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Telegraph
3 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Telegraph
How I squeezed an extra bedroom into my one-bedroom flat
This cleverly reimagined two-bedroom flat in south London is the sort of place that makes you want to discard the clutter in your life, overhaul your living space and embrace a new life of elegance and serenity. Located on the top floor of a large Victorian building, not far from Wandsworth Common, it is the covetable home of Rebecca Nokes, design director of the kitchen company John Lewis of Hungerford. 'I always wanted to work in interior design,' says Rebecca. 'My mother was a very creative person; she worked as a fashion designer, then turned her hand to houses later in life. As a child, I was good at painting and drawing, and I would constantly rearrange my bedroom.' She had long dreamed of her own renovation project, but lacked the funds to overhaul her previous flat in Tulse Hill. It was the Covid-19 lockdowns – which encouraged her to save money – combined with the resulting stamp duty holiday, that finally provided the opportunity she had been waiting for. Room for improvement Unlike a typical Victorian terrace, which is long, narrow and difficult to reconfigure, the flat has a more amenable square shape. At 750 square feet, it's also a relatively generous size, but the layout was all wrong, with the kitchen located away from the dining and sitting area and a thin, lightless bathroom, which Rebecca found depressing. Spatial planning is second nature to her, thanks to her experience designing kitchens, so it was easy for her to envisage how the flat could work better. Reimagining the layout The first step was to remove the dingy bathroom and knock through into the dining and sitting room, to make space for the new kitchen where the bathroom had been. 'Originally, I wanted to take down the entire wall, but the structural engineer said no, and actually it is a good thing because it has allowed me to add a utility room, which helps keep the rest of the flat free from clutter,' says Rebecca. This freed up the existing kitchen, which became a valuable second bedroom. Rebecca then stole one metre from this room and one metre from the main bedroom to create a new, two-metre-wide bathroom. 'Bedrooms are usually put next to each other, but having the bathroom between them makes much more sense,' she explains. Finally, on the other side of the main bedroom, she added a stud wall and created a door-free walk-in wardrobe – a luxurious touch that also helps to keep the bedroom clutter-free. The kitchen, dining and sitting room 'I always encourage clients to make a couple of design decisions early on,' says Rebecca. In her own flat, this included a big statement splashback in Calacatta marble from Rossi Stone Surfaces, which she liked for its varied colours and dramatic veining, and which she specified with a fluted finish. The natural beauty of the marble is enhanced by its undulating lines, and gives the entire room a beautiful and unusual focal point. To this, Rebecca has added sleek flat-fronted cabinetry. 'The kitchen cabinets needed to look like a piece of furniture or joinery; I didn't want to feel like I'm in a kitchen when I'm sitting on the sofa,' she says. For this reason, there are no wall cupboards. 'The trade-off is slightly less storage, but as they are only half the depth of floor cupboards, it's not as much as you might think. By using deep drawers, in which everything is easy to reach, and adding a bar area in the hall, it was possible to go without, and the room feels so much more spacious.' Rebecca particularly recommends deep drawers around the sink: 'They are a great hack. You get much more usable storage compared to a cabinet under the sink, which usually ends up full of things you can't see properly, and lots of wasted space where the sink hangs down.' Another early decision was the engineered oak flooring, which helps to create the loft-style look Rebecca wanted, and which is paired with limewashed walls. 'I knew I wanted to use limewash; it adds so much depth and texture,' she says. As a money-saving exercise, she applied it herself: 'It took some experimentation, and when it first goes on, it looks a bit like someone has thrown up on the walls. My partner was horrified.' Fortunately, once dried, the effect is subtle and sophisticated, and it sets the tone for the decoration throughout the flat, which is neutral and earthy, with lots of textural interest. 'The natural light in the flat isn't amazing, so I've kept everything light and bright,' says Rebecca. 'I wanted some colour, but nothing really bold. There is a subtle green theme, but the other shades come from flowers and artworks.' The entrance hall To bring natural light into the otherwise dark entrance hall, Rebecca replaced the wall that divides the sitting room and hall with Crittall windows. She also brought the backlit panelling that runs behind the L-shaped sofa into the entrance hall, and added shelves for decorative objects, so that it feels like an extension of the living area. For that reason, she also installed a bar area in the hall with a coffee station, an integrated wine fridge and a glazed wall cabinet for glasses and mugs. The fluted glass doors of the cabinet echo the splashback in the kitchen, and, as the glass is not completely transparent, 'you don't have to keep everything inside super tidy,' Rebecca notes. The bar area has the same worktop as the kitchen, but here it is paired with dark green shaker-style cabinet fronts and matt black hardware, which matches the Buster + Punch light switches and door handles. The bedrooms The new stud wall in the main bedroom, which separates the walk-in wardrobe from the rest of the room, allowed Rebecca to centre the bed on the window, and have equal spaces on either side for bedside tables. 'This is a good way to give a bedroom visual balance, and make it feel ordered and calm,' she explains. To this, she has added a sense of drama with a headboard upholstered in a moss-green velvet fabric by Rose Uniacke that stretches across the entire wall. A raw-edged timber ledge above gives a surface on which to prop pictures. In the small second bedroom, the mood is different. Here, Rebecca has turned its challenging shape to advantage, cladding the walls in weathered boards taken from old pallets to give the look of a cabin. The bathroom In the bathroom, a striking basin from Lusso Stone takes centre stage. 'It was an investment, but I wanted the bathroom to have one strong feature,' says Rebecca. Space is at a premium, so she opted for a wet room with a walk-in shower. The tiles were mitred so that they could be applied without a metal trim – a time-consuming job that ate up a large part of the budget for the room, but creates a pleasing, seamless finish. She saved money in other areas, including a cost-effective black-framed shower screen from Victorian Plumbing that mirrors the Crittall windows in the hall. The takeaway 'I loved renovating this flat, but it was intense,' says Rebecca. 'We did a lot of the work ourselves at weekends – it helps that my partner is an electrician and my dad is also very handy, but removing the waste was hell. I definitely wouldn't do that again.' She also strongly recommends making a schedule of work when undertaking a renovation project. 'Because of my experience planning and installing kitchens, I could always see the end of the project, but it was still anxiety-inducing,' she says. Along with the hard work and anxiety, it also took a year of her life. But it hasn't dented her enthusiasm for renovation. 'It's taken blood, sweat and tears, sometimes quite literally, but the flat is made to my exact specifications, and I have absolutely fallen in love with it.'
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Dormer branded as 'monstrosity' by locals must be demolished
A WOMAN who spent thousands renovating her Victorian home has been ordered to tear down a huge dormer after it was branded a 'monstrosity'. Rozia Hussain, 43, built a large extension on top of her 125-year-old terraced property in Wyld's Lane, Worcester. Records show the mid-terraced house was bought for £100,000 in 2003, but over the last four years, the three-bedroom house has undergone a complete makeover and, according to Rightmove, it is now worth up to £320,000. A wall and intercom system has been installed at the front of the house while a large dormer was built on top of the two-storey house. However, Mrs Hussain now faces having to demolish the dormer after Worcester City Council rejected her retrospective planning application. The council stated: 'By virtue of its size, design and position, the addition of the large box dormer to the front of the property results in a detrimental impact and creates significant harm to the character and appearance of the existing property and wider street scene in which it sits. 'The dormer at Wylds Lane is much more visually intrusive than the approved, well-designed, more subtle addition.' Mrs Hussain, who owns a newsagents in the city, said: 'I don't know anything about the planning application being rejected. "I don't think it looks too big." More: Basement of historic building can be refurbished, says council More: Student flats planned next to Worcester's Arches walkway Her neighbours have been mixed in their reaction to the council decision. One said: 'I think the house looks much better now. 'It was in a terrible state a few years ago, but it now looks modern and clean. 'The dormer doesn't really bother me, but I think some people are concerned because it looks right onto their properties.' FLASH SALE: Worcester News subscription £6 for six months Another resident said: 'A few years ago, I applied to have a dormer on my house, but it was refused. 'The reason the council gave was because it would not be in keeping with the area or sympathetic to the age and heritage of the property. 'In my view, I just think that it would be grossly unfair if this woman were allowed to have a large dormer on her property when I was not. 'I mean the extension is very big. It looks like an executive box you get at Premier League football grounds. "When my friend visited he asked what the monstrosity was on one of the houses so it's clearly noticeable to people." Mrs Hussain has three months to tear down the dormer or face enforcement action. A city spokesperson said: "An enforcement notice was served on 17 June that comes into effect on 17 July. "This requires the applicant to remove the dormer and restore the roof or adapt the current dormer so that it complies with the planning permission given."
The Sun
13-07-2025
- General
- The Sun
I'm being forced to tear down my loft conversion – my neighbours call it a ‘monstrosity' but I'm going to fight back
A WOMAN who spent thousands renovating her Victorian home has been ordered to tear down her loft conversion after it was branded a "monstrosity". Rozia Hussian, 43, built a large extension on top of her 125-year-old terraced property in Worcester. 4 4 Records show the mid-terraced house was bought for £100,000 in 2003 and pictures show the outside was in a shabby condition with peeling paint and chipped brick work. Over the last four years, the three-bedroom house on Wyld's Lane, has undergone a complete makeover and according to Rightmove it is now worth up to £320,000. A wall and intercom system has been installed at the front of the house while a large dormer was built on top of the two-storey house. Mrs Hussain now faces having to demolish the dormer after Worcester City Council rejected her retrospective planning application. The council stated: "By virtue of its size, design and position, the addition of the large box dormer to the front of the property results in detrimental impact and creates significant harm to the character and appearance of the existing property and wider street scene in which it sits. "The dormer at Wylds Lane is much more visually intrusive than the approved, well-designed, more subtle addition." Mrs Hussain, who owns a newsagents in the city, said: "I don't know anything about the planning application being rejected. "I don't think it looks too big." Her neighbours have been mixed in their reaction to the council decision. One said: "I think the house looks much better now. Our pretty town has become a ghetto plagued by machete-wielding yobs "It was in a terrible state a few years ago but it now looks modern and clean. "The dormer doesn't really bother me but I think some people are concerned because it looks right onto their properties." Another resident, who lives nearby in a similar property, said: "A few years ago I applied to have a dormer on my house but it was refused. "The reason the council gave was because it would not be in keeping with the area or sympathetic to the age and heritage of the property. "In my view I just think that it would be grossly unfair if this woman was allowed to have a large dormer on her property when I was not. "I mean the extension is very big. It looks like an executive box you get at Premier League football grounds. "When my friend visited he asked what the monstrosity was on one of the houses so it's clearly noticeable to people." Mrs Hussain has three months to tear down the dormer or face enforcement action. A city spokesperson said: "An enforcement notice was served on 17 June that comes into effect on 17 July. "This requires the applicant to remove the dormer and restore the roof or adapt the current dormer so that it complies with the planning permission given. "They have three months to carry out the works. "They have until 17 July to appeal against the notice." What to do if you're in a property row with the council Know your rights Review your tenancy agreement, lease, or ownership documents to understand your rights and the council's responsibilities. Submit concerns in writing Raise any issues formally via email or letter. A written record will help if the matter needs to be escalated later. Use the council's complaints process All councils are required to have a formal complaints procedure. Details are typically available on the council's website. Seek independent advice Organisations such as Citizens Advice and Shelter offer free guidance on housing disputes and may be able to assist with legal next steps. Contact the Housing Ombudsman If the council fails to resolve the issue, complaints can be escalated to the Housing Ombudsman Service, which is free, impartial, and able to investigate unresolved housing matters. Keep detailed records Maintain copies of all correspondence, photographs of any issues (such as repairs), and notes from phone calls to support your case. 4
