This house sits in the most spectacular location, nestled in the Surrey Hills with far reaching views of Surrey and the South Downs. The house had a beautiful, generous hallway but the living spaces were disconnected from one another, and the kitchen was small and faced the back of the house, away from the view. The family love being outdoors and wanted to make the most of the view and the garden, but didn’t know how to achieve this. We needed to find a way to connect these spaces and open the garden and view to the main living spaces of the home.
The answer was not to introduce an enormous extension, but to fill in an existing corner with an extension and then introduce a linear kitchen, dining and living room across the entire rear of the house. We then opened this up onto the existing terrace with a large, glazed sliding door, a picture window and corner window from the kitchen. We also introduced a garage, connected an additional living space, re-fitted a tired looking annex and reconfigured and extended the first floor to create more usable bedrooms and functional bathrooms.
The entrance hall now opens directly onto the kitchen, dining and living spaces and the view and garden beyond draw you into this space. Shafts of south light flood the hallway and give the sense of openness and space throughout the ground floor. Sounds from the piano in the hallway echo through the house and, when the doors are open in the summer, there is a seamless connection between the internal living spaces and the outdoors. The family love spending most of their time in the new space, on the terrace and in the garden throughout the year.
