Rear & Side Return Extension

Highbury, Islington

Privacy please

When Alli and Iain came to us they had most of the space they needed but it wasn’t working for them at all.

Their four-bedroom terraced house in Highbury, had an existing fully glazed side return extension. But the extension was boiling hot in summer, hugely overlooked by neighbours, and only connected to the adjacent kitchen through a small archway.

As well as all that, the existing kitchen was very dated (let’s not talk about the boiler…) and there was only a small door out to the garden - a massively underused and forgotten space.

It was time to reconsider the existing extension.

More or Less glazing

We looked at a few different options with Alli and Iain. Some kept the original footprint of the extension, but reconfigured the layout, some included a rear extension, and one added an internal courtyard to bring more light into the middle of the plan. In the end we settled on a fusion between several of the options, picking the best bits of each.

We decided to rebuild the side return extension, with a solid roof and skylights. The new Tom Howley kitchen sits beneath the skylights, which still bring in lots of light while allowing for much more privacy from the neighbours.

We used exposed timber rafters to bring warmth and detail to the space.

A small pantry area sits between the kitchen and the middle room. We gave it a fully glazed roof - creating the light effect of the courtyard we mentioned above, while not losing any internal floor space.

We did decide to add a rear extension, to maximise the floor space. While we reduced the glazing to the roof of the extension, we increased it to the rear elevation. A wide set of french doors improve the access to and views of the garden, making the whole space feel much bigger.

We also added a picture window with window seat - we love a window seat! The window seat is a cosy reading nook, with built in bookshelf. The seat also lifts up to reveal a storage space for yoga equipment.

The new dining area sits in front of the french doors, with a long slot skylight over to introduce further light into the kitchen area behind.

We carefully designed custom joinery throughout the space, as Alli was keen to have as much storage as possible for all her kitchen equipment and books.

As well as the window seat, recipe book shelves were integrated into the column which supports the first floor of the house.

A new downstairs WC forms part of the new layout. With beautiful cloud wallpaper and dark blue panelling to the base of the walls, this space reminds Alli of her family holidays to Ile de Re.

Again bespoke shelving, with integrated LED strip lights, provides additional storage for hand towels and decoration. A concealed cupboard provides storage space for less decorative items, like toilet rolls and cleaning products.

Thanks

• Owners - Alli and Iain

• Builder - TEC Building Solutions

• Structural Engineer - Constant SD

• Party Wall Surveyor - Hudson Party Wall Surveyors

• Garden Design - Borrowed Earth and Blanche Craig Garden Design

Suppliers

• Kitchen - Tom Howley

• Window and Doors - ODC

• Rooflights - National domelight

• Timber flooring - Havwoods

• Timber floor installers - Twenty One Twelve

• Sanitaryware - West One Bathrooms

• Lighting - Corston

New views and cosy nooks

The extensions have transformed how Alli, Iain and their children use their downstairs and the garden.

The spacious kitchen and dining room gives them the space to all be together - sat up at the island on the bar stools while someone is cooking, or gathered round the table to enjoy a Sunday lunch. Alli is particularly enjoying the view of her newly landscaped garden from the window seat, while sitting with a coffee and good book.

In Alli’s own words, ‘the downstairs living space of our dreams’. What more could we hope for.