Property News · July 22, 2018

Branching out: how four years of woodwork transformed an east London home


Birch ply, spruce and cedar have rekindled a warm wooden glow in this old London terraceSee that yellow bucket,” says Jemima Garthwaite, pointing to a photograph on her screen. “Every time I had a shower or washed my hands in the bathroom, I’d have to come downstairs, carry it outside and pour it down a drain in the garden.” We are flicking through a folder of images called “During”, as Garthwaite recalls the gruelling process of renovating and extending her home in east London. The bucket sat under a waste pipe in the middle of what is now her kitchen. “It went on for weeks. That was the least fun element of living here.”“And this – believe it or not – is when the builders left.” She shows me a sorry image of the kitchen extension: unplastered, unfurnished, unfinished. “I’d run out of money. I had to do the rest myself.” Garthwaite trained as an architect (“the most over-glamourised industry ever”), so she had a clear sense of what needed doing. Even so, it took her four years to finish what the builders had started. “I worked evenings and weekends. I’d even come home during my lunch break to chisel for half an hour.” Continue reading…

Source : theguardian.com
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