Randolph Avenue

Maida Vale, London. W9.

Our client had always dreamed of recreating her childhood home, so when a derelict Georgian house
came up for sale, th James and Jo found a Victorian terraced townhouse with the perfect location. It
was in Maida Vale, just a short way from where their two daughters went to school, on a picturesque,
quiet and leafy street.

While the location ticked their boxes, the house itself left a lot to be desired. Prior renovations had
lowered the ceiling heights to fit in spotlights, making the already cramped, cellular layout feel even more
claustrophobic.

The brief which James and Jo presented to us was what so many families in London desire: more space
and more light. However, Maida Vale’s strict Conservation Area constraints limited how much we
would be able to extend the property.

But there’s much more to space than just floor area. Opening up smaller rooms into large, open plan
spaces and removing unnecessary doorways creates the feeling of a larger house with an effortless,
natural flow to its layout.

Bespoke joinery would squeeze every last millimetre out of nooks and crannies and unused voids, while a
brighter colour palette through the interior design would further increase the sensation of openness by
allowing light to fill the rooms.

The lower ground floor enjoyed the most dramatic transformation. A slight extension provides more
square footage, but more importantly, allowed us to install a roof light and generous glazed doors that
open onto the garden to flood the space with natural light.

This new open plan kitchen, living and dining space is separated from the playroom with sliding pocket
doors which are invisible when open, creating an uninterrupted space all the way from the front of the
house to the garden.

On the first floor, we stripped out the odd spiral configuration of rooms for a far more sensible layout
which allows the dressing room and master bathroom to be accessed without having to walk through
the master bedroom first.

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.

Two bedrooms for the children make up the second floor, one of which was previously an oppressively
dark study with red walls and black ash shelves, now a bright and airy room with fitted wardrobes and
white walls much more fitting for a girl to grow up in.

Up in the roof, a small dormer extension and five roof lights allowed us to turn the previously unused
attic space into a bedroom with an en-suite – perfect for guests to enjoy privacy in a room as bright and
comfortable as any other.