When Charlotte and Aron Cool were looking for a bigger house, it wasn’t the property itself that was the main priority, it was the need to stay in the same area of west London where their three children had grown up and gone to school.
Luckily, the couple found an elegant four-storey semi detached property around the corner, so it didn’t take them long to decide this was the house for them. And they weren’t deterred by knowing it would need converting from a house of multiple occupancy into a family home.
"Each of the four bedsits had a kitchenette and bedroom – removing these was quite a big job so we knew we’d need to involve an architect who could show us the possibilities," says Charlotte. "Coincidentally, while I was admiring a friend’s renovated duplex, she told me that her sister, Cany Ash, was the designer, so she was one of several architects we invited to submit plans."
Project details
- Location West London
- House Victorian semi-detached
- Size 2,400 sq ft
- Project Extension and renovation
- Build cost £750,000
- Architect Ash Sakula
Open to ideas
Apart from knowing the number of bedrooms and bathrooms they needed, Charlotte and Aron didn’t have rigid views on how the house should be reconfigured, but had put together a renovation ideas scrapbook that was more about the style and vibe of the house.
Of the architects shortlisted, it was Cany’s practice, Ash Sakula, that came up with ideas that particularly chimed with their own.
A major consideration had always been that the needs of the children, Iris, 18, Leon, 17, and Romilly, 13, had to be taken into account, including the requirement for each to have their own bedrooms.
"I remember Cany and her partner Robert telling us they also had three kids and how that had influenced the design of their own home, so we immediately felt they understood and empathised with us and our requirements," says Charlotte. "As children grow up, their needs change so any designs have to be flexible to cope with that."
Planning problems
Reconfiguring the two middle floors was a fairly straightforward process – more about taking down temporary partitions rather than any heavy structural work.
The most transformative aspect of the proposed renovation was at the rear where Cany had designed a full-width rear extension idea to replace a small kitchen block that had been previously added. But there was the odd issue with planning permission.
"We were keen to clad the exterior of the extension with Douglas fir, which is a material we used widely for the interior, but we were getting resistance from the planners. Luckily, Cany and her team did a great job in persuading the council to go with something that was a little bit different," says Charlotte.
Other planning issues involved features away from the actual house, including a protected tree in the front garden. A bigger and more costly obstacle was the wall that stretches the length of the 100-foot garden – and which forms the end garden wall for a number of houses running perpendicular to Charlotte and Aron’s. Being "slightly wonky" the wall was deemed to be in need of underpinning with concrete to a depth of two feet.
Design inspiration
Regarding the build project itself, it went more or less to plan and to schedule with the project management carried out by Ash Sakula. For Charlotte and Aron, having a kitchen that spanned the full width of the rear and looking out onto the garden wasn’t something they had originally envisaged – it was another architect’s brainwave.
"Like many London houses, the basement floor was only accessible by a dark, narrow back stair," says Cany. "We reorganised the plan so that from the front door you could see right through the house and walk straight ahead down a new staircase bringing you directly into a bespoke kitchen."
The result is a large partly double-height kitchen with a mass of worksurfaces, which benefits from the kind of abundant natural light that only two levels of glazing can offer. With slim, elegant wooden window frames, the outlook onto the garden is virtually unimpeded – and the views are even more impressive from the floating study area on the mezzanine above.
Another area that Charlotte and Aron are delighted with – and are grateful to Cany for – is their newly installed bedroom, en suite and dressing room on the top floor, including an enormous expanse of glass above the shower.
"Opening the shower on the top floor to the sky was something we had always wanted to do and these were the clients to see the Mediterranean glamour of that move," says Cany. "The skylight moves entirely aside on rails so there is this surreal feeling that the house has a courtyard albeit with a heated floor in what is really a modest shower room."
Garden transformed
Recycling also played its part in this project. "When we came here, the garden was an absolute mess and for some reason, there were about 150 old car tyres scattered around," says Charlotte.
"Aron’s father, who’s a gardener, was kind enough to come and totally transform the space, which included cleaning up old existing bricks and breeze blocks that were here, and using them to create a unique patio idea.
"For the six months before the build started he was sending us cuttings from the gardens he tended for 45 years on the Isle of Jura in the Hebrides. It’s lovely to think they now form the basis of our garden."
"I have to admit that in this house we’re not short of rooms to spread out in," concludes Charlotte, "but here in this new section, we can all be in different places – at the table, in the kitchen, watching TV, chilling on the sofa, working in the study – while still being connected. That’s one of the real achievements with this project."
For more inspiration, take a look around this converted chapel in Bristol city centre or see how this 'ugly ducking' home got a modern makeover with two timber clad extensions.
