Doubling the size of a kitchen

By knocking through their kitchen and living room, and extending, Holly Wright and Mike Newman have created an open-plan living space leading out to a modern garden with a stylish seating area.

The problem

‘When I bought this apartment a few years ago, it was liveable, but dated. The little galley kitchen had seen better days and the appliances gradually failed over the years. There was only a small window looking out to the garden, so I rarely used the outside space.’

What we did

‘I had bought the place before I met Holly – largely because I felt it had great potential – but luckily she loves it, too. I work a lot in America and Holly travels for her job as well; it turned out what we both needed was a London base. Before this, I had a new-build flat nearby, but I wanted somewhere I could put my own stamp on.

‘We love this area of Clapham, within walking distance of lots of cafés and restaurants, and just minutes from the train station, so the location is ideal. Although the flat had typical small, cramped rooms, I could see there was the possibility of opening up the back of it and having one large kitchendiner/ living space.