Balham Loft Apartment
This project is a loft conversion, and then some. A modest two bedroom flat in Balham was completely transformed into a generous 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home, complete with utility room, roof terrace, and access to the ground floor garden. Benefitting from its own entrance, the apartment is now larger than most terraced houses with a unique open, top-lit aspect to the living space which is simply not possible in most houses. A loft apartment feel is created with a mixture of minimal contemporary and traditional industrial detailing, curated closely with our clients who heavily influenced much of the interior fit out.
Steel framed doors open out onto a roof terrace situated at the back of the loft, which has an enviable tree lined aspect in front of the railway line, with industrial steel framed privacy screens infilled with reeded glass. A new oil-de-beouf window is cut out of the old gable wall.
The top floor living space, located above the bedrooms below has a broken plan with the kitchen and dining space located adjacent to the terrace over the outrigger, and the living space in the main part of the house. The minimal contemporary and industrial balance continues, with white painted shadow gap joinery sitting comfortably alongside cast iron radiators and a shaker marble topped kitchen.
The loft conversion occupies the majority of the footprint of the original flat, with a void carved out for a double height hallway and new staircase. The stair provides a rich pop of colour and contrast to the minimal aesthetic, with a simple, ribbed, timber framed balustrade creating a sharp counterpoint to the adjacent smooth curved balustrade and plasterwork. Gaps are used as devices to separate and distinguish between elements and allow space and slots of light to permeate the space.