John Bullough, who wanted a London bolt-hole where the couple could create ‘a really homely spot, in a beautiful way.’ The result was a former schoolroom transformed with over 30,000 oak cross-section blocks, using highly skilled craftsmanship, a brilliant builder,

An impeccably hand-crafted, two-storey apartment, designed as a solid piece of joinery ‘inserted’ into an existing building and carved out of over 30,000 individual oak cross-section blocks. The existing mezzanine has been reconfigured to maximises the sense of openness, light and spatial quality with a double height living area. Behind the living area sits a contemporary kitchen and a flexible dining room, which can be converted into a second bedroom when necessary. There are sliding pocket doors to this space, letting light soak deep into the plan and exaggerating the size of the space at the ground floor. A staircase, which has been moved to the side of the plan for efficiency, leads up to a study area that looks back over the double-height space and is screened off from the master bedroom behind beautifully crafted, Japanese-inspired sliding screens. Original glazed green bricks line the perimeter of the ground floor. The three-metre tall original sash timber windows now are featured in the main living space, with ornately crafted opening shutters lined with translucent linen to allow light in while still maintaining privacy. The shutters filter sun from the south-facing windows and cast an orchestra of shadows on the walls of the double height living space, ever-changing and moving throughout the day.