Denis Svartz
Design ideas for a large contemporary back terrace in Lyon with a potted garden and a roof extension.

Lincoln Road is our renovation and extension of a Victorian house in East Finchley, North London. It was driven by the will and enthusiasm of the owners, Ed and Elena, who's desire for a stylish and contemporary family home kept the project focused on achieving their goals.

Our main bathroom at our #NewSpacesxMonash project is simple in design, but packs a punch on functionality and space. Storage to service three kids as they grow was imperative, so the bathroom features a massive 1800mm custom vanity by @topshelf joinery including tall cabinet. A ‘wet-area’ design encompasses both the back-to-wall bath and shower space, with a hand-held shower positioned between for ease of cleaning, especially for the kids in the bath on hair washing night! This open shower design also means less shower screens to keep clean

Large sectional sofa, with blue velvet and geometric cushions, A large vintage retro coffee table fits the space perfectly. Dark green walls make it cosy even though it is a bright room with sky lights and large windows, Playful artwork and leather strap shelves hang on the walls.

Ryan Cowan
This is an example of a large and blue nautical semi-detached house in Oxfordshire with three floors, wood cladding and a hip roof.

There are so many things to consider when designing an extension for open-plan family living; how you enter the space, how you connect the room with the garden, how the different areas within the space interact and flow to name a few... This project allowed us to bring all of these aspects together in an harmonious fashion by tying in an elegant modern extension with a period traditional home. Key features include a parapet flat roof, internal crittall doors and full length glazing and sliding doors helping to bring the outside in. A simple yet elegant design, perfectly formed for modern family life.

Chris Snook
Inspiration for a medium sized eclectic open plan living room in London with blue walls, light hardwood flooring, beige floors and a dado rail.

Twin Peaks House is a vibrant extension to a grand Edwardian homestead in Kensington. Originally built in 1913 for a wealthy family of butchers, when the surrounding landscape was pasture from horizon to horizon, the homestead endured as its acreage was carved up and subdivided into smaller terrace allotments. Our clients discovered the property decades ago during long walks around their neighbourhood, promising themselves that they would buy it should the opportunity ever arise. Many years later the opportunity did arise, and our clients made the leap. Not long after, they commissioned us to update the home for their family of five. They asked us to replace the pokey rear end of the house, shabbily renovated in the 1980s, with a generous extension that matched the scale of the original home and its voluminous garden. Our design intervention extends the massing of the original gable-roofed house towards the back garden, accommodating kids’ bedrooms, living areas downstairs and main bedroom suite tucked away upstairs gabled volume to the east earns the project its name, duplicating the main roof pitch at a smaller scale and housing dining, kitchen, laundry and informal entry. This arrangement of rooms supports our clients’ busy lifestyles with zones of communal and individual living, places to be together and places to be alone. The living area pivots around the kitchen island, positioned carefully to entice our clients' energetic teenaged boys with the aroma of cooking. A sculpted deck runs the length of the garden elevation, facing swimming pool, borrowed landscape and the sun. A first-floor hideout attached to the main bedroom floats above, vertical screening providing prospect and refuge. Neither quite indoors nor out, these spaces act as threshold between both, protected from the rain and flexibly dimensioned for either entertaining or retreat. Galvanised steel continuously wraps the exterior of the extension, distilling the decorative heritage of the original’s walls, roofs and gables into two cohesive volumes. The masculinity in this form-making is balanced by a light-filled, feminine interior. Its material palette of pale timbers and pastel shades are set against a textured white backdrop, with 2400mm high datum adding a human scale to the raked ceilings. Celebrating the tension between these design moves is a dramatic, top-lit 7m high void that slices through the centre of the house. Another type of threshold, the void bridges the old and the new, the private and the public, the formal and the informal. It acts as a clear spatial marker for each of these transitions and a living relic of the home’s long history.

Behind the rolling hills of Arthurs Seat sits “The Farm”, a coastal getaway and future permanent residence for our clients. The modest three bedroom brick home will be renovated and a substantial extension added. The footprint of the extension re-aligns to face the beautiful landscape of the western valley and dam. The new living and dining rooms open onto an entertaining terrace. The distinct roof form of valleys and ridges relate in level to the existing roof for continuation of scale. The new roof cantilevers beyond the extension walls creating emphasis and direction towards the natural views.

This is an example of a medium sized contemporary galley open plan kitchen in Kent with flat-panel cabinets, medium wood cabinets and medium hardwood flooring.

Pete Landers
Medium sized contemporary l-shaped kitchen in London with a belfast sink, shaker cabinets, green cabinets, wood worktops, white splashback, metro tiled splashback, black appliances, ceramic flooring and an island.

Contemporary dining area in rear extension with large area of glass that draws the outside space in. The new contemporary extension is set juxtaposition to the traditional features of the existing house. A feature wall of concrete plaster reflects the concrete effect large format tiles on the floor. The kitchen units are bespoke spray lacquered with an exposed ply edge.

This wraparound kitchen extension in West London has been designed to feel both modern and inviting. The steel blue cabinetry adds a bold, contemporary touch, balanced by the warmth of light parquet flooring. Skylights and large glass doors bring natural light into the space, while the open-plan layout connects the kitchen, dining, and garden areas seamlessly. It’s a practical yet stylish transformation, perfect for everyday family life and entertaining.

This wraparound kitchen extension in West London has been designed to feel both modern and inviting. The steel blue cabinetry adds a bold, contemporary touch, balanced by the warmth of light parquet flooring. Skylights and large glass doors bring natural light into the space, while the open-plan layout connects the kitchen, dining, and garden areas seamlessly. It’s a practical yet stylish transformation, perfect for everyday family life and entertaining.

A complete modernisation and refit with garden improvements included new kitchen, bathroom, finishes and fittings in a modern, contemporary feel. A large ground floor living / dining / kitchen extension was created by excavating the existing sloped garden. A new double bedroom was constructed above one side of the extension, the house was remodelled to open up the flow through the property. Project overseen from initial design through planning and construction.

A retrofit of a Victorian townhouse with mansard loft extension and 2-storey rear/ side extension. Insulated using breathable wood-fibre products, filled with daylight and dramatic double-height spaces. Photos: Andy Stagg

This roof terrace incorporates a large section of 'walk-on' glazing, which admits plenty of daylight and sunlight to the area below. Photographer: Nick Smith

A couple with two young children appointed FPA to refurbish a large semi detached Victorian house in Wimbledon Park. The property, arranged on four split levels, had already been extended in 2007 by the previous owners. The clients only wished to have the interiors updated to create a contemporary family room. However, FPA interpreted the brief as an opportunity also to refine the appearance of the existing side extension overlooking the patio and devise a new external family room, framed by red cedar clap boards, laid to suggest a chevron floor pattern. The refurbishment of the interior creates an internal contemporary family room at the lower ground floor by employing a simple, yet elegant, selection of materials as the instrument to redirect the focus of the house towards the patio and the garden: light coloured European Oak floor is paired with natural Oak and white lacquered panelling and Lava Stone to produce a calming and serene space. The solid corner of the extension is removed and a new sliding door set is put in to reduce the separation between inside and outside. Photo by Gianluca Maver

Christine Francis
Inspiration for a medium sized contemporary gender neutral children’s room in Melbourne with green walls and carpet.