Space odyssey

The desire for more room almost drove Peter and Vivienne Cameron to move from their beloved home – until some smart solutions were presented to them

- WORDS RUTH CORBETT | PHOTOGRAPHY CHRIS SNOOK

Peter and Vivienne Cameron had been living in their comfortable home for 30 years, but as their extended family grew, the constraints of a typical Edwardian semi, with several separate rooms, none of which was quite big enough, started to mar their enjoyment of it. “There wasn’t a large enough room for family celebrations and the rooms we did have didn’t flow,’ explains Vivienne. “We explored moving house, which would have been expensive and a new house would probably have needed reconfiguration anyway.’

In the end, with the benefit of advice from local architect Keith Malone, the Camerons realised that it was possible to redesign their existing house to create a ‘new’ house within it, which would deliver exactly what they wanted. The property's existing layout comprised a ground floor with a front room, ‘middle’ room and an open-plan kitchen/dining room. ‘Keith removed the walls to the middle room to create one big space, with the ability, via pocket doors, to separate off the front room as and when we want,’ explains Peter.