Bright ideas

Knowing their converted coach house’s layout wouldn’t work for their growing family, Sam and Sarah Irvine decided to build two glass box extensions, resulting in a light and spacious home

- Amy Reeves

HOMEOWNERS Sam and Sarah Irvine

LOCATION Chipping Campden

PROJECT Glass box extensions to previously converted coach house cottage

CONSTRUCTION Steel frame and glass

BUILD TIME 12 months

HOUSE COST Undisclosed

BUILD COST £110,000 (approx)

VALUE £1million (approx)

WORDS Amy Reeves

PHOTOGRAPHY Mark Ashbee

There are many reasons people choose to renovate or extend their homes. For some, it provides a higher-quality home for their budget. For others, it may be a long-held dream to put their stamp on a period property. However, that was not the case for Sam and Sarah Irvine, who moved from Birmingham to Chipping Campden into an old coach house on a quiet plot, newly renovated by a close friend.

“We moved into it fully decorated and that was it, really,” begins Sam. “We were quite keen to move out of the city for a change of pace and to an area that we love.”

A FITTING DESIGN

“The plot is really unique because it has a big footprint, which is quite rare in Chipping Campden — here, no one really has much space and unless you’re in one of the super-high-end £1.5m-plus houses, there isn’t much by way of gardens,” says Sam. “I think we always thought there was the option to do something more with the house, but weren’t sure exactly what.”

The couple started by tidying up their plot, landscaping and removing trees to take in the full scope of the brick boundary wall. The longer the couple lived there, the more they could see that the L-shaped layout of the ground floor just didn’t work for them.