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Country kitchen extension transformed with Vario by VELUX

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"Extending the house, and how we use it, has changed the way we live, the way we work and the way we relax."

We met digital content creator and charity ambassador Sally, “helped” by her cat Beryl, in her gorgeous detached house in the English countryside in Surrey.

Sally, her husband Gav, their three sons, dog and cat live in a beautiful cottage with lots of outdoor space for football. They’re an active, outdoorsy family who love embracing nature, from scuba diving to surfing Cornwall’s finest beaches.

Reconfiguring the layout

Over the years they have built two extensions to their house. In the most recent extension project, Sally chose to illuminate the end of her gorgeous country kitchen/diner with a Vario by VELUX bespoke rectangular rooflight, so we went to visit her for a cuppa and a lovely chat about her impressions and experience on the importance of daylight.

"We love this house; it has plenty of space and we absolutely love the country lifestyle. We bought a house 12 years ago and that time it was much smaller. The first big extension we did was 9 years ago, but we didn't quite get what we wanted as the building restrictions at the time were very strict. Both of us work from home and we needed to change the layout to have a proper workspace and as a consequence a better work-life balance, so the options were either to move or extend the house to get the flow we wanted.

Main benefits of Vario by VELUX roof windows

  1. 15-20% more daylight: Sally says, "We spend so much time inside in the UK so having more daylight inside gives clear health benefits and positively affects your mood. "

  2. Providing a new view: "A rooflight is like a constant picture which is always moving; you’ll never get bored of it. You may see planes flying by, rain, blue sky, clouds and I can’t wait for when it snows!"

  3. Illuminating a versatile space: The Vario by VELUX rooflight creates a bright and airy atmosphere, ideal for dinnertime socialising or when needing a quiet retreat for working from home.
Bringing the light in

We got a brilliant architect on board who managed to push our limits to the max, extending the kitchen so we could have our dining table in here and therefore get this extra study room which really makes the house flow.

The key thing for us was to bring the light in. A wall of glass made perfect sense, but as the extension has a flat roof, we also started to think about what was above. In a room like this, I think the roof should be seen as the fifth wall. I was a bit concerned that with the extension the kitchen would be dark, as the windows were moving even further away, but with the rooflight you get all this lovely daylight flooding in which helps the kitchen too, even though that wasn’t part of the renovation project.

"The rooflight lets in so much more light than a normal window, I never worry about it being dark."
- Sally, homeowner

Not to mention that ordering windows could be boring but I had so much fun with the online configurator tool; it’s just brilliant! You can stretch and shrink your window and it automatically stretches and shrinks the price, so you can control your design and your budget at the same time.

In our case, I measured our dining room table and ordered a slightly bigger rooflight. We wanted to build personality and I believe that with the extension and bespoke rooflight we got exactly what we wanted.”

By Sally Hurman, @gettingstuffdoneinheels

"With more daylight and space, I feel more active, I feel more awake, I feel fresher, I get things done. It has definitely changed the way we live."
- Sally, homeowner

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