When Isabelle and Llewellyn first moved into their house, they felt as though they had stepped into the past. 'It was a time capsule that had barely been touched since it was built in 1963,' Isabelle explains.
The house is part of The Dulwich Estate, a south London charitable foundation set up by actor Edward Alleyn in 1619. Isabelle and Llewellyn wanted to expand the utility room in their house and modernise the kitchen, while honouring the property’s mid-century roots.
‘Every day, there were new challenges,’ Isabelle remembers, but with help from kitchen company Pluck and architect Hannah Cherry at Studio Cherry, they were able to create the slick retro-inspired kitchen we see today.
The before
‘The kitchen had a lino floor with a fake tile design, and the carpet in the hallway and living room was a wonderfully 1960s shade of vibrant mustard.’
The plan
The renovation was ambitious, but the couple worked with their architect and Pluck to plan a design that would combine the dining room and kitchen and expand the utility room into the garage. ‘We wanted a utility room large enough to hang all of our drying laundry, including a ceiling-pulley clothes airer so we could hang sheets,’ Isabelle says.
In the kitchen, a cosy corner bench and a big kitchen island were non-negotiable. ‘We were adamant that our hob be on the island and that the kitchen sink faced the wall,’ she says. ‘If people are round and are sitting on the island stools, it’s more sociable.’
When it came to the colour palette, the pair were happy to take the advice of the experts. ‘Pluck steered us towards a cherry wood laminate, which you don’t see used that often in its kitchens, but it works so well with the original teak floor. It will only look richer with time.’
The process
Isabelle was happy with how smoothly the renovation work went: ‘It was our first time doing building work and we handed it over to professionals.’
However, there was one 11th-hour panic. ‘I had a last-minute realisation that we had nowhere to put glasses or mugs,’ she says. ‘We had one shelf above the splashback that was intended to be decorative.’ As a solution, Pluck extended the cherry cabinets by the window seat. ‘I don’t know what we would have done otherwise,’ Isabelle adds.
The window seat itself is one of the highlights. The cork wall was chosen to add a cosy touch to the corner of the room and the bench seat and back were upholstered for added comfort. ‘We loved the way the organic plant design of Timorous Beasties’ Fine Seaweed fabric connected with the green view outside the window.’ A neat little cat flap is disguised beneath, as modelled below.
There were learnings too. ‘Our Forcrete concrete floor came out much lighter than anticipated,’ Isabelle says. ‘This actually ended up looking good, but it’s not very practical for wet, muddy long-haired cats to march across!’
Get the look: the midcentury-inspired kitchen
The after
Isabelle and Llewellyn’s kitchen is now being used in a whole new way. ‘We are thrilled with the results,’ Isabelle says. ‘Before, we only used this space to cook in, but now we spend so much time here.’
Biggest challenge
‘When the new doors and windows were delivered, they were the wrong size and that caused delays.’
Best bargain
‘The 1960s dining table is teak and cost half the price of others we saw. We bought it on the Pamono website and had it shipped from Denmark.’
Sourcebook
- Cabinets Pluck
- Windows Velfac
- Flooring Forcrete
- Rug A New Tribe
- Island terrazzo Diespeker & Co
- Light (above island) Hand & Eye Studio
- Wall light (above window seat) Flos
- Dining table Pamono
- Dining chairs Another Country
