House Extension Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

Sunflower House,
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex 2023

Sunflower House is a ground floor refurbishment and extension of an early 20th century terraced house, located in the heart of the seaside town of Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. The existing ground floor consisted of a series of small rooms, which were opened up to connect the living spaces with the rear garden to create a bright and sunny open-plan home.

House Extension, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

Seaside lifestyle

The original ground floor included a galley kitchen, separate dining room and an old full-width conservatory to the rear. As the spaces were so poorly connected, the design and layout didn’t suit our Client’s lifestyle and the needs of their young family. They wanted a more open-plan family space that enjoyed the sun on both sides of the home and connected the living spaces with the sunny rear garden.

House Extension, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex

Bringing the Garden into Home

Our design proposal involved opening up the entire rear wall of the house through the insertion of a large yellow steel-framed structure. This freed up the rear space to allow for the creation of a large kitchen and dining space. Onto the garden and patio, the bi-folding doors can be fully opened up all summer long allowing the inside and outside spaces to seamlessly flow together.

Anthro Architecture

Catching the light

To draw the light deep into the home, we used bright colours and materials, including a large golden artwork, centred over the dining table and yellow accents within the colour palette. We also created a new opening to the front reception room, accessed via a pair of glazed double-doors, to allow the evening light travel deep into the floor plan and illuminate the dining table.

Anthro Architecture

Glazed Brick catching the sun

The rear extension is clad in white glazed bricks with a carefully matched light buff mortar finish to help absorb the morning sun and radiate heat throughout the day. The upper band of the extension is finished in simple off-white render finish to harmonise with the brickwork below. The sandstone paved terrace steps down to the garden between two flower-filled raised planters that frame the rear extension and garden.