On paper, our clients’ spacious 1940s clinker brick home ticked a lot of boxes. It’d already been extended upstairs, had four bedrooms and multiple living spaces.

But unfortunately, the previous renovation was a bit of dog’s breakfast with little thought about functionality and the flow from one dark room to another.

We reconfigured the living areas to create an interconnected sequence of flexible spaces. At its heart is the kitchen and dining room, where this family of keen cooks spend most of their time.

We opened up the building to the garden with cavity doors that disappear into the walls of the new shiplap-clad rear extension. The concrete floor also transitions into a seating ledge overlooking the garden.

This hybrid family/dining room also benefits from a bespoke built-in leather lounge with a blackbutt veneered base. More blackbutt was used to clad the walls and ceiling whilst in the kitchen we paired it with Bianco Neve terrazzo for texture and interest.