A GRAND PLAN

When interior designer Jack Canning decided to renovate a dated 1960s bungalow, he knew exactly how he wanted it to look – inside and out

- JANE BOWLES

They say every cloud has a silver lining and this was certainly the case for Jack Canning in 2014, when his plans to buy a house went awry. ‘I was renting a studio at the time and wanted to stay in the area, but needed more space,’ he says. ‘I’d made an offer on a semi-detached house but it fell through.’

Jack kept a keen eye out for new properties and it wasn’t long before his present home, a 1960s bungalow, caught his attention. ‘I saw so much potential as it had a great location and a much larger plot than the house I’d missed out on,’ he says.

Having sealed the deal, Jack, who’s an interior designer, set about planning the renovation. ‘The house was essentially liveable, but had been built quite poorly,’ he says. ‘I asked a few architects to come up with a design for a first floor with four double bedrooms – which is what I wanted – but when none ofthem could manage it, I decided to do the job myself,’ he says.

Having worked out a set of CAD drawings, Jack commissioned a structural engineer to produce plans to comply with building regulations. ‘The final design was then modified by repositioning the main bathroom to the other side of the house, to allow space for a much larger en suite,’ he says. ‘Only one wall remained almost untouched, so it was effectively a total rebuild.’

Creating the design was not the only challenge that Jack faced. ‘The planners are very strict in the New Forest, so I was very limited as to what I was able to do to the front of the house,’ he says. Despite working full-time, Jack decided to manage the project himself and engaged a local firm, Quay Point Construction, to undertake the building work.