With the arrival of twin girls, Cara Mills knew her family would eventually need more space. The answer: a fabulous loft conversion with plenty of room to grow.
Tell us about your loft conversion.
It's quite a big space - we created a snug room (Inchyra room), a bedroom, a bathroom, a utility cupboard and a storage room. The conversion cost approximately £75K and took 11 weeks.
Why did you decide to convert your the space?
We moved into our 3 bed house two weeks before our twin girls were born. They share a bedroom and thinking ahead we thought it might be nice for them to have their own rooms in the future.
We also knew that the roof had to be replaced and decided to create more living space at the same time. I also work from home (as a Graphic Designer) so creating extra rooms in the loft means I can now have a study on the second floor. For now we use one room as a snug TV room and the other as a bedroom for guests.
Were you always planning on using VELUX roof windows, as opposed to dormers?
The house is a Victorian property and so we wanted to try and be sympathetic to its original characterful style externally. Hence we decided on VELUX roof windows rather than dormers.
How did you choose the size and spec of the roof windows?
We were concerned about the loft rooms being too hot so we opted for two smaller windows on the side that does not get the sun and one window on the sunny side. For the bathroom we got one large window and positioned it above the toilet to give extra head height and in the spare bedroom we decided on two VELUX windows on the less sunny side as it also has a normal window over looking the garden.
When researching loft conversions we visited a few homes that had done a similar configuration. It was at one of these houses that the home owner told us about the VELUX windows that open outwards. We are really pleased we went for the top hung model because we like the way it does not intrude into the room space.
If you were to do it all again, would you do anything differently?
I would probably have had a few more plug sockets installed! But no, we are really pleased with the final result.
What are the benefits of having the roof windows?
The rooms are very bright and airy we actually spend a lot of our evenings up here. Being a Victorian house some of the rooms are quite dark, but the VELUX roof windows let in lots of light whilst also giving you privacy. It's also lovely to watch the moon and stars!
Cara Mills is a graphic designer with a self-confessed "lust for interiors". You can see more of her home on her Instagram @ginandinteriors.
NEXT PROJECT
A light-filled Loft Conversion for the Walker Family