Open-Plan Living Transformation
West Hampstead, NW6

Project Brief

The clients, a young family, had recently purchased this four-bedroom Victorian terrace in West Hampstead. The ground floor was a typical example of Victorian compartmentalisation — a narrow hallway leading to a separate front reception, a closed-off dining room, and a galley kitchen with direct access to the garden. The family's lifestyle required a fundamentally different layout: an open, flowing space for everyday family life, cooking, entertaining, and supervising children.

The brief was to open up the entire ground floor, extending into the side return and improving the connection to the rear garden with new bi-fold doors.

Structural Work

Design & Interior

Our architects worked closely with the clients to develop a layout that felt genuinely open without sacrificing acoustic privacy from the upstairs bedrooms. The kitchen island — central to the new space — acts as a natural divider between the cooking and living zones, while the overhead roof lantern floods the previously darkest part of the house with natural light.

Bi-fold doors spanning the full width of the rear wall open the living space directly to the garden, creating an indoor-outdoor flow that fundamentally changed how the family uses their home throughout the year.

Specification Highlights

• Bespoke shaker kitchen with Quartz worktops, double Belfast sink, and AEG integrated appliances
• 4-panel aluminium bi-fold doors (3.6 m wide) with low-threshold access
• 1.2 m × 1.2 m fixed roof lantern with self-cleaning glass
• Polished concrete flooring throughout ground floor with underfloor heating
• Bespoke fitted joinery storage units around the chimney alcoves
• Complete redecoration throughout including new skirting, architraves, and coving

Outcome

The completed renovation transformed a tired, dark Victorian interior into a light-filled, contemporary family home. The project was delivered on time and on budget. The clients commented that the house now feels twice as large as when they bought it — a testament to the power of intelligent spatial planning rather than simply building more square footage.