From darkness INTO LIGHT

ONCE KNOWN BY NEIGHBOURS AS ‘THE DARK HOUSE’, EMMA MERRY’S NEW HOME HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED TO CREATE A KITCHEN FILLED WITH NATURAL LIGHT

The estate agent’s photograph of this mock-tudor house was taken from such an odd angle, Emma and Charles Merry almost decided not to view it. And when they did, its dark rooms discouraged a return visit. ‘But something made me go back,’ recalls interior designer Emma. ‘I wanted to find out if I could see beyond the gloom.’

‘It was the two beautiful windows at the front of the house, which reminded me of Liberty’s in London, that made me reconsider,’ she explains. Inside, pulling back the heavy curtains that were blocking out the light, Emma began to plan how she might be able to reconfigure the layout and create a brighter feel.

It was enough to persuade the couple to put in an offer, keen as they were to find a larger home for family life with their young sons.

After spending six months mapping how the light fell in the house, Emma and Charles, who works in IT, decided to remove several internal walls from the ground floor and add industrial-style glazed doors, a nod to the period style of the house, in order to allow light to flow through the space. They also moved the kitchen to the front of the house, where the dining room had been before. ‘Because we spend so much time in the kitchen, it made sense to be able to enjoy the beautiful window every day, rather than just at Christmas and Easter when we’d use a dining room,’ explains Emma. Painting the window surround in gloss black and replacing the broken frames with a new bronze-aluminium design accentuated its role as the focal point of the room.

To create a relaxed, country feel with a modern twist, Emma designed traditional Shaker-style cabinetry painted in a soft grey that boosts the light feel of the space. ‘It now feels so calm and welcoming,’ says Emma, who offset the grey with oiled oak veneer and aged brass to lift the look and give it warmth. ‘When I learned that the neighbours called this “the dark house”, I couldn’t wait to invite them over and watch their surprise,’ she says.

Emma chose a slender island as the social hub of the room. ‘I put the sink here, rather than the hob, so that the stools were nowhere near hot pans,’ she explains

A combination of glazed cupboards, open shelves and base units provides plenty of display and storage options

Finished with brass knobs and drawer pulls, the soft grey painted cabinetry creates an elegant backdrop Emma chose the Armstrong tap for its design and brass finish, which will develop its own patina over time Wide industrial-style glazed doors allow maximum natural light to flow through the ground floor