‘We knocked down a wall to create a landing office'

Charlotte Summers and James Lawrence got rid of an unused box room to make way for an office on their landing with views over Brighton's coastline

- Maxine Brady

Charlotte Summers and her fiancé, James Lawrence, were looking to swap busy London life for the calm Sussex coast, and as soon as they viewed this spacious 1950s home, they fell in love with its idyllic location. Although the house was in desperate need of modernisation, it had a breathtaking aspect overlooking the South Downs and the sea beyond,' says Charlotte.

They couldn't wait to get started on the renovations but, a few weeks after getting the keys, Covid lockdown rules came into force. Working around the restrictions, the couple spent evenings and weekends gutting the house. After opening up the kitchen and dining room, flooding the space with light, they were ready to tackle the upstairs rooms, starting with an awkward box room at the far end of the landing.

THE PROJECT

The couple had originally planned to turn the room into a walk-in wardrobe for Charlotte. 'We had a chat with our structural engineer, though, and he explained that if we wanted to convert our loft space in future, we'd need to get rid of this bedroom to make way for a staircase,' Charlotte says. "That's when we had the idea to knock down the wall and turn the area into an open-plan office.'

The pair had already knocked a wall down on the ground floor. 'Opening up downstairs instantly changed the feel of our home and we were confident we could do the same up here,' recalls Charlotte. 'Making the most of the view from the landing made sense, as it's a big selling point of this house."

STEP INSIDE...

WHO LIVES HERE?

I'm Charlotte Summers, 29, a Property Manager, and I live here with my fiancé, James Lawrence, a Real Estate Associate, 31, and our Pomsky, Simba. We've lived in our semidetached, 1950s home since August 2020, after purchasing it in February 2020.