Keen to inject personality and a sense of ‘joie de vivre’, our client came to us with a sprawling 450 sq m Arts and Crafts era property in a highly desirable area of North London.
The large footprint, carriage drive, and grand mock-tudor façade property was at odds with bland interiors. The owners wanted us to reimagine the house, to turn it into a spectacular family home.
With two contemporary extensions to the rear, and by relocating the staircase we were able to re-imagine the layout of the ground floor, improving light, flow and connections to the garden, whilst also adding additional living spaces, his & hers studies, a gym, wine room and even a secret cinema.
Beautifully bold interiors in a rich and varied palette of tones, textures and materials that create a strong visual backdrop for the home.
Complete refurbishment
Two rear extensions
New staircase
Before - 450 sq m
After - 525 sq m
6 bedrooms
5 bathrooms
Architecture
Interior design
Landscape design
Project management
Furniture, accessories & styling
‘We knew we wanted to have a single team to own both architecture and interior design but The Vawdrey House exceeded our expectations in addressing each at every stage.’
To the front, we enhanced the kerb appeal with subtle façade imporevments and a re-landscaped garden and driveway.
Inside the front door, the previous entrance hallway had particularly low ceilings and was disproportionally small for a house of its size, with the stairs dog-legging over and disjointed from the upper flight leading to the top floor.
From the very first sketches it was clear that relocating the stairs into the centre of the building would enable a more generous entrance hall with double-height space over the front door. Now the newly opened-up ground floor offers views from the front door through the house to the new extension and back garden beyond.
The new staircase, running right up to the top floor with one continous sweeping handrail, draws light down from the windows above.
A double height bookcase-lined atrium replaces the old staircase directly above the front door, providing an abundance of light and height in this much larger, grander entrance hallway.
Painted timber cladding conceals coat and shoe storage and a velvet banquette seat hides more drawers below, ensuring mess is hidden away and the entrance is always tidy and ready to impress.
The layout of the ground floor has now been rationalised around the new central oak staircase, and the flow and connection of the living spaces of the marble mosaic-tiled hall is effortless, despite the scale of the house. Tall, glazed Crittall doors lead into the main living spaces and provide acoustic privacy for the new home office further along the main hallway. This brings more natural light from the front of the building to the foot of the staircase.
Throughout the house a rich and varied pallet of tones textures and materials create a strong visual backdrop for each space.
The first glimpse of this is through the glow of the crimson panelled hallway which opens a concealed door to reveal the unforgettably opulent powder room.
Dark floral wallpaper, high gloss zellige tiles and a statement pink concrete trough sink, sprinkled with a collection of carefully curated antique market finds creates an unexpected boudoir vibe reminiscent of those found in exclusive members clubs.
Further concealed doors hide the utility room and boot room.
Further into the living spaces, rich jewel colours on the walls and padded velvet joinery coverings on the bespoke bar and in the hidden cinema room complement the clients' existing art collection and together infuse personality and warmth.
When renovating and extending a period house, it is imperative to ensure that the new areas will retain a cohesiveness with the original parts of the house.
The dining and living rooms are located within the existing building. Here we have added new celling and wall beading details to enhance the proportions and replaced the windows with traditional style bronze casement French windows opening to the gardens beyond.
Semi-open to the new contemporary kitchen extension but visually separated by a bespoke peninsular-cum-bar, the dining room is a luxurious space, Whilst it may not be used every day, the décor and ambiance created within the dining area is always on view, creating a statement backdrop in the heart of the home.
The smoky green walls add to the cosy atmosphere, but the unquestionable focal point of the room is the walk-in wine room, visible through glazed doors, adding to the glamour of the space.
A greater sense of light and spaciousness prevails as one descends two steps into the new kitchen extension. The small change in level not allows for super generous three-meter ceilings, but also reinforces the shift in atmosphere that comes from the more contemporary design here. This space reflects the fact it is a new addition with a more industrial and contemporary feel, polished concrete floors and full height, full width glazing with 2.7 meter high doors to the terrace beyond.
Here a smaller breakfast table nestles in the corner, with green leather banquette looking out to the garden, served by a hidden breakfast larder and barista-style coffee station.
The kitchen joinery itself continues the industrial feel, seamlessly combining stained oak fronts, polished concrete worktops, decorative brass mesh cupboards and bronze door fronts - making for an exciting palette of mixed materials. A suspended steel gantry, adorned with plants, conceals the extractor hood and draws the eye upwards, accentuating the celling heights.
Through a wall of glass at the end, softened by a sheer curtain, a Scandinavian-style log burner sits on a cast concrete bench in the adjoining snug. This space offers the perfect cosy living space to retire to at the end of the day, with double aspect views on to the garden including the 2.5 meter square picture window.
Externally the extension is faced in hand-made black bricks with matching black pointing creating a rich texture that beautifully compliments the interior finishes and accentuates the garden planting. Bespoke metalwork panels above the doors both exaggerate the height of the doors and soften what might otherwise be be a heavy, bulky form.
Nestled between the two new extensions, we have created garden by bringing the planting right up to the dining room doors, helping to bed the extensions into the landscape and enriching views between the spaces.
At the opposite end of the house a second, smaller extension - the little sister of the kitchen extension, houses the new gym. With a cantilevered corner pocket door there is unobstructed access into the garden, providing the all-important inside-out feel for this key space, used by all the family year round.
Seamless integration between landscape and architecture is a key feature of all Vawdrey House projects. By taking responsibility for the landscape design as well as the architecture and interiors, we ensure an enhanced living experience of a home, with seamless visual and physical transitions between the building and its environment.
‘The Vawdrey House made the whole experience enjoyable and took away any of the stressful parts. When there are so many decisions to make in a complex building project, their experience and the guidance they provided were invaluable.’
On the upper floors the new staircase winds up between 5 bedrooms, reconfigured to provided an ensuite to every room, plus a teenage den right at the top of the house.
The first floor landing doubles as a library with new bookcase rising from the double height entrance hall below.
The new master bedroom suite runs from front to back of the property. One enters via a dark and sumptuous dressing room between the light and calm master bedroom at the back of the house and the large bathroom at the front.
In the bathroom a muted colour palette allows the eye to focus on the abundant use of textures within the scheme. A tiled herringbone floor and a bespoke concrete and ribbed timber vanity unit with Kit Kat mosaic tiles accent the polished plastered walls to create a calming, peaceful and spa-like space.
‘To say that The Vawdrey House went above and beyond is an understatement, no detail was too small and the time they dedicated to our project was extraordinary. They were our advocates who led the project management and brought all the teams together to deliver our beautiful family home.’
