Before & After: Transform a Loft

When House & Garden picture editor Owen Gale and his wife found out they were having a baby, he realised the days of his home music studio housed in their spare room were numbered. Deciding to extend in to the attic, this is how they turned their two bedroom house in South East London in to a four bed (man cave still intact)...

"With ever increasing property prices in London and the spiraling cost of moving in general (hello stamp duty), it's becoming difficult for many young families to increase their square footage with a house move when their circumstances change.

When my wife and I found out we were pregnant back in January 2015, we weighed up our options and realised that the only way to create the space we needed was either to move out to zone twelve, or convert our loft.

We live in a small Edwardian terraced house with one bathroom and two bedrooms, the second of which I'd commandeered and turned into a small music studio. With the advent of a baby, I knew its days were numbered.

This might've meant having to rent a space away from home, but thankfully my wife agreed to creating a workspace for me in the new loft. This was on the proviso that it didn't look anything like my studio at the time, which I can only describe as a horrible dusty man-cave full of wires. The new loft could thus be easily reverted into a bedroom if the time ever came for another small person."

Like this? Then you'll love Renovating a Victorian Terraced House and How to Decorate a Rented Flat and Victorian Terraced House Renovation