Sasha Bates and Bill Cashmore have transformed their Victorian home into an open-plan, contemporary scheme suffused with light

“Something near the green, a house that could be treated as a blank canvas and with a garden” was the spec Sasha Bates gave her estate agent when she and her husband, Bill Cashmore, set about buying their first home four years ago. Each had owned a flat before; Sasha's was in London's Shepherd's Bush and Bill's in Islington.

“I wanted to stay put, but Bill was easy, so Shepherd's Bush it was,” laughs Sasha, a producer on Channel 4's Property Ladder. “I knew a bit about property and this was an area I liked and could afford.” When they first saw this house, its location, its Victorian style and its clear potential for change were just what they were looking for. Working on another TV programme, Dream Spaces, had taught Sasha that new and old can live side by side in a house. “So, while I wanted to retain the Victorian features, I also wanted to add some modern structural elements,” she explains. “This house needed to be opened up and fortunately its layout allowed for that.”

To begin with, the two back bedrooms on the first floor were knocked into one and, downstairs, walls were knocked down to make it open plan. The couple then added a two-storey extension to one half of the back of the house, which doubled the length of the kitchen and gained them a similar amount of space in the bedroom above.

“One dilemma was trying to decide how far to take the extension across the back; after all, the garden was one of the reasons we chose the house,” Sasha says. In the end, they settled on an L-shape, and using huge retractable glass doors on both sides would always give them something to look at, from inside and out. “So often in English houses, you can be inside and yet totally unaware that it is daytime. This kitchen lets you feel as if you're in the garden all year.”

Sasha was keen not only to have Victorian elements but to make sure they were original. “Downstairs I wanted original fire surrounds and tiles, not reproductions, and as it is open plan, they had to match. I had to wait to find them, but in the end I did,” she says triumphantly.

Upstairs, a large bedroom with ample storage was achieved, thanks to the extension. Sasha built cupboards along the long run of wall, with basins and a fully tiled wetroom and toilet at the far end. “The bedroom feels intimate and has a vista that ends in a window overlooking the garden. I suppose the only thing I would do now, with hindsight, is put a door on the wetroom and toilet, as guests feel a little disconcerted by its openness,” Sasha admits.

Having created their first home, is there anything else Sasha and Bill learned from it? “The whole thing went pretty well and our builders were brilliant,” says Sasha. “When you choose a builder, get a personal recommendation – if you don't like your builder, you've had it.” Bill adds: “Leave yourself with options to change things later. For instance, now that we've lived with this open space, we're considering a sliding door between the living/dining room and the kitchen. If someone is watching television, it can be infuriating to have the clatter of pots and pans in the background.”

Sasha says: “I'm proudest of the kitchen, because it's so light and open. And having agonised over the pink wall, now I really like it. The only thing I wouldn't do again is use white porcelain for the floor – it just isn't practical. But when it's spotless, it looks like a lake with an amazing reflection of the garden.”

WORDS ARABELLA ST JOHN PARKER
PHOTOGRAPHS TIM BEDDOW
FEBRUARY 2007

SOURCEBOOK
Anthony Green at Whitcombe Associates, (01386) 725206, www.anthonygreenra.com.
The Conran Shop, (020) 7589 7401, www.conranshop.co.uk.
Designers Guild, (020) 7351 5775, www.designersguild.co.uk.
Dulux, 0870 444 1111, www.dulux.co.uk.
Farrow & Ball, (01202) 876141, www.farrow-ball.com.
Graham & Green, 0845 130 6622, www.grahamandgreen.co.uk.
Heal's, (020) 7636 1666, www.heals.co.uk.
Lombok, 0870 240 7380, www.lombok.co.uk.
Nu-Line Builders Merchant, (020) 7727 7748, www.nu-line.net.
Osborne & Little, (020) 7352 1456, www.osborneandlittle.com.
World's End Tiles, (020) 7819 2100, www.worldsendtiles.co.uk.
Sam Bonnie Design, (020) 7751 3151.