Architects for

House Extensions

Unlock the potential of your existing home

Extending your home can be a powerful way to transform how you live - creating more space, improving flow, and bringing in light without the need to move.

At ReFrame Studio, we design house extensions that feel like a natural evolution of your home. Whether you’re planning a contemporary addition or a more sensitive intervention, we focus on creating spaces that are well-integrated, thoughtfully detailed, and tailored to your everyday life.

Our experience ranges from a first-floor penthouse extension in Exmoor, carefully designed to sit within a sensitive landscape setting, to a light-filled glass box extension in London that opens up the ground floor to the garden. We have also delivered side extensions within the Green Belt, where navigating planning constraints and achieving a balanced, appropriate design were key to unlocking additional space.

A considered approach to extending your home

Every home is different, and every extension should respond carefully to what’s already there. We take time to understand your existing house, how you use it, and where its limitations lie - developing design solutions that unlock its full potential.

Our approach focuses on:

  • Improving flow and connection between spaces

  • Bringing in natural light and views

  • Creating clear relationships between old and new

  • Maximising the value and usability of your home

  • Ensuring the extension feels cohesive and well-resolved

Whether it’s opening up a ground floor or adding new accommodation above, we design extensions that feel intentional and complete.

Contemporary extensions, tailored to you

Many of our projects take a contemporary approach - using clean forms, high-quality materials, and carefully considered detailing to create a clear contrast between existing and new.

This might be a light-touch intervention or a more transformative addition, depending on your ambitions. In all cases, the aim is the same: to create spaces that feel calm, functional, and enjoyable to live in.

Experience across a range of extension types

We have experience working on a wide variety of residential extensions, each shaped by its context and constraints.

This includes a first-floor penthouse extension in Exmoor, where careful design was required to sit comfortably within a sensitive landscape setting, balancing contemporary design with planning considerations.

In Uxbridge, we designed a glass box extension - a light-filled addition that creates a strong visual and spatial connection to the garden, transforming the way the ground floor is used and experienced.

We have also delivered a side extension within the Green Belt, where navigating planning constraints and demonstrating appropriate scale and impact were key to achieving a successful outcome.

These projects reflect our ability to adapt our approach - responding to different sites, planning contexts, and client ambitions.

Navigating planning and constraints

House extensions often involve working within tight constraints—whether that’s planning policy, neighbouring properties, or the limitations of the existing structure.

We manage the planning process on your behalf, developing proposals that respond carefully to local requirements while still delivering meaningful improvements to your home. Where needed, we engage early with planning authorities to reduce risk and improve the chances of approval.

From design to construction

Designed around how you live

A collaborative and practical approach

We support projects from initial ideas through to completion, providing:

  • Feasibility and design options

  • Planning applications and approvals

  • Technical design and construction information

  • Coordination with consultants and contractors

  • On-site support during construction

Our role is to guide you through the process, helping you make informed decisions and ensuring the project is delivered clearly and efficiently.

A successful extension isn’t just about adding space - it’s about making your home work better.

We design with your day-to-day life in mind, whether that’s creating open-plan living areas, improving connections to the garden, adding new bedrooms, or adapting your home for changing needs over time.

We see every project as a collaboration. You bring the ambition—we bring the design thinking, technical expertise, and problem-solving needed to deliver it.

Clients value our:

  • Clear, straightforward advice

  • Design-led but practical approach

  • Attention to detail

  • Ability to navigate constraints and unlock potential

  • Calm, considered guidance throughout the process

Thinking about extending your home?

Whether you’re exploring ideas or ready to move forward, we can help you understand what’s possible and how to achieve it.

Get in touch to discuss your project.

“Our project has involved extending a 60’s bungalow into a coastal home, fit for the 21st Century. ReFrame Studios vision, patience and professionalism has been exemplary, and key to navigating the extra degree of difficulty associated with a project in a National Park. As clients, we have felt like partners”

K. Garrett

Featured House Extensions

Vine Lane
Glazed Box Extension

Our project at Vine Lane is an extensive retrofit, reconfiguration, and extension of an existing detached house. A new fully glazed rear box extension forms a key part of the design, creating a double-height dining space and gallery that brings light deep into the plan.

The complete rethinking of the internal layout improves flow, connection, and usability - transforming the house into a modern, cohesive living environment tailored to contemporary life. Alongside the architectural works, the project included a bespoke interior design and furniture package, ensuring every element works seamlessly together to create a home that feels both refined and timeless.

Green Pastures
First Floor Penthouse

Baytree Cottage
Extension in the Greenbelt

Set within the breathtaking landscape of Exmoor National Park, Green Pastures is a sensitive and contemporary transformation of an existing 1960s bungalow. The key intervention is a first-floor extension conceived as a lightweight pavilion, carefully set above the existing structure to minimise visual impact while taking full advantage of the surrounding views.

This addition is complemented by a considered internal reconfiguration, enhancing the home’s functionality and strengthening its connection to its remarkable setting.

Baytree Cottage is a detached home located within the Green Belt near Box, where careful design was required to balance planning constraints with the need for additional space. The project centres on a side extension that introduces a vaulted ceiling and a fully glazed end, bringing natural light deep into the plan and creating a strong visual connection to the surrounding landscape.

The extension is designed to integrate seamlessly with the existing house, improving flow and unlocking a more coherent, usable layout. The result is a considered addition that enhances both the quality and functionality of the home while remaining sensitive to its Green Belt setting.

New Build Home FAQs

  • It depends on the size, location, and type of extension. Some projects fall under permitted development, while others, particularly in sensitive areas like the Green Belt require full planning permission. We can advise early on and manage the process for you.

  • Costs vary depending on size, complexity, and specification. As a guide, we help you understand likely build costs early in the process and design the extension to align with your budget.

  • Yes. We don’t have a fixed style. Our approach is to respond to your home, your brief, and the context. This might result in a contemporary contrast or a more subtle, integrated addition.

  • A well-designed extension can improve both the usability and value of your home. More importantly, it should enhance how you live day to day - making spaces more enjoyable, functional, and connected.

  • Most projects take between 12–24 months from initial design to completion. This includes design development, planning (if required), technical design, and construction.

  • Absolutely. Many of our projects involve reconfiguring existing spaces alongside the extension. This ensures the new and old parts of the house work together, improving flow, light, and overall usability.

  • Yes. We have experience working within planning constraints such as the Green Belt and other sensitive contexts such as World Heritiage sites and National Parks. We develop designs that respond carefully to these conditions while still delivering meaningful improvements.

  • Yes. We can support your project from initial ideas through to completion, including design, planning, technical information, and on-site involvement- helping ensure the extension is delivered as intended.