A little help from your friends

"The first job was to sort out the ground floor, excavating the garden to move the earth back from the house and integrating the garage. We tried to add a larger window at the front, but the planners wouldn't allow it."

However, larger windows were added where possible - in the stairwell and bedrooms: "Lighting was important, too, because the ceilings were fairly low, so there are lots of recessed downlighters and details such as ankle-level lighting up the stairs," says Aaron. The house suffered with the classic three Ds of being dark, dingy and damp, and the results are impressive.

Aaron sums up: "Because it was so awful before, we're particularly pleased with the new ground floor."

WHAT IT COST

Total build cost £255,000

Garden and patio £7,800

Kitchen units by Camargue, granite worktops and appliances £32,000

Oak floors from Element 7 (020 7736 2366) £6,873

Folding doors to garden by Sunplan Systems (01923 478080) £7,892

Refurbishing two middle floors, including living room, study, two bedrooms and bathroom £60,308

Rebuilding top floor, including creating a new bathroom £57,557

Building regulations fees £1,434

Structural engineer £3,515

Party wall surveyor £2,585

Architect's fee £14,500

Victorian Drama

THE CLIENT

While friends had refurbished their homes with the help of just a builder, Jo and Chris White felt their makeover needed an architect. "We reasoned an architect would have established relationships with builders and would be confident of their work and reliability," says Jo.

Their Victorian house in south-west London had been untouched since the 1980s, its flowery Laura Ashley wallpaper was intact along with a brown bathroom suite and cork tiles. Jo recalls: "The kitchen and bathrooms were hideous, but we knew we would be staying for up to 10 years, so it made sense to renovate the whole place while we were about it."

She rang architect Rob Allvey after reading about one of his projects in Homes & Property. The major work downstairs has been to remodel the kitchen and expand into a side passage. "We would have opened through from the living room, but Rob suggested this would make the downstairs like one big corridor - I'm glad he stopped us," says Jo. "He really made us focus on how the rooms would be used, it was an excellent discipline." He also encouraged Jo and Chris to try new ideas. "In the bathrooms I wanted a traditional suite, but Rob suggested something more modern - now, I absolutely love the look."

An attic conversion created an additional bedroom and added value to the house.

"The results are better than we could ever have imagined," says Jo. "It was stressful at times, but Rob kept everything on track and on budget. We'd definitely go down the same route again."

THE ARCHITECT

With plenty of experience gained working on Victorian houses, this type of extension and remodelling work was familiar territory for Rob Allvey of architect Histon Allvey (01372 465242).

"But there are always surprises," he says. "Here, for example, we discovered that the entire first floor at the back of the house was made in concrete. It turned out that the Victorian builders suffered a shortage of bricks and poured concrete down instead when they ran out.

"Digging it out was hard work, but the builder was very calm about it."

This slowed down work on the kitchen extension, but Rob is delighted with the results: "We wanted the place to look crisp and contemporary, but not chilly.

"I'm very pleased with all the oak joinery, especially the folding doors - it looks great and needs virtually no maintenance. Linking the kitchen with the garden, the outside seating area works well, too."

WHAT IT COST

Total cost of kitchen extension was £57,000 and included:

Kitchen by Snaidero from Cucina (01564 783007) £25,000

Limestone flooring from Stone Age (020 7384 9090) £3,500 Total build cost of two bathrooms was £30,000, which included:

Circular ceramic Fuori basins from bathstore.com £120 each

Circular glass basins from Avanti (0113 201 2240) £400 each

Kaldewei baths (Bathroom Discount Centre, 020 7381 4222) £200 each Total cost for converting attic £25,000 Extras: Structural engineer £750

Building regulations fees £799

Architect's fee charged at 10 per cent of total costs