What can we do with our shabby conservatory?

We want to integrate our draughty extension into the main house

The dilemna: Marc and Carole Zander and their children - Matthew, Laura, Alicia and Eloise - live in a charming Arts and Crafts house in Reigate, Surrey. They have a ground-floor extension - a collage of cracked stained glass and old brick providing a wonderful playroom which is cold and damp in winter. The Zanders want to improve this space, integrating it into the main house yet still accommodating the creative needs of their children. There is also an original bread oven to consider, which protrudes into the playroom.

The solution: Arts and Crafts houses make the prettiest of family homes, even though the rooms may be small and the layout divisive, so it is not surprising that a former owners rigged up an extension. Combined with a double-pitch roof, this extra bit of building does seem to chime in with the Arts and Crafts movement nostalgia, so the phrase “If it ain't broke why fix it?” comes to mind.

The problem is that this structure is broke, and in quite a few places: rebuilding is essential. However, as the Zander family clearly benefits from the extra square footage, I would not change the footprint.


The real challenge is to determine in what style to rebuild. Arts and Crafts is out of the question, given that new construction in an historical style is as ridiculous as dressing for the office in a suit of armour. Nor would I advocate a “glass box”, the ubiquity of which is becoming an architectural cliché. Instead this replacement building should simply be “honest”, which was a founding principle of the Arts and Crafts movement. Such an idea can easily be realised in the construction of a simple oak-frame and glass building (with perhaps a zinc roof to contrast with the existing tile), duplicating the volume and double-pitch of the existing leaky structure to obviate the need for planning consent (though the Zanders should check with their local authority before commissioning any new structure). Prime Oak - www.primeoak.co.uk - would be a good bet for this task.

But before the Zanders select their oak, we need to deal with the internal layout. The kitchen is tucked away in a small space at the rear of the original building, which also has a fireplace with a bread oven, the curved rear of which punctures the wall of the extension. I would move the kitchen to the front of the new extension, with a double set of glass doors opening into the garden. The old kitchen could then be converted into a den, with a TV concealed in the old fireplace behind cupboard doors, and where there is also enough space to store the children's collection of dressing-up clothes. A play space with bookshelves and storage could be arranged on the other side of the dividing fireplace, which opens into the formal dining room. The play area could include foldaway mini-furniture, so that when the children are in bed there is a tidy and unobstructed thoroughfare between the dinner table and the kitchen.

To make this layout work, two sections of wall need to be removed around the original back door, possibly requiring a structural engineer. It would be worth it,though, as the layout then becomes comfortably open plan, allowing Carole to keep an eye on the children from her new kitchen.

As with the outside, I would pick a modern rustic look inside: either a Spitalfields kitchen by Plain English (plainenglishdesign.co.uk) or Gold Label by Keller Kitchens (kellerkeukens.nl); flagstone flooring; sisal rugs from the Alternative Flooring Company (alternativeflooring.com) and a touch of whimsy - two Grain Drum Lamps from one of my favourite suppliers, farm21.co.uk, to go either side of the den's sofa.

Do you have an inner dilemma? E-mail the details to: property.consumer@thetimes.co.uk