This mid-terrace Islington property is the family home of chief technology officer Ekin, who completed a loft conversion and whole house internal renovation at the end of 2023. With a deep-rooted passion for technology and innovation, Ekin was thrilled to come across Resi when he found himself facing a fairly large renovation project with no experience or knowledge. Eager for an upgrade and committed to staying in their local area, the family searched extensively for the right home for them, but came up empty. So, when this house came on the market, they decided to take matters into their own hands, to make the house right for them.

This house has featured in an episode of Resi Renos, live on our YouTube channel.

How did this project come about?

We have been living on this street for 15 years. Our children were born on this road, and they go to school around here. We were previously seven doors down, we lived there for 13 years, and we looked and looked for somewhere to move to, but we couldn't find anything that we liked. There was nothing on the market that was readily available, so we had to renovate if we wanted to stay in the area.

What were your biggest concerns going into the renovation process?

It wasn't an easy decision. Bathrooms and kitchens are easier, but if you are talking about structural changes, it's not straight forward. We had to put in however many steel beams, and lowered ceilings to make up headroom, and things like that. It's just not straight forward. So when we discovered Resi, it was amazing to see that it was doable, it's not that scary, and maybe we can afford to do it as well. So, we did it, and the rest is history! It took us about eight or nine months to do the works, and we've been living here since Christmas last year.

I think the hardest step was saying, okay, I'm going to renovate. It's going to cost quite a bit. But I'm working with people I can trust and they can guide me through this process. And then once we started, everything was easy.

What did you change about the house, and why?

We basically knocked down everything and then rebuilt the entire house from the inside. We chose not to do certain things, for example, we didn't extend the kitchen to be able to have an island. Previously the kitchen had counters on both sides, so we changed this to have the entire kitchen on one side of the room. And that gave us plenty of space for a small table to have breakfast and dinners at, and we opened up some windows to make it airy, and we made the the door a bit bigger. When you look at the before and after pictures, it looks like it's been extended, but it hasn't! All we did was, just create some space and bring some light into the room.

The living room was previously two rooms, as this is a Victorian property. We knocked down the wall in the middle and turned this into one big room. In here we have a TV, games, a piano, music system, and when we have guests over we have dinners in here. So this became our main living space.

And then we did a loft conversion that was one of the bigger things we did. But to do the loft conversion, we had to lower the ceiling on the first floor. That meant a little bit of reconfiguration for step stairs and things like that. We turned the loft into an office / potential bedroom.

We designed everything based on the way we live, everything is very easily accessible. There's quite a bit of tech that's hidden in the house. For example, all of the devices around are smart devices, from the fridge to the oven to pretty much everything. And they're all controlled by apps, so you can easily throw up the heating and music in every room.

We have a busy daily routine. Me and my wife both work, both of us have to leave the house with the kids in the morning, take them to school, and so there's a big rush. Everybody has to get ready. Everybody has to have some breakfast, ideally together, but that's rare. All of that just flows very easily in this house. We didn't have that in our previous property, we had to struggle and shout to each other. But it's the way we designed things, for example, we have a doorway that is far bigger than your normal entry. So 3 or 4 people can go in or out at the same time.

What's your biggest piece of advice for someone about to start a renovation project?

Go and talk to Resi first. I'm not kidding! Resi is one of the best companies I have worked with in the last ten years, and it's the technology that's the differentiator from competitors. When you log into the dashboard, the way the process is laid out on the screen is fantastic - you know how long each step will take, what to expect next, and all your design ideas, chats and images are contained in one place. This is how I talk about it with my friends and this is why I can comfortably recommend Resi to them.

Photography by Peter Furlong.