The Plans

We have now been living in the house for over two months and in that time we have got used to its peculiarities, idiosyncrasies and had a feel of each room.

I think it's quite important to live in a space first before making any major changes, as once you make a change it can be expensive and difficult to rectify. The bathroom upstairs for example is bathed in sunlight and warmth when it's sunny whilst the spare bedroom is dark and cold. There was no place to hang coats and leave shoes as you walk in to the house without cluttering up the hallway and the lighting throughout the house was badly designed.

I started drawing my plans for the house early on to see how the various rooms could work for us. We wanted, above all, an open plan kitchen/diner/family area. This is where I see myself spending most of my time and so it had to be just right. Even now in our dark kitchen this is where you'll find me tapping away at my computer. We also wanted to maximise the sunlight coming into the house and to be able to use these rooms to maximum advantage. By the time we appointed an architect we had already worked out our plans. But as they say, two heads are better than one and David of Andooi Design suggested we put in a luxurious master bedroom with a dressing area and en suite. This did mean sacrificing a double bedroom but by converting the loft we would gain two further bedrooms which would make the house a four bedroom property.

Snow in Balham December 2010

Clapham Park
Nightingale Square


Ramsden Road.

The Project

We are planning on doing a whole house renovation including converting the loft, side extension to the kitchen, re-configuring the bathrooms, putting in internal wall insulation, re-wiring, plumbing, installing solar PV and decorating.

It was important to us that we made this house as energy efficient and sustainable as possible within our budget. One of the key measures we had to do in order to achieve this was insulation of our solid walls and floors. Luckily, there was already over 250mm of loft insulation put in by the previous owner after they had a new roof installed.

We are also considering Solar PV or solar thermal panels for generating our own electricity and hot water. Given the favourable return on investment now available with the Feed In Tariff for solar PV, I looked into the viability of having this fitted.

The orientation of the roof is naturally of paramount importance as this determines how effective the panels will be and if it is worth installing them in the first place. We were looking for a house with a south facing garden but ultimately were happy to settle for one facing south-westish with just enough roof space for 6 solar PV panels after a loft conversion. We discussed this with our architect at the design stage so it can be included in the drawings.

I spoke with several solar PV panel providers and found that a lot of them were either too busy to come out and give me an estimate or dismissed our request as being not worth bothering about as our roof space was too small. In the end, I had to speak to over a dozen companies to find two I was happy dealing with and who were able to think creatively to provide a solution to our lack of south facing roof space. More to follow on this at a later stage.

Moving In

At last, after many months of looking and searching for our perfect home, we finally moved into a house we were both happy with on the 20th of September 2010.

We particularly liked this house for its central location in Balham and the fact that it needed work doing to it. I wanted a project I could get my teeth into and a house we could renovate to our specification. This meant, doing as much as possible within our budget to make the house as eco friendly and energy efficient as possible.

The house was built in the 1870's. It has a large cellar, two reception rooms on the ground floor, kitchen/diner and a downstairs bathroom. Upstairs, there are three bedrooms a bathroom and a separate loo.

Until we bought it, it had been occupied by the same family for over 40 years. In that time, the house had gone through a lot of changes including at some point, having every original Victorian feature taken out and replaced by 70's style deco. The bathrooms were also all in the wrong place blocking out natural light coming in to the house. Despite this, the house had a few good features, it had a new roof with lots of insulation and double glazing!

We decided not to replace the original features but to restore it to a 21st Century standard home.