Waking up to a new outlook
Above: Jelena and Maja in the garden
Above: The woodburner in the sitting room
Above: The walnut and black granite kitchen
Nick and Jelena Hague with their baby son Darren (now eight) moved into their five-bedroomed 1970s house near Cirencester in December 2000. The first thing to be done was to move the 150 tons of rubble left in the garden by the previous owners who had dug it out to make a swimming pool.
“At first we thought – great – a pool!” says Nick. “Then we realised how much work it was – what with leaves forever blowing into it – as well as being a danger to the children.” (their daughter Maja, now two, has since arrived.)
So as the Hagues decided not to keep it they filled the pool back in with the rubble and used some of the stone to landscape the garden.
“It was genuine Cotswold stone so we built a garden wall with it too and an outside office,” says Nick.
The Hagues had previously lived in a barn that had involved shared parking (‘a pain’) and a management company. “What we wanted was somewhere detached without neighbours or parking issues,” says Nick. “We wanted independence! This house had all that plus a lot of potential for us to create the contemporary look we love.”
The prefabricated stone house stands set back from the road in more than an acre of garden in a little Gloucestershire village. The couple’s immediate impression however was that the interior was rather tired and worn-out. The kitchen was dated and the units looked shabby.
There was an old black Aga, old oak floors throughout which had been so badly laid that they squeaked, chipboard doors and, says Nick, the whole place needed revitalising.
Now the Hagues have given it a whole new look by adding on a big glass conservatory to the rear of the house and refurbishing the kitchen, two bathrooms and en suite shower room. “I wanted the kitchen to flow through to the conservatory then through six bi-fold doors onto the decking outside and then beyond that to the garden,” says Nick, who has his own telecommunications company.
“We also had underfloor heating installed throughout the ground floor with a separate wet system in the conservatory,” he adds. “However as a precautionary measure we kept some of the original radiators and had new ones from Bisque put in, which run off the oil central heating system should the underfloor heating fail. The tall spiral design radiators in the kitchen are particularly fun as the children can spend hours watching a tennis ball travel down all the way from the top to the bottom – over and over again!”
Their new splendid bespoke kitchen from Rocket of Bristol is of handmade American walnut veneered units with a granite topped island which houses an induction hob, teppanyaki, steamer, a sink incinerator, a recycling bin and two fridge cabinets all by Gaggenau. Other Gaggenau appliances are integrated within the wall units. “The kitchen was built by Paul Bradburn of Rocket whose attention to detail is such that one side of the hall-to- kitchen door is oak (to match the oak staircase) and the other is walnut to match the units,” says Nick. “We kept the existing Aga but had it converted from oil-fuelled to electric and added an electrical module; we also had blue and white LED downlights installed round the units and uplights round the island.”
Upstairs their en suite bathroom had a blue vinyl floor with a bath standing in the middle of it and a corner shower. The two smaller bathrooms which stand side by side and are used for the children looked, says Jelena, rather Victorian with heavy-looking sinks. “So we redesigned all three,” she says. “Our en suite became a shower room although the children kept their baths. However we replaced the old suites with Duravit basins and lavatories, taps and showers from Philippe Starck and mixers from Hans Grohe. We also had travertine marble floors laid and put in limestone wall tiles from CP Hart and oak fittings.
Structurally there was not a lot more to do except replace with hardwood the two dormer windows at the back which had rotten frames.
The couple also replaced the squeaking floors with travertine marble flooring in every room downstairs except for the living room which is carpeted. Rocket also replaced all the chipboard doors with oak and renewed the architraves.
Other improvements include the Cotswold stone fire surround the Hagues put in to replace the original wooden one which showed signs of catching fire.
However there are a few exotic touches such as the fountain in the little gallery above the dining area and the shot-blasted oak cupboards in the main bedroom – “shot-blast to achieve a textured effect,” says Nick. There are also the three stained glass ‘church’ windows (in reality made of liquid resin) in the wall dividing the two children’s bathrooms, put in by the previous owner.
Outside they have a tank to catch rainwater which is then used on the vegetable garden.
“We not only put in two new exterior doors of oak but even changed the look of the steps to the front door,” says Nick. “Before they were plain and rather box-like but I had them redesigned to resemble the water-lily effect of the first three steps of the oak staircase inside. And the oak staircase itself has been painted in a stone-coloured paint so that it resembles stone as well.”
He finishes, “ We’ve managed to find a balance between minimalism and practicality. This isn’t just another contemporary house but one that has to work as a family home yet lend itself to social gatherings which flow out into the garden.”
However, sadly, the Hagues now find they have to move on so their house is up for sale through Savills at £1.45m.