Hot off the press, we have The Penge House, home to marketing expert Emma who lives here with her partner Gareth and sproodle Flo.

For Emma and Gareth, the renovation of their Penge home provided an opportunity to create a space that resonates with their eclectic taste and functional needs. We spoke to Emma about her renovation journey, including what makes her house a home, where their budget went, and the trials and tribulations that come with extending. Head to our YouTube channel for the inside scoop!

When Emma and Gareth bought the property, they knew they were in for a project, but they had no idea how big. They fell in love with the house's Victorian character; its tall ceilings, original fireplaces and countless other charming features. The living room was pretty much ready to go, but the rest of the downstairs needed a big revamp. The majority of the work was at the back of the house, where Resi stepped in to design and deliver a showstopping side return.

The house came with the classic Victorian terrace floorplan: living room at the front, dining room in the middle, then a narrow galley kitchen and a shower room at the back. To the side of the kitchen and bathroom was a patio area, creating a large L shaped garden.

So, we designed a side return extension to extend the back of the house out to the perimeter of the garden and sideways into the patio area. We got rid of the bathroom at the back of the house, lending the space to create a much larger kitchen diner. The side return boasts skylights all the way across, and beautiful black aluminium round top doors for access to the garden. The dining room, which was previously in the middle of the layout, got zero natural light due to its location. And so, thinking creatively about how to use the space for things that don't necessarily need natural light, we split that space in half. We created a utility room with a small cloak room for function, and a downstairs WC for hosing down Flo after a muddy visit to the local park. The house previously lacked a bathroom upstairs, so one of the bedrooms upstairs was converted to create one. Now that the project has finally finished, Emma has made the house a home through adding bucket loads of her own personal touches including bespoke wallpapers, vibrant art pieces and other knick-knacks that she's collected over the years.

I love the utility room, because I've never had one before. And it's really nice to be able to just put stuff out the way. But, I think the kitchen diner is my favourite room. It's just such a social space, we spend a lot of time cooking together in here, eating, watching football. The other weekend I invited all my friends over for a bottomless brunch, and we had a big spread in here, which was really nice. We basically didn't leave this room all day, because it's such a social space.

Finding Resi and realising they could help us almost from start to finish worked out really well. Advice to renovators, when it gets to the build, take the time to do the research and get different quotes, and then speak to previous clients as well. We went and saw other projects that they had done, and it gave us the confidence that they were a good option. Because it is a big investment and you want to know that your money is in safe hands, and you're ultimately going to get what you want out of it.

Photography by Peter Furlong.