Maida Terrace Photo Tour: a Bright and Elegant Period Restoration

Few conservation areas are more fiercely protected than Maida Vale, and with good reason; its terraces of well-maintained Victorian townhouses make it one of London’s most beautiful and distinctive suburbs.

Our Maida Vale renovation and extension project was a fantastic opportunity to bring one of the area’s iconic townhouses up to modern standards without disturbing its graceful period character.

This new extension creates room for an open plan kitchen and living space, separated from the playroom by a sliding door. The once cramped and dark lower ground floor has been transformed into the bright and vibrant heart of the home.

As the house sits on a slope, the lower ground floor starts completely underground at the front of the house and opens directly into the garden at the rear.

We’ve made the most of this outdoor access and natural light by installing generously glazed doors and an almost four metre roof light, which you can just make out in the photo above in front of the sliding doors.

The steel beam beside the staircase supports the rear wall of the house, which sits directly above. Instead of covering up this necessary structural element, we painted it black to highlight it as an architectural feature.

Take the staircase up and you enter into the drawing room with a bay window looking over the new extension and out onto the garden.

We’ve kept the original windows but have replaced all the surrounding fittings with high quality period replicas while carefully preserving the ceiling details.

A smoked oak parquet floor in a herringbone pattern creates a sharp, contemporary floor which still complements the period aesthetic of the house.

We opted for an edge-to-edge, borderless design, requiring boards to be carefully cut to size for a perfect, clean line where the floor meets the walls.

This pristine piece of bespoke joinery perfect fills an otherwise unutilised void, providing extra storage, seating and display space without intruding into the room. Click here to read more about the joinery provided by Blakes London.

The master bathroom is a highlight of the interior design, with soft pink polished plaster walls with brass accents on the taps, shower head, mirrors and cupboards. Carrara gold marble is put to astounding effect on the feature wall behind the bath and the single block which forms the double sink.

Finally, a look inside the kitchen from the garden, where the hard landscaping creates continuity between the architecture and the exterior. The garden was designed by Emma Griffin, a favourite garden designer of ours and contributor to our blog.

If you want to make your old home new again, please share your ideas with us at [email protected]