Real home: a colourful kitchen-diner extension

Rosie and Tom Foster-Carter spent time shopping around for their perfect project in a quieter part of London, finding inspiration for their dream kitchen extension along the way

couple in their modern open plan kitchen diner with exposed brick wall
(Image credit: David Woolley)
Project Notes

The owners: Rosie Foster-Carter, a freelance marketing consultant, lives here with her husband, Tom. Co-founder of a tech start-up, and their son, Freddie.

The property: A four-bedroom Victorian terraced house in Balham, London.

Total project cost: £108,700

When Rosie and Tom were searching for their perfect home, the right location was key – close enough to London to feel the bustle of the city, but far enough away to feel part of a smaller community. So, they chose Balham, with its quirky cafes, shops and bars, and this property with a garden completely won them over.

The house hadn’t been updated since the 1970s, but Rosie and Tom weren’t deterred by the work that was needed. They knew they could modernise the house to create the light-filled home they wanted. They asked CW2 Architects to design a scheme for a contemporary side-return and rear kitchen extension. They wanted an open-plan kitchen diner so their growing family could all use the space at the same time.

Find our what they did next, then browse through more real home transformations and find out more about extending a house

colourful_kitchen_diner

The couple hired carpenter, Joe Chambers, to build a bespoke kitchen complete with peninsular island to double up as a breakfast bar . The bar stools are from Private Floor, and the flooring is from Havwoods

grey sofa exposed brick wall in a kitchen diner

To create a loft-style look, a feature wall was built using brick slips. The large clock is from Amazon and the sofa is from Made.com

colourful_dining_chairs

The table is from Barker and Stonehouse. Rosie bought the Ercol chairs on Ebay and painted them in bright colours

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The kitchen area has a grey colour scheme and features large-format floor tiles to contrast with the wooden flooring elsewhere. For similar, try Mandarin Stone. The induction hobb and the oven are from Neff, the fridge-freezer is from Samsung, the tap is from sinks-taps.com and the sink is from Howdens

colourful picture frames in a kitchen diner

These colourful frames, bought on Ebay, brighten up the brick slip wall and match the dining chairs

Removing an old lean-to that housed a downstairs bathroom and then extending to the side and rear has created space for an open-plan kitchen-diner, plus utility and WC. 

kitchen_diner_from_outside

Bringing in light was key to the couple’s design brief, so large skylights from Sunsquare, and sliding doors from Air, were incorporated into the design. For similar composite decking, try Trex

shelf_details

The copper pendant lights are from Tlc-direct.co.uk and the acrylic worktop is from Hi Macs

Images: David Woolley

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