The house was a box on a nice road in a nice location. It was long with a ‘horrible’ front and a soulless internal corridor. Close to Manchester airport, the metrolink tram, great schools and great local shops, the location was the only reason Sally bought the property ‘We can get to the rugby, to the cricket, great dog walking- 2 parks nearby and the river Mersey. Decent pubs, decent restaurants- Sale has just taken off.’
Because it was long and thin, it was really dark and awkward to get around
There was no door off the hall to the kitchen so the lounge and snug both became a thoroughfare. It was dark, damp, dingy. Sally had been living in the property since 2007. She moved from a beautiful victorian property to the house because of the location, it was walking distance from the kids schools, but she didn’t like the house
‘Well, we went to a very good architect!’ Sally says. ‘The house became light, it stopped becoming a corridor, it was no longer damp, it’s got wow factor, it’s got a beautiful living space – this space is amazing.’
Pride Road Architect, Lisa Raynes added a 2 storey extension to the side, a part 2 storey to the rear and part single storey to the rear. ‘And you really did want that master bedroom with ensuite, dressing room and wow factor, and it’s got a balcony!’ Lisa says.
‘It’s just gorgeous, because we are in a suburban setting, there are overlooking issues, so you do need to put walls up to the side of the balcony, but it means you have some privacy and defensible space to your bedroom! It’s really nice, with the apex triangle glazing’ (do look at blind solutions as these can be cumbersome and expensive)
Architect Lisa says ‘what I like about the design is the spare room upstairs and the office, because even though you haven’t come out that much at the side we’ve gained an awful lot of space internally, and created a utility’. Sally had the washer dryer in the garage before!
Underfloor heating has been installed throughout both upstairs and downstairs. They both need a separate manifold cabinet, for the pipes to connect to the heating system.
Once on site, Sally and Clive changed a couple of things. The sun tunnel became a roof light, so there is a feature lantern in the first floor landing. They decided to get rid of a bedroom upstairs, but the snug downstairs could become a bedroom and it has access to a toilet, and they would still have another reception room as well as the open plan kitchen, living, diner.
The garden is so much bigger, because that garage has been removed and all the sheds and outbuildings.
The garden is the next project!
If you are going to render a house, make sure you know where the builders are up to when the render is ready, make sure you are not going into winter as the weather needs to be over 8 degrees,
Kitchens – Design by Helium
Builder – David Rispin
Quantity Surveyor – Brender Deka
Floor – Karndean Van Gogh
Staircase – Stair Box
Render – Webber render
Flooring – Town and Country Carpets
The house is amazing, there’s so much it’s so hard to choose my favourite part. I love our bathroom, but I also love the kitchen, I love the hallway.
Clive and Sally
What I like about the design is the spare room upstairs and the office, because even though you haven’t come out that much at the side you’ve gained an awful lot of space internally, and created a utility
Pride Road
