Englefield Road Refurbishment + Extension
London-based architects Red Deer were commissioned to refurbish this home and add a new rear extension to an existing Townhouse in East London’s De Beauvoir. Ex-property consultant turned Interior designer, Stephen Nash, called upon Red Deer to help reimagine the space for him and his events-manager wife, Miranda May, by transforming the lower ground floor into a light-filled space.
This 1890s cottage was in disrepair and yet to be modernised for the 21st century. Stephen recalls “so much of it was bonkers, no toilet – just one outside in a garden of waist-high brambles.” The house had not been touched for decades and the back of the house was experiencing severe damp. Both Stephen and Miranda were keen to find a property which needed renovation so that they could create a space for the way they wanted to live. The cottage is within a conservation area which provided Red Deer with challenges for what could be achieved, however, the ambitious plans were accepted by the planning team for the renovation and extension.
Red Deer Architects decided to clad the outside of the extension with burnt wooden panelling to celebrate the contrast between the new and existing building fabrics. Internally walls were removed on the ground floor to open up and create a large, light-filled living space with combined dining, kitchen and lounge. Red Deer installed Crittall-style doors to the rear of the extension and used shutters on the front windows. Parquet flooring was used in the front of the cottage and the remainder of the ground floor is open-plan with an underheated concrete floor bringing together the new open-plan living space. A wood-burning stove made the front room cosy and intimate.
Reclaimed oak parquet was used for the kitchen island, and terrazzo cast on-site round the sink, intelligently avoiding water damage. The same terrazzo runs along the work surface. A deep cantilevered-window provided a snug seat at the end of the kitchen, perfect for a moment to study a recipe book and a large timber deck at the back of the property created a seamless floor from inside and outside spaces, helping to celebrate the garden.
The cottage did not originally have a bathroom, therefore Red Deer needed to bring plumbing services upstairs to create a large bathroom from the back bedroom with a downstairs water closet under the stairs. The bathroom made use of a pocket door to save space in this cosy cottage and opened up the ceiling space to the exposed rafters creating a sense of space. The walls were stripped back to raw textures and new materials were chosen to compliment these.
Red Deer Architects https://www.reddeer.co.uk/
Contractor/Grego’s Builders Ltd at Gregos Builders
Location/Haggerston, London
Area/1090 ft2
Consultants / Large skylight and oriel window by Maxlight . Micro-cement floor, fireplace wall and bathroom walls by Kote London . Stained parquet in sitting room by Kahrs . Worktop parquet reclaimed from The Architectural Forum . Dark kitchen cabinetry paint Black-Blue 95 by Farrow and Ball . Marble floor tiles in bathroom by Mandarin Stone .
Photo credit/ Emma Lewis
