'It's so bright in here!': inside a spectacular Arts & Crafts extension in Perry Vale

It’s good implicit 100 years since the Arts and Crafts movement influenced a decorative attack to location gathering successful pockets of London. And acknowledgment to a fistful of considerate renovation projects the bequest lives connected - albeit with a super-contemporary flourish.

A good illustration is the backmost of Nic Gray and Hayfa Hamdan’s location successful the Perry Vale and Christmas Estate Conservation Area successful Forest Hill, wherever the kitchen extension is acold removed from the accustomed box-with-bifolds which truthful galore homeowners settee for.

Inspired by the semi’s archetypal features - successful peculiar the curved frames of the bay windows successful the rear reception country - Wellstudio Architecture conceived an hold punctuated with dramatic, arch-shaped glazed openings.

There is simply a brace of curved French doors retired to the patio and a cute miniature model mentation alongside it. The showstopper is an inverted arched model which connects to a horizontal sheet stretching the width of the extortion similar a skylight connected steroids.

“The arts and crafts benignant is truly astir playing with craftsmanship and geometry and this thought emerged of experimenting with the signifier of the arch successful antithetic ways,” explains Wellstudio laminitis Tom Manwell, whose appreciation for the property’s wealthiness of unsocial features resonated with the owners. Flipping the arch upside-down besides created a charming model spot - a must-have connected Hayfa’s privation list.

Nic, a concern designer, and Hayfa, bought the location successful 2021, putting an connection successful instantly aft their archetypal viewing. “There's conscionable thing truthful striking astir the hallway - it feels truly grand, particularly for London,” says Hayfa of the sweeping staircase, archetypal tiled level and stained-glass beforehand door.

But the existing room was microscopic and gloomy, a origin not helped by its north-facing orientation. And it didn’t enactment with the couple’s tendency to big friends and family; Nic is of Spanish practice portion Hayfa is Palestinian - cultures wherever cooking is simply a signifier of emotion language. They wanted to modernise it successful an “interesting way”, portion honoring the plan codes of the archetypal developer (the brilliantly-named builder Ted Christmas).

Manwell’s plan doctrine is to make spaces which enactment intelligence and carnal good being. His main ingredient? Natural light. Early drawings didn’t see the glazed extortion section, but successful adjacent collaboration with the clients, the plan yet took a bolder twist.

“It brings a small spot much of an extracurricular connection, due to the fact that quality doesn't truly person consecutive lines. Everything's got a curve successful it to immoderate grade oregon another,” helium muses of the design. The arch taxable adjacent extends to the brushed space of the opening betwixt the eating country and the kitchen.

But quality often comes astatine a price, and successful this lawsuit it meant 3 months of delays owed to the challenging quality of specifying and installing the glazing. Nic and Hayfa, who remained on-site during the year-long works, held their nervus and reaped the benefits of the capacious hallway by turning it into a makeshift room with a camping stove and dishwasher. So familial were the squad of builders - who often worked Saturdays that their girl Tahlia, present 2 - took to calling them ‘uncle’ successful Arabic.

The outgo of the task was perpetually astatine the forefront of their minds, which they rationalised with a now-or-never justification: “this is simply a location that we volition enactment successful for a truly agelong time, and portion it mightiness look costly successful the moment, we did everything we could to marque it enactment arsenic we’re ne'er going to bash it again,” says Hayfa.

Glazing issues aside, determination were nary nasty surprises on the way, but costs did creep up arsenic the full downstairs floors had to beryllium levelled to lucifer the hallway. Nic’s budgeting proposal to chap renovators is to not scrimp connected the “fundamentals”. In their case, that meant the design: “There are definite decisions wherever you should take to prevention money, and determination are ones that are going to instrumentality with you later,” helium says.

He and Hayfa enactment this into signifier by choosing a section room institution implicit a cardinal London cabinet-maker, and laughter astatine however their location is missing a java table, curtains, artwork and would payment from much lighting, “but you tin prevention up and wage for that worldly a small spot later,” adds Hayfa.

Handing implicit the task absorption to the architecture helped relieve the day-to-day stress, but the mates were inactive heavy progressive with specifying finer details, specified arsenic the gold-tone decorativeness for the aluminium model frames. They besides had a wide presumption of the room design, opting to support the partition escaped of cupboards successful bid for the absorption to stay connected the windows.

In lieu of antagonistic stools (for now) Thalia’s learning operation takes pridefulness of spot astir the land truthful that she tin chop vegetables alongside her parents.“It feels similar we're teaching her rather a lot, not conscionable astir cooking, but culturally,” says Hayfa.

Even 5.30am starts with their toddler person taken connected a caller meaning successful the space: “As the prima goes up it tracks on the skylight, whereas the aged room ne'er got immoderate light. Now it’s truthful agleam successful here, we’ve managed to support a vertebrate of paradise alive. So successful a mode it’s brought caller life, not conscionable to the house,” says Nic.