We bought this London home in a very neglected state. It had been owned by an old Afro-Jamaican street preacher who had died a few years before. He had unintentionally caught fire to the house and it had been badly redone by an inadequate insurance policy. We ended up gutting the house back to the studs to clear out much of the work that was done to cover up the fire. It was fascinating to have the freedom to create any sort of floor plan we wanted and realizing the Victorians did a very good job laying out spaces that work well. So we riffed off the original floorplan and added a loft bedroom and bath and lowered the floors on the ground floor to give a greater sense of height and space. We replaced all the windows with super energy efficient double glazing in the front and triple glazing everywhere else. We insulated all the walls, some internally and others externally. We made windows bigger in places to bring in more light and added skylights in the open kitchen and loft. We sourced salvaged wood for all the floors for both character and ecological goals. We created a two level back garden to create an added sense of space and to have separate dining area and garden area.
