The Spinney

Three growing boys needed their own space to work and play, and the parents longed for a calm space of their own. An unsightly 1970s detached garage was to be removed and replaced by a two-storey extension matching the existing house in style and proportion — doors, windows, roof pitch, gable height, bricks, tiles and covered porches all in sympathy. The extension would include a large living room, a laundry and a guest bedroom with en-suite, linked to the house, with a new two-car garage and a formal garden in place of the random gravel parking.

We designed a grand room filled with light and character — three large French doors onto the new formal garden and three dormers in the roof. The first-floor guest room takes about a third of the extension; the remaining two-thirds give the living room cathedral ceilings, with a fireplace and chimney rising to the roof for drama. A double door from the bedroom opens onto a balcony overlooking the living area, with a spiral staircase down for visual effect.

Linking the extension to the house meant rethinking a whole side of the building. Extending the ridge of the roof to the edge and creating a gable put the ground, first and second floors on the same line — connecting the extension and gaining significant space inside. On the first floor we added an en-suite to a guest bedroom and a study; on the second, a medium bedroom became a huge playroom fit for a pool table.

The client chose a car port rather than a closed garage, located closer to the road with a store room against the back wall — freeing space for the formal garden. An arched gate gives the sense of entering a walled garden around which the house and extension are now articulated. The remodelled outdoor space created a playing garden and a formal garden, increasing usable outdoor space while keeping the footprint largely untouched.