DESIGNED BY BABEL DEVELOPMENTS
The Project
Transforming a 1960s property into a New England-style home isn’t easy. But for owners Emma and Matt and their team at Babel Developments, the challenge was one they couldn’t resist. The house (@our_surrey_project) hadn’t been touched since the sixties so the starting point was to strip it back and extend at the rear and front.
“To give the property external interest,” explains Matt, “we pitched the previously flat dormer roof to match the new gable end double storey extension and made the window openings the same size, to give symmetry.” Inside, the new layout now comprises four double bedrooms, all with ensuites, a large open-plan kitchen-dining-living space, study, snug, cloakroom and bootility.
For the kitchen-dining-living space floor, Emma and Matt chose our Riverside Perla porcelain tiles, which continue through to the outside terrace for a seamless blurring between inside and out. “The tiles have a beautiful veining and a warmth to them that adds to the modern country-style interiors in the kitchen,” says Emma. “They also work beautifully with the underfloor heating and are a real showstopper in the room. We get so many compliments on them. In the bootility, as a splashback we have used Aliseo Marble brick honed finish tiles, which are a beautiful detail and work well with the colour palette and gold Franke shower tap, complemented by the large Shaws butler sink.”
“We wanted to transform our house into a more modern, beautiful home both inside and out,” adds Emma. “We love the location, surrounded by trees and close to the local station – it just needed modernising. The kitchen-diner-living area in particular was very important, as we wanted a hosting space that would work well with the garden and we also wanted this room to be the showstopper of the home, which it has become.”
Babel Developments took the design of their own home on from the very beginning, using CGIs to bring it to life before the build. They managed the whole project from start to finish, including all the interior design and bespoke joinery, interior styling and the landscaping of the garden and driveway.
“Artisans of Devizes have beautiful, quality products,” concludes Emma. “The finish of the tiles are perfect for high end, premium properties and the range of products are plentiful. As a developer we have started a great relationship with them and will certainly be advising clients to use them in the future, as well as continuing to use them on our own developments going forward.”
Designer: Babel Developments