Home Office, Minehead Road
Project: Garage conversion to home office with cloakroom. Year: 2020-2021
Paul and Natalie wanted to create a space that would double as an office for Natalie to see her psychotherapy clients and as guest room for extended family.
The original plan was to convert the garage that was attached to their 1930s house near Streatham Common. At that point it was only accessible from the outside, had a pitched, high roof and was built on a steep incline. As Paul and Natalie explain, “It was in pretty poor condition before the project started and there were visible signs of subsidence and structural movement.”
“We discussed the build with Tijs and Hossein, the structural engineer, for a long time before it actually started (our first meeting with Tijs was in August 2019!) but in a way this was good as it gave us some extra time to decide exactly what we wanted to do with the space as well as raise the money for the project.”
Some builds have extra challenges.
“We had wanted to keep one of the original walls, but during demolition it moved (it transpired the whole garage was only built on a shallow concrete base) so Tijs had to knock it down. This ultimately meant they built an entirely new structure from scratch.
Tijs did a great job managing this with our budget in mind. He used 3x3 metre ‘screw’ foundations which he screwed into the clay. He then connected these with a ‘C’ shaped steel beam which was fixed into the foundations of the existing house. All of this was then concreted over to form a new base. It was pretty exciting using the innovative screw foundations – and even Hossein was there to film a video on the day that Tijs put them in (see our social media for this riveting video!). In the end we only went a relatively small amount over budget. Tijs and Hossein also decided it would be best to build the new structure in timber, to keep it as light as possible.”
Understairs cloakroom, bespoke staircase and “false” garage door
The home office also needed a toilet for clients and visiting guests to use. This was added under the stairs in the main house as a cloakroom due to space and planning issues. The project was done entirely under Permitted Development, so there would be no need to put in a planning application with the council. This also meant rebuilding to the original height and that it would still resemble a garage from the outside.
We created an internal staircase to lead down to the new room from the main house and have crafted a bespoke false garage door in wood to be added the exterior so the building will still be in keeping with the neighbourhood.
A collaborative experience.
Paul and Natalie say, “It was a really collaborative project throughout. One of the things we really enjoyed about working with Tijs is his creativity. His background in design is a real asset and he was great at adapting to new ideas (his and ours) as we went along.
Tijs was as creative as possible within the restrictions of the Permitted Development and our budget, e.g. raising the roof height, making it a wooden structure so it was light, and finding a way to connect it to the house. The interior design elements were a joint effort regarding the choice of flooring, heating, windows etc. Tijs provided most of the materials and we sourced others such as the wood flooring, paint and tiles for the bathroom. Some of the materials needed to be hand made by Tijs such as the staircase and “fake” garage doors. Tijs also came up with the idea for the ceiling which consists of large birch wood panels separated by ‘shadow gaps’ created by painting the ceiling black before fixing the wood panels. We believe it is a real triumph!
Initially we expected it to take around 6 weeks, however, due to the unexpected additional structural requirements that meant it took longer. We also had Christmas and delivery delays due to the pandemic which slowed things down. In the end it took 10-12 weeks.”
The verdict.
“We have really enjoyed working with Tijs and his team. Tijs has always been mindful of our budget and has been transparent with us about costs along the way, even being honest when he had made a mistake on the budget and left an item off regarding the wood flooring installation. Tijs has been communicative and willing to arrange meetings with us whenever wanted or needed. When on site, Tijs and his team have been friendly and respectful. We’re really pleased that we chose him and his team to do the project – he certainly went the extra mile for us.
Natalie has already started using the space as her therapy room and home office. Paul even gets in there to use it from time to time, and we are VERY much looking forward to hosting our extended family in it when we’re allowed to again! Our young boys Alfie and Raphy also love the new “garage” and can often be found playing in there. Alfie particularly enjoys measuring things out in there with our clothing measuring tape!”
