Interior Scenes

By knocking down internal walls, Angela and Neil Smith totally transformed their nineties detached home without the need for an extension

- By Karen Wilson. Photographs by James French

Family room

'Having the sofas face each other is really sociable,' says Angela. 'I was worried it would pull the walls in, but it actually makes the room feel bigger.'

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HOME NOTES

WHO LIVES HERE?

Angela Smith lives here with her husband Neil, owner of a retail business, their children Ellie, 22, and Luke, 19, plus three dogs and a cat.

THE PROPERTY

A detached Nineties double fronted house in Essex. It has an open-plan kitchen-diner/ family room, plus a separate living room, four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

After 20 years in their Essex home, Angela and Neil Smith were lured by another house on a better plot just five minutes away. We loved where we were but it had a small garden,' says Angela. 'If we could have picked it up and moved it to a bigger property, it would've been perfect. The couple didn't hesitate and were first in line to view the detached Nineties-built house.

BETTER LAYOUT

The interior was dated, with a small, unworkable kitchen and an old conservatory,' says Angela. 'However we fell in love with the plot and immediately saw the potential to knock through at the rear to create a large open plan living space and kitchen diner with direct access to the garden and pool.' The new plans fixed another bugbear with the layout too.

'You had to walk through the utility room to reach the downstairs loo,' says Angela. So we moved this to off the hall where the old kitchen used to be, and also created a study.'

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