“We are not the kind of people who do up homes,” says Ben Bignall, sitting with his wife Jen in surroundings that strongly suggest otherwise – a curved glass extension that echoes the Victorian shopfronts that once stood nearby.
The ground floor of their Victorian terrace is now a series of open-plan yet distinct spaces, one flowing into another: a sitting room at the front, then a dining room, then the kitchen, which has a generous living area filled with modernist furniture. This opens on to more seating in the small garden beyond. The layout is perfect for people who love to entertain. “We like the way you can see across the whole space,” says Ben.
The couple – she’s an illustrator; he’s a vice-headteacher and education consultant – moved here in 2018 from a nearby flat in east London in search of more space for themselves and their dog, Gus (they now also have a baby due). When they first saw it, the house had orange radiators, brown bedroom carpets and a tiny, bright-blue kitchen. “There was only room for one person in that kitchen, and I could touch both walls at the same time,” says Ben.
That was an issue, as the couple wanted their home to be a really social place. On the plus side, a previous owner had merged the dining room and rear hallway, maximising that space, and there was a reclaimed timber floor. The couple made a few cosmetic updates and lived here for a couple of years, “while we saved money and got a feel for the house,” says Jen.
While they always knew that a kitchen extension was part of their plan, a lightwell in the garden, on to which the basement guest suite and utility room look, , meant they couldn’t extend into the side return. Though Ben’s dad, who worked in the building trade, advised them to just get a builder and save their money, the pair felt the project would benefit from an architect’s help.
The couple researched firms who aligned with their aesthetic, and eventually decided on multi-award winning practice Bureau de Change. “Whereas some architects just want you to just buy into their look, the Bureau de Change people consider each building and its surroundings, and amplify them,” says Ben. “And they did a great job of reconciling our varying tastes,” says Jen. “I’m more into textural things and Ben has a harder, more brutalist aesthetic.”
The architects researched the history of the area, Stoke Newington in north London, and hit upon the idea of creating a simple glass “pavilion” that wraps around the lightwell and provides a sense of seamless flow between house and garden. While the curving black band of the roof seems to float pleasingly above all the glass, it is in fact cantilevered using a network of steel beams, with a barely noticeable slim white column providing additional support. The flat roof’s guttering is also concealed within the structure. “The curved glass is the shining beacon of this whole project. We love it,” says Ben.
The couple opted for a bank of white kitchen cabinets that recede into the background, making the space feel wider, as well as a wine fridge. “I had an ambitious idea for a huge double wine fridge,” says Ben, “but at each meeting with the architects it was made smaller and smaller, in quite a comedic way, which was probably for the best.” The kitchen island is a graphic grey focal point, with routed timber panels providing texture, while the island hob allows Ben – the designated cook – to chat to guests while making dinner, rather than being trapped in a small, separate room as he once was.
A remote-controlled Westin extractor sits flush with the ceiling. The worktops are in Neolith, a finish chosen to resemble brutalist-style cast concrete. “But it’s much better at coping with marks and stains,” says Ben. The grey terrazzo floor, from In Opera, adds another textural element, and runs through the kitchen and into the garden (where it has been sandblasted for a non-slip finish). They did take Ben’s dad’s advice on paint: the whole ground floor is in Valspar’s Seven Sisters, a soft, warm white.
The couple are both passionate about mid-20th-century furniture and already owned several pieces, including a leather Le Corbusier sofa from vintage designer furniture store ebtd. “It’s neutral, classic, chrome and black, so it links well with the look of the extension,” says Ben.
The Le Corbusier cowhide chair in the extension was a gift from Jen’s parents, who bought it in the 1970s. “They both love good design: they met when they were working in the furniture department at Heal’s.” Jen and Ben bought a bargain vintage G Plan dining table that allowed them to splurge on Hans J Wegner “wishbone” chairs from twentytwentyone and an Eames LCW chair from Atomic Interiors. They’d initially planned to site the dining table at the garden end of the kitchen, but found that it worked better in the middle space. “And we love our Saturday lounging in the ‘pavilion corner’, as we call it, watching the sun track around the house and pottering around between the kitchen and the garden,” says Jen. Even Ben’s previously unconvinced father has been won over. “My dad loves it here too. He even comes round to clean the glass for us.”
