Studio Bua transforms 1920s wreck into a colourful and stylish home

Studio Bua has completely redesigned and extended a 1920s house in suburban South London to create a colourful and stylish family home. The four-bedroom house had not been altered since the 1960s and needed a major update. Studio Bua transformed the existing property, removing piecemeal and poorly constructed additions, whilst retaining as much of the original fabric as possible and consolidating the volume with a two-storey brick extension.

Mark Smyth, co-founder of Studio Bua comments, “The clients, a financial advisor and a film editor, needed a space suited to family life where they could also entertain friends. They wanted to keep the idea of a defined house with separate spaces, but open things up and add colour and references to the property’s vintage throughout. We took their different needs, wants and styles and have created a home they both love.”

The brief was to add a generous master suite and larger family bathroom upstairs, and rethink and enlarge the ground floor living space to accommodate a new study, playroom and separate utility room. The house benefits from a large plot but it was orientated to the street, with small openings to the rear. Studio Bua’s addition flips the focus towards the rear garden with a series of slim aluminium glazed doors and a new terrace level with the internal floor. Although modern in form, the extension’s brickwork detailing and creasing tile sills refer to the existing house. There is a horizontal emphasis, reinforced with a triple stacked soldier course architrave inspired by the stacked card of an early physical model. The client wanted the spaces to be impressive without feeling oversized. The ground floor has been designed as a series of interconnected rooms with clearly defined zones to prevent it from feeling completely open. The spatial planning allows views to and from each of the interior spaces. It has been made very clear where the existing house starts and stops, with sliding barn-style doors between the old house and the extension to allow the clients to separate the zones if required.

The colour scheme was developed in collaboration with the client. Studio Bua interpreted their ideas, filtered them and came up with a curated narrative. The scheme was hugely influenced by the lithograph posters within the V&A exhibition Ocean Liners: Speed and Style, which explored the romantic and remarkable age of ocean travel, including glamourous ships such as the Queen Mary. Old 1920s Vogue covers, featuring pops of hot pinks, brass and blue references, also influenced the space. Bright pinks and greens have been paired with dark stained timber, marble and brass to emulate this style throughout. The self-build project was kept to a tight budget, with the client souring much of the lighting and period-appropriate second-hand items herself, including reclaimed stainless steel 1920s Art Deco fireplaces in the study and music room. The new extension features hardwearing, light grey stone porcelain tiles with underfloor heating, which matches the porcelain slab used outside in the garden. A neutral pale grey has been used on the spine wall. The old rooms have been restored to their original state, with dark-stained engineered oak flooring. In the existing house, all the radiators were swapped for modern vintage-style fittings chosen to match the walls of each space.     

The existing entrance and stair hallway used to be drab and uninviting. Studio Bua kept the stair but had everything else stripped back. The space now features geometric tile flooring and dark walls. An existing door has been painted hot pink to add a pop of colour as soon as you enter. The moody atmosphere perfectly contrasts the bright and open extension. The door that originally led to the garden has been removed and the opening have been taken up to the ceiling and lined with brass. This creates a slot of light with views across the extension onto the garden. The stained-glass window, which was hidden behind secondary glazing, has been lovingly restored to add additional character and glamour to the space.

A rectangular sunken lounge sits at centre of the reconfigured plan. Studio Bua stepped the floor level down to create a lounge with a sense of grandeur, higher ceilings and a completely different character to the rest of the house. The lounge is level with a new sunken terrace in the garden. Tall glazing further extends the feeling of bringing the outside in. A rich teal colour has been applied to the walls and taken across the ceiling, which makes it feel intimate despite the 3m high ceilings.

The lounge is separated from the open kitchen and dining space by a screen wall with a three-sided fireplace, homework area and media unit. The positioning of the homework area allows the parents to keep an eye on the children’s screens from the kitchen. The space has been painted dark petrol green and features brass details, including a peninsula island with brass doors and a brass splashback. The island and sink area are topped with stylish quartz worktops. The kitchen design is based on standard elements. The units are off-the-shelf but have been sprayed a bespoke colour, which allowed for money to be spent on the tapware, worktops and brass. To include the client-requested cocktail bar, Studio Bua recessed it into the spine wall and borrowed space from the utility room. The bar features antique mirrors and glass shelves reminiscent of the 1920s. 

In the new study, the dark grey walls are complemented by a wallpapered feature wall. A new playroom can be converted into a separate sitting room when the children have grown up. The pale pink music room perfectly complements the teal lounge. A tiny WC under the stairs features powder pink palm print wallpaper with a teal base. All the wallpapers were inspired by the V&A exhibition.

Upstairs, the four existing standard bedrooms have been upgraded to two large children's bedrooms, a guest suite and a master suite. The existing extension was kept and an additional first floor extension was added that overhangs the kitchen and projects out. At the front of the house, the smallest bedroom was turned into a generous family bathroom. The two largest bedrooms were converted into the children's rooms and the smaller bedroom is now a guest suite. The new extension features the master bedroom and an en-suite bathroom. What was previously the bathroom, is now a large walk-in wardrobe. The colour scheme used upstairs complements the rest of the house and the metal work and light fittings are consistent with the black and brass used on the ground floor. 

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