The long view

A bungalow became Chess Johnson's elegant family home as she extended it and filled it with warm colours and a mix of vintage and newer finds

- KAREN DARLOW

The garden room, used as a gym and garden store, was designed and built by Chess and her husband Ross in Douglas Fir timber, with galvanised roof sheets and guttering for a rustic look. Garden furniture, Primrose This was the ugliest, smallest house on one of our favourite roads in the village,' says Chess Johnson. Just look at it now! From a forlorn one-bedroom bungalow, empty for two years, the property was turned into a dream home by Chess and husband Ross for themselves and their two-year-old son, Huish. They extended to the side and rear, and raised the roofline to add a second storey. Although it's a narrow plot at just eight metres wide, their ingenious design and clever use of space made way for three additional bedrooms, a utility room, two bathrooms, an office and a snug.