A 1930's house transformed into a stylish family home

Penny and Charles said goodbye to their ramshackle kitchen and hello to a gorgeous extension flooded with natural light.

When Penny and Charles bought their 1930s six-bedroom detached house in the Cotswolds, the rear of the property had an awkward layout and was rather dark and ramshackle. Fortunately, they could see past this.

Bifold doors and roof windows let in the light
The original kitchen was small and north facing with a separate scullery and a number of small annexes; originally used as coal holes and storage when the house was built (as a doctor’s surgery).

But the couple, who have two grown up children and two cats, always wanted a large open-plan kitchen and area for family dining that was filled with natural daylight and opened on to the garden at the back.

They worked with a local architect who drew plans for a single-storey extension with a vaulted ceiling that involved knocking out the back wall of the scullery, removing the old buildings to create a new kitchen that faced south west to capture as much daylight throughout the day as possible.

The new extension is flooded with light thanks to roof windows

The renovation work was carried out by local builders and tradesmen and took six months to complete. The homeowners could use their original kitchen during the work but the washing machine was kept outside plugged in to the greenhouse – luckily, the project was complete before the cold weather started.

To provide as much daylight in the new kitchen as possible and for ventilation, Penny installed two VELUX INTEGRA white-painted roof windows with the remote controls providing easy opening and closing of the windows and the blinds.

She said: “I always wanted VELUX roof windows to bring natural light in to the space. I don’t like extractor fans so as well as all the beautiful daylight, they also help to circulate fresh air and ventilate the kitchen by getting rid of the heat and smells from cooking. We love sitting at our big wooden table as a family and looking up to the sky to see the clouds and the stars and to bask in the sunlight – it’s such a lovely way to spend the day.”

To help keep heat in, provide a cosy atmosphere at night and to control the sunlight on particularly bright days, Penny also installed blue/grey coloured electronic blinds to the roof windows.

Penny chose blue/grey coloured electronic blinds for the roof windows.

Tri-fold doors were adding to allow the family to access their beautiful garden easily. Inspired by the leafy view outside and the lovely garden, the owners have styled the space with oak wood worktops and kept it modern yet traditional to give it a homely, informal farmhouse feel in keeping with the space and style of the rest of the house.

Penny added: “Adding a single-storey extension to create a big open-plan kitchen has been a wonderful experience and something we are very proud of. The space feels a million miles from what it was like when we had our old small kitchen and now it really reflects our personalities and functions as a practical family home that leads out to the garden".

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