Vera Avenue, Grange Park: Family House Renovation

Interiors

Mar 24

Matteo Bianchi is the Director of Matteo Bianchi Studio. In this article, he talks about their renovation of a large family house in North London.

Matteo Bianchi Studio was commissioned to completely transform this large family house in a very elegant area of North London, into a beautiful home whilst retaining the warmth and personality of the clients.

From the start, our clients were clear that it was essential to comfortably accommodate their extended family, as they would often drop in at any time. Sometimes there would be five visitors, but more often up to 15 guests could be in the house at any one time.

Looking at the very awkward existing layout, it quickly became obvious that this had to be improved with some serious re-planning. By knocking through walls in some places and blocking up openings in others, we reconfigured the layout and improved the circulation. A new extension was built across the full width of the house to increase the space. In this new area, we designed a very modern and fully equipped kitchen. The new island unit was lit from above with dimmable Glo pendants from Penta. Bespoke display units with internal lighting were used to define the sitting and eating areas. The dedicated utility room and walk-in larder were conveniently positioned but out of view. The porcelain tiles from Refin give a continuity to the whole kitchen and living area.

The overall scheme is a mix of dark wood flooring, polished copper detailing and warm rich colours. All the doors are painted a dark colour to give a sophisticated and elegant atmosphere. We created a large formal dining room with dramatic pendant lighting and deeply upholstered dining chairs. The new living room is a lustrous mix of velvet sofas, a striking wool rug and Roncisvalle table from Barel. A delicately patterned wallpaper greets visitors in the entrance hall whilst concealing the doors to the new coats cupboard.