Extension with Leicht Kitchen and Nigel Slater Inspired Folding Doors

A Victorian townhouse was brought into the 21st century with a new full width, 9 metre extension devised through collaboration with architect Keith Durham, that houses the kitchen and dining spaces. The premise of the project was to increase the ground floor space  giving better functionality to the house and to allow the family to experience a greater sense of freedom within it. Alongside the extension and kitchen shown here, our brief was to apply a smart townhouse aesthetic throughout in a refurbishment of the whole property.





The a wall of folding doors, and exotic and rich teak parquet flooring were integral to the clients wishes as they represented very strong and important aesthetics. Working with the charm of the original Victorian house, we wanted to produce a bright, modern, crisp space, that linked through from the original by using the warmth and detailing of flooring and joinery.





The kitchen design was devised alongside Martin Williamson of InHouse Kitchens, featuring Leicht furniture and Seimens appliances, and the top is a honed matt white composite stone top, which on the island wraps around the two ends. The bank of full height units in a brushed and textured copper oak cleverly conceals the integrated appliances whilst adding texture and substance to the room. The units are double thickness and appear in certain frames as a large mass. Units on the back of the kitchen side add a great deal of extra storage whilst consuming a small but light cloakroom and lavatory snugly separated from the living spaces. Patent double glazing along the one side of the extension floods light through giving that sense of openness that characterises modern living.  Ligne Roset furniture further enhances the dining space. In the far corner of the bank of units a tambour unit conceals a pull out coffee maker and other kitchen aids.















The folding sliding doors are bespoke joinery units made for us by Stuart Barr Joinery, informed by the look of the Nigel Slater bi-folds in Nigel Slater's Simple Cooking.
















The whole scheme was devised with the addition of a fireplace set into the existing chimney void. Initially it was to be a functioning proving oven but was revised to a multi-fuel stove for increased warmth and celebration throughout. Below shows the integrated scandi fireplace with valuable log storage space below. 








































For drama and purpose over the island we used three Circus pendents from Innermost. They are sprayed black on the outside with a copper gold look on the inner. Other lights used are under shelf task lighting  just above the sink area and on upper cheek of the ceiling, three discrete white Hero spot lights to add an extra degree of function.






































Below are examples of some of the design material we prepared and used for the process of client communication.








exterior view of side extension and bi-folding doors



The whole of the ground floor received further treatment, turning what was the old kitchen into a library and media space and upgrading the dining room into a more formal space for entertaining. For continuity the teak herringbone flooring extended throughout the whole of the ground floor complete with a  double edging detail.  The pendent lighting is a fabulous mouth blown crystal glass piece by design studio Atelier Areti named Kirschlag. Two lamps were commissioned and occupy this and the adjoining sitting room / library.  Both have differing lightly feather etched patterns and are exquisite with or without light.




































The round ceiling rose, as so often happens in these types of properties, disappears over time and it is often a great event putting them back as they add focus and elegance to a room.







































Upstairs we updated bathrooms, including this one shown with encaustic patterned cement tiles from Portugal, which we also adopted for the exterior facelift to the front of the property.








functionality and colour in a kitchen - grandpont house

Victorian House: 

features: Lacanche gas oven, Island unit, slate grey porcelain tiles, lime green, oak lantern, Blanco inset sink.

This project was the second of 3 commissions by our client, after working with them on the design of

loft with on-suite

, and then later their

garden

.

This began life pre-extension and the remit was to design a kitchen that was highly functional and host various items like a large and rather special

eurocave

wine fridge (see photo) and also a smaller wine unit to be housed in the island unit. The list of appliances continued; there was the

Lacanche

 range; a multi ring gas burner that was to stand centre stage in the kitchen. The owner being a very interested and extremely capable chef insisted upon this furniture, and why not! The extension was cleverly designed by architect 

Tony Reedman

, making much of a slightly awkward space. The extension was carried out to a very good standard and so made the process of designing for the space much easier than it could have been. It is imperative that your builder is accommodating at this stage as various items will impact on the final design. Whilst some features had to be altered i.e.size of steel beams holding up the house, most of the structure and size was kept within targets. Working with an experienced design team at In House, we organised a design that fitted the needs of the client and made sense of the space: ample room for cooking, room for art on walls and a place where this family could be seated in an evening or entertain.

Kitchens are notoriously difficult to organise and generally work around very clear principles. However, every space is different and can ask different questions of the designer.

While its recommended that one should have a good understanding of the principles of kitchen design, commonsense and awareness of the practicalities of usage and the dynamics there in, are essential. 

In the photo > Cabinet work is in a mixture of Anthracite and white gloss both with doors that have matching edge details.

Inset handles on the cabinetry avoid fuss and visually speak more discreetly about a design. They also fair a little better chronographically and tend never to lose that much in style.

Set within the anthracite top of the island unit is the Blanco

 'zerox' inset sink, with one large sink and a small drainer. Its a 1000mm x 510 unit and has a low profile that keeps the sharp quality to the design.

The incredibly hard wearing floor tiles are ceramic 

and the pattern that ensued clearly adds to and makes sense of the linearity of the space.

The lengths of floating shelving, 50mm thick and 350mm wide, were manufactured from the same material as the worktop, also in anthracite and so complimented the rest of the units. Their fixing method is concealed. With the projected weight it was considered that allowances should be made during the building process to accommodate it: as a result, medium density building blocks were used rather than thermalite blocks at the fixing points, in order to secure them.

On the feature wall the client commissioned a mirror which was covered rather ornately in mixed elements of fabric from

SQUINT

designs and it sits upon the green wall very effectively. Other elements of interest are got through the individual elements that our client brings to the room such the stainless steel vegetable holder which rests upon the island unit like a floating piece of sculpture.

The colour on the wall is very striking and was chosen by Charlotte. Strong accent colour like this can be quite hard to work with, but we both felt there was a great deal of spirit and good health about this colour and to use it in the scheme would be very affirming. In fact, later on you will see that the colour is repeated in the

garden design

. To see this room of an evening, have a look at the

kitchen in use

post, which shows off how joyful and colourful even such a vividly minimal and practical kitchen can be.

Striking, clean, highly functional and full of fun. 

a new arts and crafts - a maple kitchen - north oxford house

North Oxford house with an arts and crafts twist        

Kitchen

hand made kitchen in maple with crafted panels, pre mural.

The Parktown area of Oxford is a famous landmark site and this project was sited within one of the crescents that exists. The house was built in the late 1850's and was designed by Samuel Lipscomb Seckham using bath stone as the main building material. He was a surveyor who was commissioned by St John's college to develop the area. Should you wish to visit you will see that It is very reminiscent of the famous crescent at Bath, and was no doubt designed to air a similar grand quality.

The project was to be the total revamp of one of the houses in the crescent (in stages), and as such the owners had decided to commission us to 'lift its spirit'. This project was a total pleasure in many ways, as we both loved the house and its character. The house is set out over 5 floors, the piano nobile with the drawing room and dining rooms on the 1st floor with views over the Parktown gardens. Initially there was not a great deal of harmony in the house (design-wise) as it was split into several separate apartments at some point in its near history. This then meant having a total vision for the place, whilst staging the works and bringing the different spaces together again. Whilst first impressions of the house in this state would to many dictate a total 'rip out' and refurbishment, we felt, with the support of our clients, that a restoration approach could achieve more and retain the character of the property. Restoration is a gentler, but more intricate, complicated and sometimes time consuming project, but the end result is so much subtler and kinder to the house that we believe it is well worth it. It seems a shame for example to replace a lathe and plaster wall with modern plasterboard just because it is flatter - after all, the character of an old house is in the quirks (and ripping out old lathes always makes we think of the person who whittled each piece of timber individually).

Whist full of character, the house had been badly mistreated in some ways, and many of the period features were somewhat obscured. Its most notable features were the beautiful handrail that trailed throughout the floors; the tall glazed internal doors; the high ceilings with original cornice and the fireplace in the ground floor living space. The main carrera marble fireplace housed decorative Duncan Grant tiles and it was this detail that gifted us the idea of using art and craft to give the house an artisan feel, that it possibly once had. We wanted to take the core concepts of arts and crafts, but tweak and modernise, and see if the ethos and character could also work within a contemporary and modern sleekness. 

Many of the items that you will see throughout are either one-off or unique in someway. So, while we adapted some of the arts and crafts designs, we weren't faithful to them. In fact we gave the designs a modern twist, something that would sit alongside individual modern items and not look out of place.

It is a house like no other and so for inspiration we decided to visit Blackwell House, an arts and crafts exhibition house, situated in the Lake District, which houses a wonderful collection of relevant pieces. William de Morgan tiles adorn the fireplace surrounds in the large house. Also on show in the exhibition at the time, were lots of ceramic work. The hallmark of the arts and crafts period was the level of embelishment. Nothing was left blank and ordinary if at all possible. 


At the time of investigating where we should place our design, we came across an artisanal nature to the craft industry in Holland and in the UK.  Leading designers like Hella Jongherius, were bringing their passion for 'handmade' skills within modern production methods to the table. 

cowparsley splashback with led lighting


So it became quite clear, that within the make over, it wouldn't be out of place to acquire craft from other sources to sit alongside our own brand of arts and craft informed designs, and link through for a very unique experience.

initial design concepts

initial design concept 2 (island unit)
.

The project began at the deep end with the transformation of the kitchen and ground floor lounge area that ran into each other separated by 2.8m high glass double doors.

kitchen; The main features are the maple worktops,
white washed flooring, mural, backlit bespoke splashback and the Hans Wegner dining room set with a soaped wood finish, the aga that sits in the middle and the suspended lighting. 

the lighting with its suspension cables allows flexibility in the positioning of the light modules.

Its a galley style kitchen, tapering to the back wall. A 3 metre long worktop island unit separates the dining space from the rest of the kitchen, and cupboard doors to the dining side give access to plates and glasses. The island unit is made using solid maple, providing storage and housing two built in fridges. An electric oven and a ceramic hob supplement the aga, and provide alternative cooking means during hot summers. The handles were created using maple and brass as an insert. Each of the handles were carved with their own unique pattern.


The element of carving and piercing also shows in the end panel of the island unit. 

fine detailing in the maple 

brass inlay into the maple side panel

The colour scheme is light cream, sage green, natural blond wood with black elements and details. On the wall with the aga to the centre, a long set of wall units with doors in a matte sage green, spans the full length of the room, straddling the large chimney breast, serving to emphasize the length of the room. Below, the base units continue in solid maple.



The lighting throughout the room was commissioned from Album lighting via the marvellous Cameron Peters Fine Lighting  based in Ardington, near Wantage, Oxfordshire. Album, an Italian firm, specialise in suspended LED and halogen lighting for heritage projects - since the cabling runs around the top of the walls, and is only fixed at minimal points, it is perfect for heritage or valuable ceilings, and much more sensitive a scheme than halogen spotlights. We chose a mix of light modules for interest and to mark different areas - thus elegant blown glass fittings are suspended above the dining table, and architectural spotlights provide task lighting above the island. For fun, a single moon piece hangs above the sink area.

Full height sliding wooden doors act as shutters in front of the glass doors which lead to the garden. We adorned these with a mural of cow parsley, in a slightly darker colour than the paintwork, so as not to make it too pronounced, but play with how you percieve the room and how you experience it. 


















The cowparsley theme ran into the splashbacks. This was experimental (a technique more often associated with exhibition stands) but works tremendously well. They are very colorful and add another level of patternwork that uplifts the space either side of the chimney breast. These were designed by Charlotte and printed onto thick perspex. The perspex was separated by a few centimetres from the wall, and an LED lighting strip was placed between, in order to light up the panels from behind and add further refinement to the overall design. They fit very precisely from worktop to underside of wall cabinets.

cowparsley etched onto the plexiglass

plexiglass backsplash design


The table and chairs are classic designs by Hans Wegner. The table is soaped oak, which is an under-used finish these days, but is no less hardy than varnish. It is non yellow and soft in appearance. This consideration of material is just whay you would expect from the master craftsman.

hans wegner table and chairs

dark chair detailing and table in soaped oak and grey


More Scandinavian design appears with the Secto floor lamp in black and natural birch wood, designed by finnish architect Seppo Koho.


All in all, the room is a blend of materials, textures and style that hints at what will continue elsewhere in the house.

Light, open, softly spoken but crafty and unique.

basement living - victorian house

project: living area, kitchen, extension


features: reclaimed antique parquet muhuhu flooring, Silestone worktop, induction hob, wine storage




the kitchen with view to dining room extension (phase 6)


This basement conversion and extension was a huge project, and a fantastic space. A lot of work was carried out to turn what was a dark, and slightly dank basement area into a family space that is extremely habitable and stylish, and given its situation, filled with light. We tackled the project in stages, firstly creating a cosy living and play area in the bay window space at the front along with a central kitchen, and then a pause before the major building project of a light and airy new extension as a dining area, which leads out onto a same level outdoor living space. 



When we began, red 'quarry style' tiles sat on the floor, a dark blue 'county style' kitchen blocked off the far end of the room which has now been opened up to the new extension, replacing a rather leaky conservatory type space. The chimney at the living end had also been blocked up previously and the damp that was inside the chimney was interfering with the skirting. All of this was opened up and the rubble removed. We reclaimed the space in the chimney as a display point with a huge oak lintel, and vented it to keep the chimney aerated. The floor was a different story; all the tiles were removed and fortunately, we did get back to a layer of concrete on top of which was laid a breathable membrane. The floor was then put down on a substrate. After much time fitting and sanding the reclaimed parquet the effect was complete - it appeared as if it had been down for the past 120 years or so. A lot of work and time went into the floor but the results are remarkable.




parquet flooring in herringbone configuration










Choosing something that has been used before, despite the clean up process, still means that you are quite likely to get an amount of character running through the floor which can be lacking in pristine wooden floors. we also loved the 'eco' quality of a reclaimed floor, and its history was in keeping with the character of the house. The parquet block floor started life as we knew it in individual blanks bundled into yard squares, and stored in a warehouse in Bath (Walcott reclamation) who deal with architectural antiques. In its previous incarnation it was a school gym floor. It is a wonderful material - dense and fragrant and full of character. Every individual block was processed to be the right depth, this involved stripping off the tar from the bottom using an electric planer. The resulting floor shows incredible personality.












We specified and designed a German made kitchen which was supplied by a local company. We wanted all the surfaces to reflect as much light as possible, and chose a high gloss finish in a beautifully light olive green.  A breakfast bar was added to the scheme which doubled as a useful preparation area and keeps the space sociable.  The wrap around top is Silestone, a quartz based composite stone which has anti-bacterial properties and is incredibly hardwearing and anti corrosion resistant.   Within the L shaped configuration above a miele inset induction hob was set. The owners approached induction cooking after much discussion with some trepidation, but have cherished it ever since. The hob is set into its the top and colour matched intumescent mastik was used to seal it into place. Behind the miele induction hob a hardened glass splashback was fitted, and flat plate sockets (low profile) in stainless steel sit neatly against glass tiles and add further detail.















The wine carrier set into the second chimney stack neatly fills a problem space or 'hole' that the owner wanted us to address. The inventive storage is a modification of a design from another recent project where we reclaimed a disused dumb waiter to house the owners wine collection. The oak frame makes the item stand alone and announce its presence.


Above the undermount sink, the space was kept incredibly simple and uncluttered; a couple of solid oak shelves run the width of the recess. These have inset uplighters in them that cast a light up through the glassware that the owner is collecting. Glass brick shaped tiles behind the stainless steel tap act as the splashback and also help to reflect some light. The franke tap is quite cool too, as it also has a built in water filter.








During the kitchen conversion what was then the back wall was knocked out and steels were put in to accommodate what would become an extension in phase 6. Planning for the extension didn't present too much difficulty, but consideration was applied to where the flooring would end and how it could follow on at exactly the same height. We were also conscious of where the kitchen units would end and how they would interact with the new space. We decided to dress the flooring right up to a false wall that was created for the interim period (on the back of the house) so the extension would be seamless. see Victorian house: extension.


 
We used the pale olive and lichen colour scheme as a modern twist on the classic 'farrow and ball' kind of lichen, the intension was to keep the space light with colours that follow through from the rest of the house, and are classic and timeless palette.