Article by EST Living
Words Lidia Boniwell
Barrowgate Road by Robert London Design sees the thoughtful reinterpretation of a three-storey detached Victorian family home in the leafy district of Chiswick, West London.
Robert London Design were approached by a young family of four looking to transform their century-old home into a calm, understated and functional abode to grow up in. Located on the highly sought after tree-lined Barrowgate Road in Chiswick, Robert London Design have sensitively redesigned this period home through a ground-level extension while restoring its heritage features. The result is a light-filled and elegant home that reflects the holistic ethos of the design studio; practical, intuitive and honest.
The kitchen features dark stained walnut cabinetry, a travertine splashback and Gaggenau appliances, catering to the owner’s love for entertaining.
Entering the home, an encaustic tiled floor hallway nods to the home’s past life – these colourful Spanish tiles informing the design approach throughout the rest of the home. “We refurbished the beautiful entrance tiles and used the muted colours within the design as a reference point for our choice of colour and dressing of the wider project,” Robert London Design founder Robert Thake says. “The darker accents of the pattern are echoed in the dark metal finishes we chose for the ironmongery,” he adds.
Steel frame french doors mark the transition from old to new, allowing the new open plan living space to be closed off from the bedrooms when hosting guests. “Our clients enjoy hosting social events from intimate dinner parties through to larger gatherings, so the home needed to respond to this,” Robert Thake says.
Stepping down into the drop-down kitchen, living and dining room feels akin to a breath of fresh air, greeting you with a full-height view of the garden. “I fell in love with the beautiful garden; it has the feel of a historic walled garden in the centre of London, and to be able to look out onto it from a modern interior is a visual delight,” Robert says.
The architects’ bespoke solid ash dining table informed the restrained colour palette of the rear extension. The addition has a sober and textural palette of Jura Beige limestone, solid ash Dinesen flooring and soft linen sheers.
The design team achieved a steady dialogue between old and new through tactile materials with cohesive colouring. “While the details we chose are contemporary in the modern extension and more traditional in the period rooms, the colour used in each is the consistent and harmonising feature,” Robert explains. The notion of traditional-meets-contemporary continues through to the master bathroom with a modern square sink carved from Carrara marble.
Robert Thake says the most surprising outcome of the overall design is the practicality and simplicity of the new space. By abandoning any form of the unnecessary, Barrowgate Road is filled with an enveloping sense of serenity in the heart of London.
Tages: Chiswick, Contemporary Design, Dinesen, Family home, london, Robert London Design, UK Architecture, UK Design, UK Homes
