Inspiring you to create your dream home - Dinesen

GRANDDESIGNS 

097 March 2 012 Modern Homes / Design / Interiors / Projects 

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Inspiring you to create your dream home March 2012 £3.85 

OPEN-PLAN 

LIVING 

164 

pages of flexible 

room designs 

you'll love 

BUYER'S 

GUIDE TO 

OUTDOOR 

ROOMS 

Cool blues 

Latest schemes & 

colour advice from 

Kevin McCloud 

AWARDS 2012 

Enter your 

home today 

The Space Race 

15 streamlined storage ideas for every interior 

DESIGN 

DILEMMA? 

Ask TV architect 

George Clarke

forwArd thinking 

Owners James Wright and Tamara Tracz had their work cut out for them when they invested in this 

crumbling terrace in Dalston, east London. They saw its potential and have successfully transformed it 

into a family home and given it an eco makeover, too Words and Styling Victoria Metcalf/Style NV Photography Graham Atkins-Hughes 

this picture 

White walls and 

pale floorboards give 

the living area a 

bright, airy feel 

right and 

below right James 

persuaded the builder 

to re-point the front 

of the house in lime. 

‘I went on a course 

with SPAB (Society 

for the Protection of 

Ancient Buildings) 

and then showed the 

builder how to do it.’ 

James removed the 

stained glass from 

the front door and 

had it renovated by 

a local tradesman 

Homes eco Renovation 

After years of living in east London, architect 

James Wright and his film-maker wife Tamara Tracz 

(pictured above with children Constantin, Riva and 

Lila), decided to find a plot of land to build their first 

home. Finding suitable land in London proved tricky; time and 

again property developers beat them to it and land was either in 

industrial estates or restricted to low-rise buildings. In the end 

they decided to look for a house that needed a lot of love instead. 

With the help of a local estate agent, Tamara found their 

home in a row of late-Victorian terraced houses, along a 

pleasant road in Dalston. ‘It’s in a good street, with generous 

outside space and perfect plot orientation,’ says James. ‘It’s not 

listed, but is located within a conservation area. There were so 

many things wrong with it, which, for an architect, is always 

quite nice!’ The extension at the back had no planning consents 

and it had been illegally built over a Thames Water sewer. The 

roof was leaking badly and there was rising damp. 

Besides the desire to build their own home, James and 

Tamara share a common interest in the environment and have 

both been members of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth 

74 / GRAND DESIGNS / mARch 2012 GRAND DESIGNS / mARch 2012 / 75

for more than 15 years. James has also attended numerous 

conferences and seminars on sustainable architecture over the 

years, so when they bought their property, it seemed only natural 

to want to build an eco home. ‘I started to think about whether 

it was possible to attain the Government’s target of reducing 

80 per cent of carbon emissions by 2050. I wanted to prove to 

myself that you could do that right now, with an old house.’ 

James began to research, design and plan every inch of the 

project. Once planning permission was granted, he spent a 

further four months on the detailed design of the house and put 

the project out to tender. James specified and drew up everything, 

often redrawing things five times until he got it right. ‘I found 

deciding upon the detail and specification the most challenging,’ 

he remembers. ‘I absolutely loved it, but sometimes I was up all 

night drawing, at the same time as dealing with young children 

and trying to do my day job. It was really tough.’ 

A year after buying their house, James and Tamara began the 

work. First, they took out all the electrics, plumbing and internal 

plaster to leave a bare brick shell. They extended at the back and 

into the side return. Inside, they moved a few walls around and 

gave the ground floor a more open-plan feel by taking out the 

wall between the upper and lower living rooms. They then 

insulated the walls with foil-backed, rigid foam and installed 

underfloor heating. A Welsh slate roof was put on and the front 

of the house was re-pointed with lime. The basement was 

tanked ready for James to install his amazing water recycling 

system. In a series of three tanks, located in the basement, waste 

water from the house gets filtered and disinfected by a series 

Floor plans 

The 220sqm home includes upper and lower 

living rooms plus kitchen, a play room/library, two 

bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor and 

master bedroom and bathroom on the second floor 

fiRsT 

flooR 

this picture James 

made the living 

rooms open plan, 

but divided up the 

area with a flight 

of steps. ‘When 

we have parties, 

people sit on the 

steps to chat and 

when you’re on your 

own, you don’t feel 

you are sitting in a 

large open space’ 

secoNd 

flooR 

gRouNd 

flooR 

N 

KRB Architecture (0118 940 6705; krbarchitecture.com) 

‘it’s in a good street, with generous 

outside space and perfect 

plot orientation’ 

left and above 

Extending into 

the side return has 

given James and 

Tamara a highly 

practical, spacious 

kitchen worksurface 

with plenty of 

wall space for 

kitchen units 

right Built-in 

shelves provide 

some useful 

additional storage 




this picture 

Double-glazed 

sliding doors 

from Sky Frame 

allow light into 

the kitchen while 

conserving heat. 

The company now 

produces a tripleglazed 

version. 

The Morsø wood 

burner is Defraapproved 

for use 

in smokeless zones 

of microbe-laden sponges and ultraviolet light. This cleaned 

water can be used in the WCs, the washing machine and for 

watering the garden. 

Once the extensive plumbing was in place, the house was 

completely rewired and James installed specialised cabling for 

powerful broadband and a built-in music system. Finally, he 

could start work on the finishes. He chose Dinesen Douglas fir 

floorboards throughout, which he highly recommends. Not only 

are they durable and attractive, but the liquid white soap 

treatment has another interesting benefit, discovered when his 

son Constantin got hold of an indelible green marker and 

decided to colour in the top step in the living room. After 

consulting with Dinesen, James gently scrubbed with soap and 

water and after about 10 minutes the stain vanished. ‘The soap 

is completely embedded in the grain, so nothing sticks to it.’ 

Their furniture and fittings are a mix of old and new. The 

extra-long stainless-steel Bulthaup kitchen is mixed with iconic 

Fifties Wishbone chairs by Hans Wegner and an old-style 

Morsø stove. Upstairs, a roll-top bath takes pride of place in 

a modern, slate-tiled bathroom. The scheme is minimal and 

James has kept the house looking clean and fresh by painting 

every room with a chalk-based white paint. 

It is clear that James and Tamara have considered the 

environment with every single aspect of the project, both in 

left The bedroom 

windows on the 

west side have 

power cables so 

that James can 

install solar control 

blinds in the future 

if necessary 

below A skylight 

provides plenty of 

natural light in 

the stairwell 


‘i found deciding on the detail and 

specification the most challenging. 

i absolutely loved it, but sometimes 

i was up all night drawing’ 

left The children’s 

bedroom is 

decorated with 

fun silhouette 

wall stickers 

below Stained 

glass in one of the 

bathrooms matches 

that on the front 

door; James used 100 

per cent recyclable 

copper cladding on 

the extension 

this picture The 

most indulgent 

buy was the bath. 

‘When specifying 

everything, I 

treated Tamara as 

the client. We sold 

the same bath with 

our previous home 

and she said to me 

“I must have this 

bath,” so I obliged’ 

its execution and as a finished article. A local environmentally 

conscious contractor was commissioned and many of the 

local tradesmen and workmen cycled to the house each day 

during the renovation. Most of the materials were British, or 

from Europe, and James and Tamara have recycled as many 

of the original features as possible. The original floorboards 

were used at the back of the wardrobes, and the fireplaces, 

front door and front windows have been restored. In addition 

to all this, James has future-proofed the house. To accommodate 

the needs of his expanding family, he ran pipes to rooms 

where there was no immediate need. This way, when his 

three children decide they want bedrooms of their own 

(they currently share), the disruption to make another en-suite 

bedroom will be minimal. 

After two years of hard work, James has succeeded in 

resolving his initial challenge by taking the house from an 

Energy Performance Certificate rating of E to a much 

more efficient B. He once optimistically said he’d like to 

build five homes in his lifetime, but for now, James and his 

family are happy where they are. ‘You need a bit of a breather 

in between,’ he smiles. gd 

e 

James and tamara’s style is minimal, but warm 

and relaxed. turn to p83 for decorating ideas 


Suppliers 

PRojecT TeAm Architect 

macdonald Wright Architects (020 

7249 0791; macdonaldwright.com) 

structural engineer Price and myers 

(020 7631 5128; pricemyers.com) 

Quantity surveyor gQs services 

(020 8546 0200) Builder ebcobuild 

(020 8802 5181; ebcobuild.co.uk) 

sTRucTuRe glass sliding doors 

skyframe (+41 52 369 02 30; 

sky-frame.com) exterior cladding 

capisco (020 8532 8838; patination. 

com) underfloor heating Polytherm 

(+353 1 419 1990; polytherm.ie) 

extension glass roof cantifix (020 

8203 6203; cantifix.co.uk) Roof Welsh 

slate (01248 600 656; welshslate. 

com) lime pointing Ty mawr lime 

(01874 611 350; lime.org.uk) 

eco feATuRes Household water 

recycling Hansgrohe Pontos 

Aquacycle (01372 472 001; 

hansgrohe.co.uk) solar panels 

Viessmann (01952 675 040; 

viessmann.co.uk) 

fixTuRes ANd fiTTiNgs Wooden 

flooring dinesen (+45 7455 2140; 

dinesen.com) Terrace stone tiles 

stonell (01892 833 500; stonell.com) 

Kitchen units and worksurface 

Bulthaup B3 (020 7317 6000; 

bulthaup.co.uk) Wood-burning stove 

morsø (01788 554 410; morsoe.co.uk) 

Roller blinds silent gliss (01843 863 

571; silentgliss.co.uk) master 

bathroom tiles stonell (as before) 

children’s bathroom tiles fired earth 

(0845 293 8798; firedearth.com) 

master en-suite bath Water monopoly 

(020 7624 2636; watermonopoly.com) 

Bathroom sink duravit (0845 500 

7787; duravit.com) shower Hansgrohe 

(as before) Taps Vola (01525 841 155; 

vola.com) ironmongery ize (020 7384 

3302; ize.info) 

fuRNiTuRe Wicker easy chairs Hans 

Wegner cH25 in soaped oak from carl 

Hansen (+45 66 12 14 04; carlhansen. 

com) elm coffer and pew Quillon 

House Antiques (01749 812 269) Rush 

mat Waveney Rush (01502 538 777; 

waveneyrush.co.uk) Wicker floor light 

Bolla floor light by gervasoni from 

Twentytwentyone (020 7837 1900; 

twentytwentyone.com) dining table 

Bulthaup B3 (as before) dining chairs 

Hans Wegner cH44 in soaped oak 

from carl Hansen (as before) 

children’s bunk beds The children’s 

furniture company (020 7737 7303; 

thechildrensfurniturecompany.com) 

Tree and potato man stencils 

mar mar co (020 7729 1494; 

marmarco.com)

Inspiring you to create your dream home - Dinesen

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