Renovating a 1970s House

For Rebecca Lang, buying a lacklustre 1970s house in Poole, gutting it and creating a stylish, modern family home must have had a certain déjà vu quality about it. Only a few months earlier she had completed a similarly ambitious makeover on a boxy four bedroom 70s house, which she extended both upwards and outwards. Now here she was doing it all over again — acting as project manager, as well as juggling life as a single parent, with four children to care for.

“I loved everything about that first project,” Rebecca enthuses. “I couldn’t continue my career as a dentist and look after the children at the same time because the hours were too inflexible. Working on the house was something I was able fit around school runs and meal times, and it gave me such a buzz that I immediately wanted to do it all over again.”

Rebecca didn’t have far to look for her next house, which is just a short walk away in the popular Lower Parkstone area of Poole. Coincidentally, it was a property which she had previously considered buying in order to extend upwards by building an additional storey. This time, however, her hard-earned practical knowledge led her to take a less complicated route.

“Going up to three storeys can actually be more trouble than it’s worth,” she explains. “I worked out that it just wouldn’t be cost effective, and in the end I decided to keep the house on just two floors to avoid the additional Building Regulations relating to fire safety. The plan was to keep everything simple, but I still managed to get a little carried away!”

One of the main reasons that the slightly outdated 1970s house hadn’t sold concerned the precipitous rear garden, reached by a perilous set of steep concrete steps. Rebecca realised that, in addition to remodelling the house, she would also need to pay close attention to the landscaping, and has added new decking, planting and lighting as well as improving access with a series of shallower timber steps.

Boosted by her success with the previous house, she also decided to tackle much of the design work herself. “This time I didn’t need to increase the overall size of the house,” she explains. “Very few of the internal walls have remained in the same place, though, because I wanted a totally different layout which would enable me to add a third bathroom upstairs. At first, I designed the integral garage as another room but the planners were against the idea of a detached alternative garage, so I had to go back to the drawing board and come up with plan B.”

This second design only required planning permission for a new rear balcony, leading out from the repositioned master bedroom, which was duly approved. “The original layout had the main bedroom to the front, but I felt strongly that it should be at the back,overlooking the rear garden,” explains Rebecca. “Adding the balcony and French doors has completely transformed this room, and now you can lie in bed, facing out through the doors, and enjoy the garden.”

Despite the fact that the house was structurally sound, Rebecca still wanted to make some dramatic changes to the exterior, which involved replacing the leaking roof with matt grey concrete tiles and redesigning the front gable as a monopitch to create a more contemporary façade. Fussy brick detailing and timber cladding have been traded for simple ivory render, and the old plastic windows were replaced with sleek contemporary frames.

“I think that windows are the most important part of any design and make the ‘face’ of a house,” says Rebecca, who was on site every day. “I was quite excited about these grey-green aluminium windows because they’re finished inside with PVCu, which has a much warmer look. One of the problems I had with this property involved aligning all of the window openings, which were very higgledy piggledy. Some had to be moved up slightly and some were cut down until they all matched, but it does give a much more elegant and symmetrical finish.”

The slightly sloping nature of the building has also created some interesting internal features and quirky changes in level. At the top of the new open-tread staircase, the landing culminates in carpeted steps leading up to a raised platform. This is presided over by a vivid red contemporary chair, overlooking a small Juliet balcony to the front of the house through full-height glazed doors.

“Everyone comments on the landing and the glass balustrades of the stairs,” says Rebecca. “Glass plays an important role in the whole design, but I didn’t want to sacrifice any privacy — so there are simple obscure panels of glazing in the front door and balconies which act as visual barriers. It means you are more likely to go and sit on the new decked area outside the living room, whereas before the patio doors simply opened onto an exposed terrace.”

Inside the handsome glazed front door, the main hallway is floored in oversized high-gloss porcelain tiles, and is now completely open to the kitchen/dining room beyond. Sited to the rear of the house, this impressive open plan area was previously divided into three smaller spaces, containing the kitchen, a WC and separate utility. By removing the partition walls and repositioning the utility at the rear of the garage, Rebecca has created a large cooking/eating area which is bristling with integrated appliances, including a state-of-the-art coffee maker.

“It’s the kind of room where you can sit and have breakfast with the children at the island, but it’s also perfect for dinner parties as well,” states Rebecca, who teamed chunky Corian work surfaces with cream highgloss cabinets, inset with eye-catching panels of Zebrano walnut. “Having the family room right next to the kitchen is perfect for our lifestyle and is a great place for watching films with the children, but it could always be used as a separate dining room in future — which makes the layout extremely flexible.”

The useful family room was created by rebuilding an existing sunroom with brick walls on the same footprint, and carving off a small portion of the original lounge diner, enabling Rebecca to retain a spacious sitting room to the front of the house.

Furnished with contemporary sofas and armchairs, chrome floor lights and a walnut table and sideboard, this larger ‘adult’ room is flooded with natural light. A giant LCD television hangs above the contemporary fireplace, and is served by surround-sound speakers, with ceiling speakers also installed in the master bedroom, family room and kitchen.

“I do love gadgets, and included a smart wireless lighting system which creates different scenes, as well as a whole-house entertainment system, with an iPod docking station at the bottom of the stairs which allows us to play music using control panels in the principal rooms,” Rebecca explains. “The children love it, and they also like the modern bathrooms — particularly the double sink in my en suite, which has waterfall- style spout taps. There are even LCD lights inset into the tiles, which create a really pretty effect — although the tiler wasn’t too pleased about having to make all those tiny holes!”

Once again, Rebecca has strived for high-quality finishes, and managed to complete the entire makeover in an impressively short four months, despite the fact that only the four external walls of the original house remained standing. Work included tiling the roof, replastering the walls, rewiring and re-plumbing the entire property and fitting stylish contemporary aluminium radiators which heat up instantly and fulfil the need for an easy modern lifestyle.

Rebecca employed the same building contractor as before, and felt far more confident organising the various specialist subcontractors, ordering materials and managing her budget this time around. The house may be finished but she already has plans for future projects, and is constantly scouring the area for suitable properties on which to make her mark. One thing’s for sure, if this house is anything to go by then practice certainly makes perfect and the next one is bound to be real humdinger.

Further reading:

• From 1970s House to Contemporary Family Home
• Remodelling a 1960s House
• From Bland to Grand: Postwar Renovations