‘It's big, bright and BEAUTIFUL!'

Relocating her kitchen to the back of the house as part of an extension meant Laura could create the family room of her dreams

- LAURIE DAVIDSON

COME ON IN!

ABOUT ME I’m Laura Hooper, 35, a small business owner. I live with my husband Darren, 40, a builder, and our three daughters, Kirsty, 18, Yasmin, 16, and Lexie, 11, along with Alfie the dog, in a 1940s three-bedroom house in Chard, Somerset. We moved here in December 2016.

MY CHALLENGE The original kitchen was tiny and needed relocating. I wanted it to be more of a family room, where we could all spend time together.

MY WISH LIST Having space to be able to include an island unit was the most important thing for me.

When we moved into our new home, back in 2016, there was so much that needed doing, but despite that we could see the potential it had as a family home,’ says Laura. ‘With three girls, the one thing we really wanted was space, but downstairs was going to need some work before that could happen. The kitchen, in particular, was tiny and originally located at the side of the house, with old pine cabinetry and an unpicturesque view.

Rejigging the rooms

We knew we were going to have to live with it for a while until we could afford to extend, so I painted the old cupboards in an off-white and added new handles as a quick update. Skip forward a few years and we were in a position to start the work and relocate the kitchen to the back of the house. We had to knock out some walls and put a steel through the back of the house, along with a roof lantern to let in extra light, which took around six months. Luckily, Darren could do a lot of the work, which kept costs down – the only thing he didn’t do was the electrics.

Saving up