A Beautiful Extension Carried Out During Lockdown
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The rear extension on the Victorian home of Insta account @homewiththemiddletons is a dream extension for so many families.
A wonderful open plan area, with a striking glazed ceiling and crittall style doors give the space a contemporary feel and lets so much light into the extension.
The kitchen itself is a beautiful combination of dark blue and pink, which just works so well in the family space.
Having previously renovated the rest of the home, Katy and her husband planned the extension to give them a sociable family space. Little did they know that the extension would be carried out during a lockdown, making an already challenging situation even harder.
Katy chats to us about renovating her home and also shares her advice about living through a renovation with a young family...with nowhere to go!
The kitchen in the large open plan family area
Can you tell us about your home and renovation project?
Our renovation journey began when we fell in love with a street close to where we were living, and we began to dream of living there one day. Fortunately, a Victorian detached house on the street came on the market soon enough. We completed the sale in April 2017, just a few weeks before the birth of our second son. We also had a 1 year old at the time.
We knew the house needed some tender loving care, as it had been neglected over the years, but one job continued to lead to another and before long we had spent more than three years converting it into our dream home.
We have renovated the whole house, changed all the windows, reinstated the front door and hallway which included ripping out a downstairs loo and putting the original staircase back. All of the walls were taken back to brick and the lead piping was removed where found.
The final piece of the puzzle slotted into place in August 2020 when an extension, transforming the galley kitchen, dining room and playroom into an open plan kitchen/diner, was completed.
The partition walls were knocked through to create a sizeable family kitchen, and the patio doors were replaced with crittall-style doors that have helped to flood the room with light. We also added a small utility room and downstairs loo.
We love the combination of dark blue and pink kitchen, complete with the brass finishes
What was the most challenging part of the renovation?
We began our one storey extension to extend our kitchen a few weeks before the first lockdown. Prior to starting the build I had been dreading the work as we had a 2 & 4 year old at the time, but we figured they would be in nursery some of the time and planned to use family for some meals and washing etc.
Then Covid hit and we were thrown into the first lockdown, it was so tough as we didn't have a sink or washing machine and half of our house and garden were out of bounds. But we all survived, and now appreciate our new space even more!
The beautiful front of the Victorian home, with all of the original features reinstated
Did you stick to a budget and do you have any budgeting tips?
We tried to stick to the budget throughout our extension, but we did end up going over the budget with the kitchen. We don't regret this as I feel the kitchen is the focus of the new room, it's amazing quality and it will hopefully stand the test of time and 2 children!
I would recommend looking on Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration. There are always ways to achieve the look you want, it doesn't matter your budget if you do lots of research you can always find cheaper alternatives if needed.
The families kitchen was a luxury but it has been designed so well, with the practical pantry and bar area
What part of the project are you proudest of?
That we survived it under such challenging conditions, and we all absolutely love everything about our new space.
There is nothing I would do differently, which is very uncommon for me!
The rear extension with striking crittall doors
What would be your biggest piece of advice for anyone about to start out?
My advice for families looking to do a renovation would be not to sweat the small stuff and clean etc when kids have gone to bed.
Be organised with kids snacks, meals etc, I always had them prepared the night before.
And the most important advice I could give would be not to let things get on top of you, it soon becomes a distant memory and you wonder why you worried so much!
The kitchen looking out onto the family living space
Where is your favourite place in your home now?
Definitely the open plan kitchen/diner family room. It's now the hub of the house, it's lovely to see the boys in there, and to cook.
I’ve always loved cooking but I couldn’t really do that when all the work was going on so I felt like I lost that part of me. Now we all cook and bake together and ever since we had this new space, we've eaten dinner together every night which is so lovely and something I hope we will keep up for years to come.
Downstairs loo which is finished in the same colours as the kitchen
The utility room is such practical space now
If you are thinking about a renovation project in the near future and need some help finding an architect or architectural designer, we can match you with the most suitable ones for your project.
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Published: February 15, 2021
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