Newbury House
Interior Architecture Only

This project began with two large commercial barns set within a beautiful estate near Newbury. The brief was to convert this space with incredibly high ceilings into a three bedroom family home by adding a floor. The main priority was to maximise light as one half of the site was fairly dark due to forestry surrounding the property. We used lots of large crittall-style windows and doors, an open plan layout but split into definite areas, a double height Drawing Room, and large proportions to achieve this. The floorplan of the main Barn is entirely open plan apart from the Study, Utility and Cloakroom, but split into separate areas using floating walls, furniture, structures (such as the wooden slatting), the staircase and fireplaces. Although the space is technically all open plan, there is a real difference in atmosphere between the 'rooms'. The double height drawing room feels energised and uplifting whereas the kitchen/library/sitting area has a cosier feel to it. 

 

The second priority was a Games Room (images to follow as this is still being renovated). This was such a fun part of the project as the games room is almost as large as the main barn in square footage! The games room/barn includes a golf simulator which doubles up as a cinema, pool table, table tennis, painting area, bar, lots of storage, and a kid's play area. 

 

The central staircase and lift played a huge part in the design of the ground floor as they created a natural break in the floorplan. The design of the staircase was pivotal to the feel and flow of the house, which is why we decided to make it a feature. 

 

Adding a floor to the barn allowed us to create three double/twin bedrooms on the first floor, all with en-suite bathrooms. The master bedroom consists of two bathrooms, a dressing area and a large bedroom split into two separate areas by the use of a half height wall. On one side of the wall sits the bed, and the other a bespoke chest of drawers, creating another dressing area. We used the half height wall to house electrics for the bed, i.e. plugs, wall lights, TV point, whilst also positioning 13amp and 5amp sockets on the other side for the dressing area. It was a great way of splitting a large room into two separate areas without completely closing them off from one another.