Felden Family Home

The brief

A newly merged family with four teenage sons needed a home that worked for all of them at once. The space was there, but never quite where it was wanted. Upstairs, two tired family bathrooms, one so narrow it was almost unusable and the other in a state of disrepair, sat among bedrooms too small to do their job. The guest en-suite was too cramped to enjoy. Downstairs, the ground floor was carved into rooms that kept everyone apart.

The design

Two things had to happen at once. The arrangement was working against the family, and the building itself was ready for a complete refurbishment, so the house came back to its bones, to the brickwork, and was reshaped from the inside. Not a single extension was added.

Upstairs is where the plan changed most. The two failing bathrooms, a walkway and a couple of small bedrooms gave up their space, and in their place came generous bedrooms, each with an en-suite and a large shower, fitted wardrobes and a desk built in. The eldest of the four sons moved into a converted annex of his own. In a house of teenagers, a room and a bathroom each is what keeps the mornings calm.

Even the smallest room gained. The guest bedroom borrowed a cupboard and found room for a good-sized shower in a comfortable yet compact en-suite, with shallow wardrobes and pull-out rails so visitors can hang everything they arrive with, while the principal en-suite became the spacious, luxurious retreat the couple had never had.

Downstairs, the story is flow. A larger hallway, a new WC, storage for coats and boots and a hard-working utility room now absorb the clutter of family life. With the kitchen opened to the dining area and the dining area to the conservatory, closed rooms give way to one light, airy space that moves easily from cooking to eating to sitting.

Throughout, the style is timeless classic: quiet colours, natural materials and well-made details, lifted by pops of colour that give each room, and the whole home, its own character. It is a look that will still feel right in twenty years.

Lighting was designed once we knew how each room would be used and where every piece of furniture would sit. The way the family lives shaped the layout, and the layout shaped the lighting, planned as part of our full interior design service so that every task, every corner and every mood is properly lit.

Every detail, considered

Once the walls were settled, the work moved to the things the family touches every day. Storage was designed room by room rather than bought in: fitted wardrobes and a built-in desk in each of the boys’ rooms, so schoolwork and clutter have somewhere to go, and shallow wardrobes with pull-out hanging rails in the guest room, where every centimetre counted. Surfaces, finishes and fittings were chosen against one another, so each room holds its own character while the house still reads as one home.

The result

Each of the boys now has a room and an en-suite of his own, and guests have a comfortable place to stay. The family comes together in the open, light-filled kitchen, dining room and conservatory, gathers in the lounge, and retreats to the snug when someone wants somewhere quieter. As the day goes on the lighting takes over, shifting the house from bright and busy in the morning to warm and calm at night.

Services: Full Interior Design, including Lighting Design, from the brief through to installation.