Renovate Don't Relocate project includes space-saving ECLISSE Classic Pocket Door System

Renovate Don't Relocate project includes space-saving ECLISSE Classic Pocket Door System

Posted by Karen Ashworth on 25th Apr 2019

If you are embarking upon a renovation project, or simply love to watch other people complete theirs, then you may have watched the Realily TV series Renovate Don’t Relocate with Sarah Beeny. The property expert visits homes, and uses monitoring cameras and life-size floor plans to create new layouts and design ideas that mean families do not have to move house. Reports have shown that 7 out of 10 of us are unhappy with our homes and in each episode, Sarah Beeny takes on a household who believes their home isn’t fit for purpose. Rather than move which can be stressful and expensive, Sarah suggests rethinking your space instead. In episode 3 we see how Sarah helps to re-design Sophia and Rob’s home using Eclisse pocket sliding doors.

Sophia and Rob have been living in a beautiful converted Victorian 3 storey maisonette for the past 4 yrs with their daughter. They had previously refurbished the lower level rooms which were divided into a lounge, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Their master bedroom in the loft has low eaves, a bath with no toilet or basin, and an adjoining unused spare room that is used as a dumping ground. They were stumped as what to do and how to re-design this area to make it functional.

The couple wanted to turn what is essentially a low eaves small bedroom with a unused adjoining spare room into a ‘boutique hotel feel’ master bedroom. In other words somewhere they can unwind and to use the space to better meet their lifestyle needs; quite a feat considering the current layout.

In order for Sarah to better understand how the couple really uses their space she installs smart cameras that then run 24 hours a day. This provides Sarah with useful information about how the couple actually live as opposed to how they think they live. Sarah’s design team then use this information to create new floor plans and redesign the space, giving the homeowners a clear plan of changes they can undertake to make the space work better for them.

This diagram shows the existing layout of the upper floors.

The main objectives the couple had for the space were:

1) To include an ensuite

2) For the space to be light , bright and airy

3) To include useful storage areas

4) To ensure sufficient head height near the bed areas

5) They wanted to maximise the usable space within the 2 rooms and create a 5* boutique hotel feel for their bedroom

After 10 days of reviewing the camera footage – it was clear that the spare room hadn’t been used once and that the couple had to go downstairs to use the toilet as their current room did not currently have ensuite toilet facilities . The restricted head height above the bed caused problems for Rob and the whole layout just didn’t function well as a bedroom.

With the help of the latest state of the art technology a digital floor plan was created to help the couple visualise the potential of the space. Sarah suggested taking down the adjoining wall to create more space and light and introduce a new layout which would suit their needs better . 

In order to create the perfect layout and maximise the usable space the couple decided to install an ECLISSE pocket door system leading from the landing into the bedroom. They choose the ECLISSE Classic single pocket door system which comes with a specially designed timber lining kit and requires finishing with architrave. This style with  architrave was chosen because they wanted the overall appearance to remain sympathetic with the Victorian style of the house.

The ECLISSE Classic Pocket Door System comes in 13 standard sizes, but because the couple wanted to reuse an existing bespoke sized Victorian door panel, they opted for a bespoke 1970 x 808mm pocket doorframe and included an ECLISSE Soft Close with Anti-Slam (BIAS). 

The renovation was complete in just under 5 weeks. For Sophia and Rob, the project turned a house into a home which perfectly suits their needs. By redesigning their space with the help of Saran Beeny and the Renovate Don’t Relocate Team, the couple were able to transform the way they live.


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