We’re off to Ramsgate this week, a coastal town in Kent, which isn’t perhaps the first place you’d think of for groundbreaking architecture, but we have a brilliant reworking of a traditional Victorian house and it’s worth a look.. coming in? Especially as it’s well under a million…..
It’s not an entirely typical Victorian house (other than like many similar townhouses it’s tall and thin) but it used to be a boys school and is spread over four stories with three bedrooms and a balcony with a sea view (just). It’s on with The Modern House for £650,000.
So you come in straight off the street to this huge open plan living space (following on from yesterday’s post on how to zone them) which holds the kitchen, dining area and living space and leads out to a courtyard garden at the back. I have linked the floorplan here.
Now this room, which has had, no need to spell this out but to make the point, all the downstairs walls removed so there’s no hall, the stairs are in this room and it’s the main space. This won’t work for everyone but in a terraced house with no side windows that is nearly 27ft (over 8m) long it was the best way to bring light into the middle of the space. You can also see how it floods down the open staircase as well.
That said, it won’t be for everyone but posts like these at least give you a chance to either buy a house (!) or see possibilities which might work for your own homes where there are similar issues.
The next thing to note is how the space has been divided to create the three areas of cooking, eat and relaxing. In the top image a large rug holds all the furniture and the television wall has been painted (or polished and plastered) in a deep sea blue. Since there is no hall, bringing the furniture in like that allows you to sit with your back to the front door and creates a virtual passage from there to the back of the space. This would feel as if you could come in, or welcome guests without them actually tramping through your living room and disturbing anyone who might be watching telly. If you have ever thought about removing the original entrance wall then do bear this in mind. I have seen rooms where you open the front door basically fall over someone sitting on the sofa which is not ideal.
You will still have the feeling of space even if you leave the sofa where it would have been if the floor remained. And you will just have to trust me on that.
Now the next point is you can see how they have zoned the space using rugs. Both are big enough to hold the entire set of furniture that belongs to the area; think of them as flat walls if you like. And, in the case of the dining area below, there is a clear patch of wooden (moppable) floor in front of the kitchen units where stuff is more likely to be spilled and splashed.
Now the other point is that the walls are, as you can see, exposed brick but the rugs and lots of velvet furniture soften this industrial look and create a rather lovely juxtaposition of soft glamour among the more industrial setting. It’s like a Toast catalogue come to life.
I also quite like the reversal of the natural brick indoors (and look how it loves a bit of pink velvet) with the painted brick outside and isn’t green the perfect colour. Even if your plants die back (or just die) over the winter you can still inhale that sense of greenery on the dullest of days.
Dark green is a really good colour for garden backgrounds. One of my former neighbours painted her fencing black causing another to remark that it looked like Guantanamo Bay. Dark green would have been softer and resulted in less neighbourly sniffing. Although obviously each to their own.
Now upstairs and this deep blue tadelakt is another colour that you want to inhale, although I concede it’s a dark bathroom. That said I put my face on in the dark most days and basically know what goes where so you might not mind a dark and moody space.
If you are starting a bathroom over then this built-in concrete storage is also very cool and hotel-like and means you could add as many shelves as you wanted or needed. And that’s at least double the number you first thought of by the way.
Finally one of the bedrooms and again the soft polished pink plaster walls works really well with the brick and the black so it’s a soft colour but not too fussy feminine. There are two large bedrooms, one of which has an en suite and a third smaller one.
I could fancy this what about you?
I do love it but I’m a bold, industrial, out-of-the-box kinda gal. I’ve never seen a loft-like Victorian and the only changes I’d make would be a bit more wood, like a gnarly old armoire, and more nubby, cosy textiles.
Open-plan living for me beats coping with squashed terraced rooms anyway.
I’m tardy to the party, and this one has provoked so much discussion. This is a marmite house, some love it, some not so much! The last time a space stirred so much debate, was I think, the Bella Freud penthouse at BBC Television Centre. Hehe. Having looked through all of the pictures here and on at TMH website. Hmm… while I love some aspects of it, the lack of a garden and another large enough (whatever that means) room for me/him indoors to escape to, would make this a no for me.
I ‘ve loved looking at the house although i don’ t know if i’d want to live in it. There’s nothing wrong with a dark bathroom and i really like the polished plastered walls
Really love those pale pink velvet chairs against the brick and black crittall. Stealing that idea!
Good Morning Kate,
Ah, you did find my Instagram question on interior render and/or plaster. I have left a few walls unpainted to source someone who can do this in Canada. The shade of blue in the Ramsgate house is heavy. Another shade to compliment the pink interior walls upstairs, and the soft green painted brick wall in the courtyard would lessen this feeling. I would like to see more wood in this house. There could be an open wood partition running the length of the sofa and the height of the door frame. Not painted, just natural wood, perhaps in a herringbone design. It would still permit light and air to circulate, and more importantly add warmth and sculptural interest. Apart from these changes, the Victorian exterior shouts with craftsmanship and character!
Love it!
Agree with everyone else that no walls is great for photographers but not for real people. This must be a single person’s (who never cooks) house because even as a couple it would be a nightmare always being in the same room. What I’m curious about is the void with windows in the bedrooms looking into it. What is its purpose? It’s too dark to be a light well and it takes space away from the bedrooms. Very strange.
This would be fabulous in NYC!
Great value tho.
Couldn’t cope with a front door leading straight into Living Space. Love love the polished plaster and bricks.
I think I’d have to move this house to a warmer climate!!!! Kinda like it tho 🤷♀️ Just in a different location!
I adore this house, my partner and I lived in a studio flat roughly the size of the ground floor of this fantastic house (so had a bed in it too) and with a very similar style. For a couple it’s a great way to live, so sociable, so easy to look after. Gorgeous.
I couldn’t live in this house! Writing this today when it is cold and possibly about to snow, it feels like it would be freezing in there! I hate that the door opens onto the living room and worse, straight onto the kitchen! That would drive me mad. What a shame that they’ve removed all the walls as the next purchaser will probably want to put some back. The colours are lovely, especially the green wall against the reddy colour of the kitchen brick but otherwise I feel they have wrecked what was probably a lovely Victorian house. I don’t like the exposed pipework. Yes, copper is nice but not like this. 🙁
I hate a front door that opens directly from the pavement into a sitting room and so would have left a “part wall” by the front door to screen off the sitting room a bit.
Sadly in 2 up 2 down terraced houses front doors do open up from the pavement into sitting rooms but this house has space to divide off the entrance.
It is not a family home but rather nouveau Ramsgate!
I love dark and but not this. Too dark and harsh and oppressive. First house I bought was a new build with front door straight into living room – awful. Next house had front door into hallway – great . But then with kids still toddlers we knocked down the wall between the dining room and living room to create a much larger open plan space. As a room it looked great but I soon really missed the kids playing with train sets ,lego etc in the dining room and me having a much needed cuppa and five minutes peace in the living room.
Still its good to see different styles even if only to remind us of our own preferences ( and mistakes!)
I have to say I one hundred percent agree with Bridget. An open plan kitchen / diner is one thing but no walls at all downstairs? Not for me.
On a positive note it’s always very interesting to see what weird and wonderful (or not so wonderful) things people do to their houses!
Happy Friday 😀
Agree with Bridget, not for me. Too stark I’m afraid. And with regard to heating the whole space even if you just want to use the sofa of an evening, all you need is for a visitor to arrive at the front and then all your heat will disappear out of the front door and leave you with a chill down the back your neck
I love your Friday house post everyweek as you always choose something really interesting but I am afraid I have to agree with Bridget. I think the kitchen space is lovely but overall its very oppressive.
Agree with Bridget ref no wall😳. Like the idea of green fencing for the garden. I also had dark charcoal … call it black in our previous garden and loved it. Creating a greater sense of space etc., Green might make a nice change in the new house .. and also link to our green smoke kitchen. Live Friday Mad house!
I agree with Bridget Whelan. And with respect, may I also say,……the word grim comes to mind.
Where do they put their stuff?! Coats, shoes, post, etc, etc? Or do you come in the front door and have to walk all the way upstairs to take off your wet coat?
I’m with Bridget all the way on this one! But still looking forward to getting my new navy kitchen!
No walls. No listening to The Archers while cooking supper & OH is catching up on the news on Channel 4 (insert preferred viewing/listening options). No walls. No shutting the door on the mess in the kitchen not even for half an hour while you eat. No walls. No child doing homework while little one is engaged in noisy play. No walls. No opportunity for teenagers to do their own thing while parents relax.
No walls means – in this instance at least – means no care for the planet. You heat one space and you have to heat every space . No walls. No privacy. No walls. Very little comfort.
Open plan can work well but zoning only gives a visible suggestion of how a space can be used. It doesn’t zone out smells and sounds. There’s something wonderful about being able to shut a door.
This house is definitely not a machine for living, not even as a solitary residence. I keep thinking of all that energy being wasted n heating staircases & corridors upstairs if you want to be cosy downstairs. Phew! I didn’t realise I felt quite so strongly until I started writing but honestly! all that space & you’re still living in one room….
such a beautiful house! I love this.
Absolutely love this and what a bargain price!
New York loft in Ramsgate, who would have thought?
Absolutely love all the polished plaster walls! The texture is divine! Thank you for an interesting browse.