gaisford street

k e n t i s h   t o w n   |   l o n d o n

Tucked away in Kentish Town, this Victorian terrace flat was a leasehold property with council ownership, neighbours on every side, and a list of constraints to match: a Conservation Area, a public sewer running beneath it, and freeholder consent required for every single change. 

Set over two levels with a leafy garden hidden out back, but barely connected to the first-floor living space it was easy to overlook in the listing photos. The owners saw its potential anyway, and asked us to help turn that promise into a plan. 

a b o u t   t h e   p r o j e c t

The brief was clear; open up dark, boxed-in rooms, connect the flat to its outdoor space, and bring it up to modern family living without losing an inch.

The big move was relocating the bathroom downstairs entirely, freeing up the upper level and creating a proper ensuite for the master bedroom plus a second bathroom below, with a rare London luxury tucked into the leftover space: an integrated laundry cupboard. Upstairs, knocking through the wall between kitchen and living room flooded the space with light from both sides, while floor-to-ceiling windows on both levels turned the garden from an afterthought into an everyday extension of the home.

With space at a premium, every inch of joinery had to earn its keep, so we used standardised Ikea products for wardrobes, kitchens, and built-ins, modifying and finishing each piece to look fully bespoke, and packing in shelving and storage wherever we could.

The result is a flat transformed from dark and disjointed into light, airy, and effortlessly connected to the outdoors, with real value added through new bathrooms, laundry, storage, and finishes throughout. What were once awkward, wasted corners became genuine assets. We navigated the full maze of UK consents along the way, and the clients ended up with a home far beyond what that first listing ever promised.