BASEMENT EXTENSION
David and Lisa Mason engaged Sheldon Peever Studio to redesign their dark, disconnected basement kitchen — and the results speak for themselves
BEFORE
Dark and disconnected from the rest of the house, David and Lisa Mason’s basement kitchen was desperately in need of intervention. Consequently, they asked a firm of architects to analyse the space and to take steps to improve access to the garden and natural light.
As the rear garden was very limited in size, Christine Peever of Sheldon Peever Studio took strategic steps when designing and building an extension that was small yet impactful and which would give the couple the sociable, open-plan space they felt they needed.
IDENTIFYING ISSUES WITH THE HOUSE
Previously sporting a dated and unattractive-looking conservatory, the basement level of David and Lisa’s threestorey end-of-terrace house was awkward and disjointed. “The kitchen was small and cut off from the rest of the house and the homeowners had to constantly have lights on during the day,” explains Christine, who was the architect and project manager. “There was no relationship with the garden and it just wasn’t working for them at all.”
“The key issues to solve on this project were how to allow more natural light into the interior of the property and make the space feel less like a basement,” says Christine. “David and Lisa’s children are mostly grown up now, but they still wanted a more sociable space as they like to do a lot of entertaining. The rest of the house is a collection of sectioned-off rooms so they were keen to have one big space for whenever their friends and family visit.”
Christine’s solution to these issues was to create a small strip extension to the road-facing side of the house and a compact square addition in place of the old tired-looking conservatory.
GAINING PLANNING PERMISSION
With the house being in a conservation area and locally listed — thanks to the ornate Gothic windows to the front
