A Stylish London Edwardian House Extension
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This week's renovation tour is of @edwardian_london_terrace, which is such a stunning period home where the style perfectly compliments the age of the property.
By carrying out a loft conversion and a rear extension, the house has been transformed from a 3 to a 5 bed property, making it perfect for this young family.
Denise and her husband carried out the work over several years', with the loft conversion built a few years before the rear extension. This is often a sensible decision as it helps make the planning easier as well as the budgeting and construction less stressful.
We love that the family have not only added to the size but have gone about reinstating the original features, bringing this home back to its original glory.
The beautiful exterior of the Edwardian home
Can you tell us about your home and renovation project?
We live in an Edwardian terrace house in SE London. We bought the property in July 2014 and moved into it in September 2014.
The house had been renovated several years before we moved in as it had fallen into a state of disrepair but as a result the renovation gutted the house of all of the original features (bar the front door and staircase). So we decided to reinstate period features to bring character back to the house.
It was originally a 3 bed, kitchen/diner, separate living room and 1 family bathroom. We now have 5 beds, a shower room, a family bathroom, a downstairs W/C, large kitchen/diner and separate living room.
We love the view from the kitchen into the garden, with the striking crittall doors creating such a feature.
In May 2017, we started a loft extension (when I was 7 months pregnant) and that took roughly 12 weeks to build. We managed to get two double bedrooms and a shower room in our loft space.
In Jan 2020, we started our kitchen extension which we were extending out by 4 metres. Our youngest was 6 months old then so I'm clearly a sucker for doing building work on my maternity leaves ;)
Our 12 week extension turned into a 7 month build as we experienced lots of delays when the pandemic hit in Feb/March of that year.
We finally finished the extension in July/August 2020 which included a new kitchen/dining space/downstairs W/C and a hidden utility cupboard.
The dark walls are perfect in the lounge of this period property
What was the most challenging thing about the renovation?
There were quite a few during those months but the main one would have been ordering the kitchen, getting a delivery date and the world going into a lockdown which meant we had to cancel the kitchen order and reorder when everything opened up again.
There were lots of delays to building materials, like plaster and then the lead times to the kitchen doors/windows.
Luckily, both the children were still so small, it didn't really affect them too much so I'm pleased we did it during that time even though some days were really quite hard.
The crittall doors look so stylish from the exterior and we love that the brickwork complements the original home
Did you work with an architect to design the extension and was your planning application straightforward?
We worked with a fab local architect who understood immediately what we wanted to achieve as we had a very clear idea of what we wanted and luckily my husband and I had the same vision for the space.
He managed the planning application and it all went smoothly other than a little query about the ceiling height as we wanted to make sure the height in the extension was as close to the height in the original part of the house.
The stunning open plan kitchen with the gorgeous two tone cabinets
Did you have a budget and how did you stick to it?
We had a figure in mind and allowed another 10% on top in case anything cropped up during the build that would require additional spend that we hadn't factored in originally.
The hallway again compliments the period home whilst having plenty of individuality
What are you most proud of and why?
The vision we had and it coming to fruition. Also, my husband's idea of a hidden utility cupboard to hide the washing machine/boiler etc and I got an extra sink area there too which is great for having a separate area for laundry.
The hidden utility cupboard which is so practical
What would be your advice for anyone just about to start out?
Find a recommended and trustworthy builder and make sure you build up a really good relationship with them. Communication is key during a process like this and you need to work as a team together.
Don't be afraid to change your mind, after all, you want it to be right for you.
Instagram is a fountain of inspiration if you are unsure of what style of kitchen/layout you want, do your research on here.
Stick to your budget as much as you can. It's tricky because you may want to start adding in things you didn't think of initially but it's easy to get carried away so try and stay with your original figure.
If you are thinking about a renovation project in the near future and need some help finding an architect or designer, we can match you with the most suitable ones for your project.
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Published: February 28, 2022
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