Wealden Times | WT265 | June 2024 | Education Supplement inside

Above: Light floods into a TV area, and the connection to
the outside is enhanced through windows which stretch right
down to the floor Left: Herringbone parquet runs throughout
the ground floor. The new flooring was chosen to closely
match the original parquet that was sadly unsalvageable
had some quite hefty steels supporting the structure! The
thing that made it structurally possible and affordable is that
we’ve got the beam which the chandeliers now hang from.”
A glass partition adds to the drama of the space,
through which you can see the dining room and out to
the garden beyond, designed to highlight a traditionally
under-used area. Angela says, “If you’ve got a formal
dining room when you’ve also got a dining table in your
kitchen, it can become a bit of a lost space. So for me it
was really important that the glass allowed it to become
a room that you know and is in your consciousness
because you see it all the time.” This concept is reinforced
by an open doorway between the dining room and the
kitchen, and all importantly, it is where the wine is kept!
Angela designed the “wine wall” herself, utilising bricks
salvaged from other parts of the house during the build,
and found the wine racks from a supplier who normally
supplies commercial cellars. Coupled with some strategically
placed downlighters, Angela achieved for a few hundred
pounds what would have cost thousands to outsource.
The brick façade is mirrored on the other side of the
wall in the living room. This sense of cohesion is at work
all over the house but is subtle enough not to overwhelm
the décor. “My first golden rule is that there will be
continuity throughout the whole house in some shape
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