Four years ago, film director Matthias Lebeer and lawyer Aurélie Wauters first glimpsed this two-bedroom flat in south-east London on The Modern House. They were ready to move from their rental in Pimlico and had been looking for somewhere to buy for the best part of a year, spreading their net far and wide across the capital. Deptford, however, was a pocket they had never considered. That was until the couple came for their viewing and quickly realised that on the top floor of a 1930s Art Deco building was all they’d been searching for: a light-drenched home with an expansive terrace, almost as large as the internal footprint.

The next step was to move in and make the flat their own. Matthias and Aurélie set a brief for a thoughtful renovation, which included maximising space and bringing in contemporary elements that they felt were in line with the architectural aesthetic of their homeland, Belgium. With the project now complete, we check in with Matthias and Aurélie at the clean-lined home they share with their son, Charlie, and baby girl, Joanne, and discuss its refined renovation and the wonders of the terrace.

Matthias: “We’d been living in a basement flat in Pimlico and although we loved being in near the centre of the London, we wanted to buy something with more space. We’re both from Antwerp, where the average home is generally larger than the London standards. During our search, we’d go to a new part of the city every weekend to try and find something. We must have visited 50 flats before we came to this one.

“We’d always loved The Modern House – we like homes with clean lines and a contemporary feel. We are also inspired by the Bauhuas aesthetic. We wanted to find something, then, that was minimalist and modern, but also had a bit of heritage.

“What first attracted us to this place was the building itself, which is a Grade II-listed Art Deco former department store, built in the 1930s. This flat is one of two penthouses that was added to the top floor in 2007 and it has an exceptionally big terrace running along its entire length. When we saw it on The Modern House, we wanted to be the first ones to visit – and we somehow managed to get that slot and see it with the owners. They were artists and it was eclectically decorated with lots of mid-century furniture. Even though our aesthetic is different, we knew straight away that we could do something good with it.”

Aurélie: “Deptford hadn’t been in our search radius at all and we were quite nervous about being in a neighbourhood that we didn’t know. All of our friends either live in west or east London, so this felt like a leap. But we went for a walk around the area after our viewing and, although it was completely different from Pimlico, it captured our attention. It has lots of nice coffee shops and a bit of a bohemian feel, with its local market and Goldsmiths University nearby.”

Matthias: “The home ticked the four requirements we’d set ourselves: it was 10 minutes away from public transport and it had good natural light, two bathrooms and outside space. Even on our visit – a dull November day – the light was pouring in. And the transition between the inside and the terrace was seamless – the two areas feel like one. We had a good feeling straight away.”

Aurélie: “We moved into the flat in March 2018, but we knew we wanted to make some changes. It was obvious that the kitchen, which was arranged in a L-shape with an island at one end of the open-plan living space, wasn’t going to work for us. We love inviting people over for dinner or brunch, but there was no real countertop to prepare food on. Although it needed work, we decided to live here for a year and a half before tackling it. Eventually, we got in touch with a range of different architects to see who could help us rethink the living area.”

Matthias: “We’re very inspired by the architect Vincent Van Duysen and we wanted to bring his contemporary Belgian style into our home. In the end, we decided to work with Alex Nikjoo of Nikjoo. He’d converted a chapel in Deptford into a beautiful minimal home. Even though we used a London practice, a French architect friend of ours recently said the space felt more Belgian than English.”

Aurélie: “Our brief to Alex was to optimise the footprint. We decided to do away with the island, instead making space for a big dining table with enough room to seat eight people. We also wanted a small built-in breakfast bar by the window, which looks out over the city. The kitchen now runs along one wall, which works so much better for us.

“The living space is designed around a suspended concrete bench made by a brilliant company called Haus. It runs along the length of the sitting area and then steps up to form the worktop and breakfast bar by the window. There was a lot of ‘umming’ and ‘ahing’ about how we’d install something so heavy on the top floor, but we got there in the end! Haus, who moulded it in its workshop, brought it up in 3m lengths.

“The wall above the bench is purposefully empty, so that we can project films on to it. We built speakers into the wall too, so you don’t even see them. I love how the living area can turn into a private cinema so easily.

“Optimising the living space was phase one, but we also asked Alex to devise a second phase for the bedrooms, should we want to create space for another little one in the future. We’ve got two children now and we put a lot of thought into ensuring the space was flexible and could adapt to our family’s needs. Thankfully we carved out lots of space for storage, which means that, even with children, we’ve managed to keep everything streamlined. For example, there are cupboards hidden behind pocket doors in the hallway.

“Rethinking the living area has improved our quality of life so much. Even though it feels very open, there are still enough possibilities to be on your own: you can work at the breakfast bar or at the dining table, or you can read on the sofa.

“Most of the furniture, including the Hay sofa, the Hans Wegner ‘Wishbone’ chairs and the Jacob Plejdrup and Ole Kristoffersen dining table came from TwentyTwentyOne, who we actually discovered through The Modern House. We also bought a fair amount from Christiaensen & Christiaensen, a vintage shop in Antwerp.”

Matthias: “Being here throughout lockdown gave us the time to really think about how we wanted to live. The terrace in particular has been transformative. We took out lots of old plants and installed planters on wheels, so we can shuffle them around the space. They also mean we can distribute the weight more evenly across the roof. We added an outdoor shower too, which has made it such a nice place to be.

“All of our friends comment on how much bigger the flat seems after the renovation, which is exactly what we wanted to achieve. There are days when we don’t even leave the flat because it offers everything we could possibly want or need.”