Michele & Mike had added a rear, single-storey extension to their home and converted their loft to create additional space when their children were young. However, as their children grew older, they found that the layout decreasingly suited their family’s lifestyle. They wanted to create separate personal space for their children to socialise, study, wash and for storage, and anticipating the demographic trend for children living at their parental homes for longer, with the longevity to last into young adulthood.

Having exhausted the possibilities of further extending their home and attracted by the strategy of maximising space with bespoke built-in joinery in a number of our previous projects, they invited us to re-design it.

On the first floor, the original painted timber skirtings, doors and windows, and moulded plaster cornices in the bedrooms were refurbished. Lacquered birch plywood joinery elements incorporating double beds, drawers, cupboards, shelves, and desks were ‘dropped’ into the front two bedrooms, and a shower room was inserted into the landing for the two younger boys. Screens are slatted and units are wall mounted, so that they read as lightweight installations in the original settings. These elements differentiate new from old and add natural material warmth and playfulness, with one incorporating shelves for displaying favourite trainers and the other a galvanised steel scaffold pole hanging rail for tracksuit tops.

On the second floor in the loft, the floor, low level walls, ceiling and joinery, including a double bed, shelves, and desk were all constructed out of more lacquered birch plywood, and another shower room was inserted, to create a separate suite for the older girl.

The birch plywood was carefully specified for appearance and the building contractor then hand picked boards in the timber merchant for colour and tone. Detailing celebrates the contrast between the veneered faces and “humbug” striped edges of the birch laminates.

Elsewhere, the layouts of the kitchen and what is now the master bathroom were re-tuned to be more ergonomical and refurbished with a richer palette of materials, from terrazzo, glazed ceramics, to oiled oak.

Photography by Tom Cronin