Prioritising family life led Laura and Jamie Smith to reconfigure and extend their house, using a warm Scandi décor throughout
Words JANE CRITTENDEN Styling MARISHA TAYLOR Photography ADAM SCOTT
Marble-effect quartz worktops from Stone 4 Life and chocolate bronze Edgbaston cupboard handles from Armac Martin complete the look
With scope to extend out the back and into the loft, the four-bedroom property in Wanstead that Laura and Jamie Smith found in 2018 was just the kind of project they were looking for. The couple were drawn to the 1930s house due to its wide dimensions and big garden, compared to their previous narrow Victorian terrace. ‘We had to be imaginative though, as the property was horrendous,’ Laura recalls. ‘Every room was stuffed to the brim, dark, depressing and filthy.’
After the sale went through, the couple had two weeks to blitz the house before they moved in, knowing they’d have to live like this for another year until they could start any major work. So rooms were fumigated and white-washed, carpets replaced with inexpensive lino and a basic kitchen fitted.
Local estate agents suggested that turning the property into a six-bedroom house would have more appeal if they decided to sell in the future, but Laura and Jamie felt a comfortable home that worked for their family was more important. ‘We didn’t need all those bedrooms, so we decided to turn two of the smaller ones into part of a main bedroom suite for us,’ says Laura.
So over the next year, the couple put together a project plan, with the obvious change being to knock through the kitchen to the dining room and extend. Converting the loft into bedrooms and a bathroom for daughters Isla and Olivia worked well, but left them with four original bedrooms on the first floor. ‘We wanted a guest room for Jamie’s parents, who regularly visit, but I couldn’t see us using the two smaller bedrooms very often,’ Laura explains. ‘So it made sense to turn one of them into a guest bathroom next to the room at the front of the house.’
As the couple’s bedroom lacked an en suite, Laura’s dad, a property developer, suggested they take over the entire back of the house and create one luxurious space. ‘We were a bit nervous about losing the bedrooms, but it made sense to turn the old bathroom into our en suite, and the adjoining fo
