a room at the front of the house, which doubles as a den and a spare bedroom, and we chose to leave an alleyway at the side of the house to give us external access to the garden. We also managed to squeeze in a second bathroom. After planning permission went through, the work started in November last year. We used the same builders that we’d used on our previous house. We were on a tight budget though, so we lived here during the six-month build, with a temporary kitchen in the front room.

Focal point

It seemed obvious that the kitchen should be at the back, with the dining table next to the doors to the garden. I wanted

‘IF YOU’RE ADDING AN EXTENSION, IT PAYS TO WORK A SKYLIGHT INTO YOUR PLANS – IT WILL BRING SO MUCH EXTRA LIGHT INTO THE SPACE’

the garden and its colours to be an important part of the kitchen, so it was actually the wallpaper mural that came first, before we even had a kitchen. I loved the greens, blues and purples in the design.

Rethinking the space

There had been an old range cooker in a chimney breast, but we wanted to use our existing side by side ovens and put in a hob. So we came up with a plan to widen the gap significantly and put in new steels at the sides, so it looked like a big old farmhouse-style fireplace.

Choosing the units

A neutral, reasonably priced kitchen was next up, but I knew I didn’t want all white. I started looking at grey kitchens and we fell for the wood-effect units at Wren in a concrete grey colour. I was thrilled to learn that you could have a matching worktop in exactly the same shade, rather than a contrast, as the wallpaper and the tiles needed to be the stars of the scheme.

Tying it all together

The ceiling above the island is high, so my last big search was for a statement light to hang there. I found one with a lovely cascade of globes, which everyone always comments on when they come to visit. Now the kitchen-diner is complete, we all love spending time in here together as there’s so much space for us all to enjoy.’

LIGHTEN IT UP ‘This is the darkest part of the kitchen, so I chose white tiles for here to help reflect the light around’

‘For very little extra money, we’ve extended the worktop and added a couple of small units to create a workspace’ ‘I wanted something unusual above the island, and this light certainly does the job’ IDEA TO STEAL ‘Add in a little pattern with small sections of feature wallpaper’ EXTENDED USE

CREATE SPACE ‘We widened the chimney to fit side by side ovens, and were able to hide the extractor above’

PAINTERLY TOUCH ‘I often sit here to paint as the light is so good – the ones above the desks are mine’