Kitchen-diner
having no wall units accentuates
the open, spacious feel in here.
Cabinets in Pantry Blue, price on
request; aged brass taps, from £310, all
deVol. For similar pendant lights, try
the Filigrana, £199 each, Heal’s.
Radiators, price on request, Castrads.
Oak parquet flooring, from £78sq m,
Floors of StoneSitting room
‘i love the mix of old and new
in this scheme,’ says Jo.
Harper buttoned sofa, from £1,553,
Love Your Home. Ziggy TV stand,
£429; similar rug, Soho, £229,
both Swoon. Dante ceiling light, £130,
John Lewis & PartnersF
inding their first home together
was no easy task for Jo and Rob
Hewitt. They had bid for several
properties in their favoured
area of Chiswick, west London, but were
gazumped on one and lost out on a few
others. ‘We were feeling a bit dispirited
when our friends who lived a few miles
away, and south of the river, suggested
we take a look in their area,’ says Jo.
So the couple did some exploring
and duly discovered that property was
cheaper, transport links to central London
were excellent and there was a great
community feel with lots of parks. What’s
more, they quickly found a Victorian house
that appealed. ‘We loved its proportions,especially the high ceilings, and it had
many original features, such as cornicing
and mouldings,’ says Jo. ‘After successfully
bidding for it, we moved in here in 2009
and, being on the lower rungs of our law
careers and with limited disposable
income, we concentrated on the minor
aspects that would make it liveable.’ So
they decorated throughout and fitted
a new kitchen and bathroom suite.
Seven years on, and with two children,
Leo, nine, and Marnie, six, Jo and Rob
decided they needed to use their home
more effectively and called in design-and-
build company Orchestrate to modify the
space. The main job on the ground floor
was to widen the kitchen by buildinginto the side return. A loo and utility room
were demolished in the process, so new ones
were created in the centre of the house.
Part of the brief was to boost the
natural light and this was accomplished by
installing sliding glass doors opening on to
the garden, as well as a magnificent skylight
running the whole length of the new room.
The same effect was achieved at the front
of the house, where the wall between the
sitting and dining room was removed,
creating a long, light living area that has
proven to be a flexible family space.
Upstairs, the main thrust of the work
was in turning five bedrooms into four,
and reconfiguring rooms to create a greater
feeling of space, during which the Hewitts25bH June 2019 | 63