From Bland to Grand: Case Studies

70s Brick Disaster to Oak Frame Gem (MAIN IMAGE)

Behind Jeff and Fiona Streule’s beautiful oak framed home in Buckinghamshire is the shell of an unappealing 1970s brick house which they have extended and transformed over the course of several years, at a cost of £197,000 — moving out for just six months during the worst of the work. The original property had been tripled in size in the 1970s with a poor extension of mismatched bricks and cheap interlocking concrete roof tiles. An attached garage had also been erected and an entrance porch added.

The roof was entirely rebuilt, replacing the two low-pitched gables with a more visually pleasing design, covered in handmade clay roof tiles. The garage was replaced with a single storey oak frame extension (from Oakwrights) and the master bedroom extended in oak frame. The exposed beams and rendered infill panels give the property period character, as does the use of several different window styles which help give the appearance of a property that has evolved over time.
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50s House to Modern Classic

Melek and Jon Watkins have doubled the size of their boxy 1950s house in Henley on Thames, Oxfordshire, and transformed it into a sleek contemporary house. The clever remodelling scheme, which took 16 months and cost £197,000, was designed by local architect Jeremy Spratley. The house was almost entirely demolished and the roof rebuilt to accommodate a fourth bedroom. The exterior has been clad in a combination of cedar boarding, render and brickwork, with a contemporary entrance porch and new grey-painted timber windows. The original concrete roof tiles were rebuilt.
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A Bauhaus-Inspired Makeover

Colin and Carol Joy’s 1960s house in the South Downs has undergone a metamorphosis into an elegant Bauhaus-style home. The entire building was gutted, leaving just four walls and the spiral staircase, and then extended from 263m² to 414m². The window openings were enlarged and folding sliding doors added, the walls were re-clad in white insulated render and the roof recovered in lead. The upper floor, which previously contained three small bedrooms and a bathroom, is now one spacious master bedroom suite with two balconies and a ladder leading down to the swimming pool. Downstairs are his and hers studies, a utility room and two further bedrooms with en suites for the couple’s adult children, Catherine and Stephen. Designed by Morgan Carn Partnership, the total project cost was £350,000.

Unrecogniseable as a 1970s House

A 1970s estate house, typical of properties found all over the UK, is now almost unrecognisable thanks to a clever remodelling scheme by specialist Back to Front Exterior Design. By pulling forward a section of the front elevation, adding a rear single storey extension with a lantern roof, and altering the existing layout, both the form of the building and accommodation provided were improved. Externally the walls were clad in weatherboarding, the windows replaced with double-glazed vertical sliding sash windows and the altered roof covered in slate. The project cost £190,000 including front and rear landscaping.

Bland 1960s Home Transformed

This 1960s house was radically reworked by Space and Style Home Design by the introduction of shallow-pitched roofs at ground and first floor levels, and oversized eaves. The house was extended to add a ‘floating’ cant ilevered carport and workshop on the ground floor and a new master bedroom with vaulted ceiling on the first floor, whilst also extending the existing bedrooms and bathroom. The walls were re-clad in render and cedar boards. Inside, the layout was opened up to create a freeflowing plan, with the kitchen relocated to the centre of the house, freeing up the rear to create a full-width living room looking onto the garden.

Contemporary Marvel from 50s Bungalow

This elegant contemporary home on the South Coast started out as an unappealing 1950s bungalow. Its owners commissioned HÛT to come up with a remodelling scheme that all but rebuilt the property. The exterior was re-clad in rough-sawn Siberian larch behind which is a new layer of external insulation. The roof was replaced and fully insulated. All of the windows were enlarged and replaced, including triple-glazed rooflights, and new double-glazed sliding doors were fitted right across the south elevation. In place of a neo-Georgian conservatory a new glass roof encloses a small section of patio, creating an indoor/outdoor space that links the kitchen to the outside. Internally, simple materials such as rough timber, polished concrete and galvanized steel have been used to create a deliberately unpretentious building. The project cost around £400,000.
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Read more:

• From Bland to Grand: Post-War Renovations
• From Bland to Grand: Planning & Costs
• From Bland to Grand: Assessing Potential