Temza Interior Design and Build
The 1930’s build terraced house is located in Shepherd’s Bush, an area of London that’s seeing a lot of change and starting to establish itself as a vibrant, youthful part of the city. The owners are a couple, Sonia Pash and Pawel Sipta, who purchased the property with the intention of remodelling it using their decade of experience they have collected managing their Design & Build company, Temza.
The house is an exercise in ‘affordable’ renovation projects and how to maximise the value of the property through clever design and well-founded industry knowledge.
“The house was originally 65 sq. m, however we added a rear extension under permitted development and reconfigured the layout to fit four bedrooms and two bathrooms, as previously it was an impractically configured two bed with just one bathroom. One of the things that made the biggest impact is opening up the kitchen and the living room space, which results in one open plan ground floor space that spans out form the front door to the glazed rear wall, giving you a sense of space.”
The emphasis of the project is on space optimisation, the house still is very compact, but it is practical and feels spacious thanks to the wise use of every sq. m of space. It’s a real case study of how to make the most of the layout:
– Installing floor to ceiling built in wardrobes to each bedroom
– Fitting an additional WC with small walk in shower under the stairs
– Avoiding corridors or other wasted spaces
– Arranging the open plan kitchen, dining and living room in a way the keeps the areas separated, but still allows to take advantage of the space
– Using neutral finishes, like a simple, handle-less matt white kitchen cabinet, helps to keep the open plan space decluttered
– Introducing skylights into the living area opens up the space in another direction.
– Folding doors with full opening to the garden patio extends the living room and is also amazing when the weather is nice!
The work was completed in 6 months and costed £100,000 including all material and labour costs. The low cost of the fitout was largely due to completing all necessary surveys and planning out a well organised design stage before any works started on site. Looking out for the best ways to purchase materials, for example searching sale yards for end of the line items also helped to reduce material costs.
Word by Sonia Pash, founder of Temza interior design and build.
