Jim and Jayne Smith have remodelled and extended a tired 1930s house, including rejuvenating the exterior with rugged local stone
TEXT Debbie Jeffery IMAGES Dominic Jones
“We were reminded of a bland 1980s Travelodge when we first viewed the house,” recalls Jim Smith of his detached home in a peaceful Leicestershire village. “It was long and uninspiring, with a row of windows at the top and bottom, but the location is so idyllic that we planned to update the property to create a home suitable for retirement.”
Over the years Jim and his wife Jayne have undertaken a number of projects, including renovations and new builds. The couple have four adult children, and their sons are both in the building trade. “We started working with houses back in 2004, when I first tried to retire,” says Jim, a former engineer, who later set up a family building business with his sons.
“After restoring and remodelling our previous Victorian house, which had 28 acres of land, we realised that the upkeep would prove difficult as we grew older, so we decided to downsize,” explains Jayne. “There were a few issues with the next house, though, such as limited car parking spaces, so we sold that one to friends and moved into rented accommodation while we looked around.”
Finding a house which met their criteria proved difficult, until they viewed a 1930s property in a sought-after road in north Leicestershire. Standing on a substantial plot of two thirds of an acre, the house enjoys impressive country views, and in March 2022 the sale was completed.
With a dated internal layout, an underwhelming entrance, and various unattractive rear extensions, the building was in need of attention. “After sketching out a few ideas we soon realised that it made sense to employ a professional,” says Jim. “We wanted something more open plan, with enough bedrooms for visiting family and friends, and a more attractive external appearance.”
The couple approached Richard Norwood of Leaf Architecture & Design – a RIBA practice based in Leicestershire which had been recommended to them. Richard became involved at the earliest opportunity, visiting the house with Jim and Jayne prior to the purchase to gain understanding of their lifestyle and needs.
His design concept involved adding a dramatic feature entrance and extending to the rear, while improving circulation and room proportions. Externally, the building’s appearance would be unified with render and local stone, together with crittall-style glazing.
“Strangely, it was the utility room which enjoyed the best views and was located centrally at the rear of the house,” recalls architect Richard Norwood. “Jim and Jayne had sketched out some ideas of their own, but the utility room still claimed the views, so I suggested reorganising the layout to allow the open plan kitchen, dining, and living spaces to enjoy the outlook. The utility room was then moved closer to the garage, which made more sense.”
Designing a single storey stone extension across the entire rear elevation increases the main ground floor living space, with the extension projecting out even further to one end to form a relaxed seating area opening onto a terrace through glazed doors.
Previously, the house had six bedrooms but only two bathrooms. “We wanted every bedroom to have its own bathroom,” says Jim. “Nobody really enjoys sharing a bathroom when they visit, so we extended upstairs by around 30 m2 and revised the layout to create four spacious ensuite bedrooms. Thinking ahead, we also installed a lift, so that we can remain living in the house in the future even if our mobility is reduced.”
The addition of a projecting gable to the front elevation has visually balanced the overall appearance of the house, breaking up the long expanse of walling to form an exciting double-height entrance atrium with glass from floor to ceiling. Decorative stonework complements the render and echoes the new rear extension.
“Granite and slate are popular building materials in this area, because we’re close to several quarries, so we liked the idea of using natural stone for our plinth and on the single storey extension, which has a flat roof with a parapet around the top,” says Jayne.
Planning consent was also achieved for a new double garage and carport on the plot. “Richard took time to work through all the details of the house with us, both inside and out, until we came up with a design we liked,” says Jim. “Then he submitted the plans on our behalf, using 3D graphics to support the application. The planning process went surprisingly smoothly, with no alterations requested, and we were so glad that we chose to work with a professional rather than trying to manage by ourselves.”
Not long after purchasing the house, Jim had begun work to convert their two double garages into temporary living accommodation – installing insulation and central heating, as well as a bathroom and part of the old kitchen from the main house. “We finished the work in early January 2023, and it was like moving into a cosy holiday apartment,” says Jim, who has since returned the outbuildings to garages.
Their builder son, Tom, took on the role of main contractor, and constructed the new garage using structural steelwork and rendered blockwork. This was then used to store furniture during the project.
One unexpected expense involved the need to replace every original drain, due to leaks, and discovering that all the soakaways were blocked, which meant that water was collecting beneath the house. “We built the retaining wall for the patio first,” says Jim. “This then served as a barrier, which prevented most of the garden from being wrecked during the project.”
Demolition work on the house commenced, with much of the rear wall removed, together with internal walls and floors. “We needed to add a huge amount of steelwork, and the foundations were also underpinned in many areas, which was all fairly costly,” recalls Jim.
The majority of structural work occurred on the ground floor, with the addition of the new extension and a two storey element which enlarges the first floor main bedroom. Two and a half metre deep foundations were needed for this section, due to the proximity of mature trees.
“We didn’t want to be able to see any evidence of the steelwork inside, so all the beams needed to be concealed between joists, which made the build quite complicated,” says Jim. “Our open plan kitchen space has nine steels, two of which are massive. To lift one of these took 12 men, with hydraulic equipment needed to raise them into place.”
The existing floors were also dug out, and underfloor heating installed on both levels, which involved replacing suspended timber floors with concrete downstairs. “We realised that these costs made renovating far more expensive than building from scratch,” says Jim, “but we plan for this to be our last home and wanted to get every detail right – making it as maintenance free as possible.”
New walls for the extensions were constructed using dot and dab plasterboard internally on blockwork, with 100 mm of insulation and either stonework or rendered blockwork externally. “We spent two days driving around the area taking pictures of different render colours for inspiration,” says Jim.
A specialist stonemason was employed who was already known to the family, and the walling was laid with the stratum parallel to the ground, creating narrow horizontal bands of 200 mm deep stone. This was mixed with limestone, to add both strength and visual interest, and very little mortar was used – creating the appearance of dry-stone walling.
The entire structure has been thoroughly insulated using various methods, including 100 mm of external insulation to the front facade, which avoided reducing room sizes. “Where we installed the lift, the passageway could have been quite tight if we’d lost any more space, so it made sense to insulate outside rather than in,” says Jim.
The main roof was in relatively good condition, and any new pitched elements above extensions were finished in reclaimed tiles, sourced to match the originals. A 2 mm thick PVCu roofing membrane was chosen for the rear flat roof, which gives the appearance of lead when viewed from windows above.
Every detail was carefully considered, including setting windows into deep reveals to create a pleasing aesthetic. The crittall-style glazing has aluminium frames, and cost £88,000, but is a main feature of the design and proved far less expensive than quotes for steel.
“We could have economised but were keen that the windows should have authentic detailing,” says Jayne. “This meant that we didn’t want trickle vents, and instead needed to install a mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system to meet Building Regulations for ventilation. It works incredibly well and is really efficient.”
Instead of retaining the existing boiler and extending the heating system with radiators, the couple decided to install twin air source heat pumps, and took up the floors to lay underfloor heating.
“We spent far more than we’d originally planned because we chose high quality finishes which would last,” says Jim. “In hindsight, it would have cost around £150,000 less to just knock down the house and start again, as we needed to pay VAT on a remodel.”
The couple were closely involved throughout the project, with Jim positioning some of the intermediate steels, using his training as an engineer to ensure levels were precise. The large kitchen island has a dropped ceiling above it which houses an extractor unit, and he marked this out and completed part of installation, in addition to building false walls in bathrooms to contain niches complete with concealed lighting.
The newly built grand entrance atrium boasts a feature staircase with a dedicated library area to the rear. “It was our architect who planned the staircase position, and we were keen to have a cut string design,” says Jim. “Jayne was wary of introducing too much glass because of grandchildren’s finger-marks, but we are both pleased with the look, and how the side profile of the stairs has been made into a feature. We decided to paint it black, as this is a bit of a theme throughout the house. Whenever we couldn’t make up our minds, we chose black!”
Joinery for cabinets and shelving in this part of the house was bespoke, and Jayne had strong interior design ideas for every room. In the kitchen, the pale surfaces of cabinets, quartz counters, and large-format porcelain floor tiles are offset by near-black feature walls.
“The floor tiles are 1200 x 600 mm, and we laid them as a full bond because large tiles tend to have a bend in them, and are never perfectly level once they’ve been fired,” Jim explains. “As they can be around 1 mm higher in the middle, laying them as a half bond could create an edge where you might catch your feet.”
Such details are what please the couple now that they are back living in the finished 325 m2 house. “We’re very proud of the end result,” says Jim. “It can be the little things which you notice, like an awkwardly positioned socket, but we’ve managed to avoid this by thinking everything through early on and working with an architect who understood our vision.”