Our clients at this charming eighteenth century cottage in Colchester wanted to add a spacious new dining room which would be linked to the existing kitchen which they saw as becoming the family hub for their new home, while improving connections with the garden. With a limited budget, the aim was to minimise impact on the existing kitchen while opening up the space and accommodating a large existing dining table and dresser. The resulting single storey extension utilises a mixed red facing brick which references the red brick of an existing garden outbuilding and ties together the dry stone garden wall with the yellow painted brickwork of the cottage. A large set of bi-folding doors frames the view of the garden while the facing brick has been continued internally to enhance the inside-outside connections, adding texture and warmth internally. The clean lines of the flat roof with parapet wall detail site comfortably against the character of the original cottage.