This wonderful house was brought forward to us by a client who wanted to maximise its value prior to sale. The property had been used as a rental for some years and as an office for some time prior to that. The subject was a relatively large semi-detached 1900s period house, consisting of two receptions, a kitchen, utility room and WC on the ground floor with five bedrooms and a bathroom / WC on the first floor.
Whilst many properties in the area were beginning to extend further or convert lofts, our assessment showed that these were sometimes proving difficult to sell as the properties main road location gave it something of a price ceiling. What was clear to us was that with five bedrooms (three of which were not particularly spacious), one bathroom was not sufficient. Furthermore, the main bedroom was at the front of the house, where as the two smaller bedrooms to the rear were divided by a larger chimney breast, as was the kitchen below.
Our solution was to remove (from the pots to the floor) the redundant chimney breast to the rear of the property, creating a large open plan kitchen diner and a huge single bedroom upstairs, overlooking the rear garden. Installing built in wardrobes and a full (bath and shower) en-suite, gave the property the master suite it deserved, whilst sleek modern kitchen units topped with black granite worktops around a central island created a wonderful entertaining space below.
Similar units were used in the utility area and the entire ground floor (save the wet areas of the WC and utility) had thick oak flooring laid throughout. The period fireplaces were brought back to life and the beautiful stained glass window in the main hallway restored.
In a rare example, we actually created additional value by removing rooms. We took an old fashioned house with too many rooms and transformed it into a great family home, designed for modern living but conscious of the restraints of the road in terms of saleability.
The property was launched onto the market with a local agent, who quickly secured an offer very close to the asking price. Within eight weeks of our team leaving site, the sale was completed.
