A long ribbon of windows looks over Great Bentley’s village green from the upper floor of Aquila, the home built for artist Enid Crowther.

She placed her original sitting room and small kitchen above the garage to enjoy that outlook. A larger kitchen and studio came later, but the view from upstairs still explains why this house was arranged so differently.

For thirty years, Emma Sherlock’s grandmother’s blue-and-white curtains were kept in a trunk.

They now hang in her Hampshire sitting room against soft pink walls, above a plain sofa, with patterned chairs and paintings nearby. It is the quieter sofa that gives the lively window fabric room to be noticed.

In Chelsea, a blue canopy rises above a curved headboard. Elsewhere in south London, a box bed fits beneath a sharply pitched roof; in Clapham, striped curtains frame a window and give the far wall a clearer shape.

These are three different bedrooms, each with a character that extends well beyond the bed.

Checkatrade’s March 2026 guide puts a 4m × 4m roof at £9,600 in polycarbonate or £12,000 in tiles. VAT is unspecified; these aren’t homeowner bills. Can your structure carry the roof, and does your quote include repairs, strengthening and interior finishing? Count the whole job before comparing prices.