After that stressful incident, the pace started to pick up. The OS floors upstairs were completed, the kitchen and bathrooms were installed and the staircase went in. “We originally chose a metal and glass


staircase, but the OSB option was a lot less expensive and looked just as good,” says Suzanne. “By this time we were running over our £375,000 budget because the windows were more expensive than we had allocated for. We didn’t want the spend to run away with us.”


SUCCESS AT LAST


Suanne, avid and the girls finally moved back into the new-look, completely redesigned house in April 2021 before all the finishing works were complete. “It was a huge relief,” says Suzanne. “It had taken 16 months and been a bit of a roller coaster at times, but we moved in thinking we never have to move again if we don’t want to. The house is future proofed and has everything we wanted, with more space than we thought possible.”


Having moved in, they were able to turn their 22 www.sbhonline.co.uk


attention to the finer details of decorating and designing the garden. Although the garden was planned alongside the rebuild, so that the two worked together as a whole, very little was done to the plot until September 2021. “We wanted something different, inside and out,” says Suzanne. The garden features black painted reclaimed brick walls, structured patio areas and tropical planting, much of it linked to the house via full height glazed doors. Inside, Suzanne has allowed her creative skills full rein with black floors and walls, a huge play net separating the two floors over the stairwell and a large sliding barn door – made to Suzanne’s design by the joiners – between the main living space and the snug. “We wanted the house to be quirky, bold and fun,” she says. “We did go way over our budget, but we saved on the staircase and the resin floor, which is much less expensive than tiles, and we invested in the really important things like the windows and the quality of the build. Thanks to Paul Testa, the architect, it’s exceeded all our expectations and it works for us in every way as a family. We absolutely love it.”


jan/feb 2023


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68