Getting creative

A combination of skill and imagination helped Cat and Wayne achieve their extended family home on a budget

- SELLEN FINCH

Extending on a budget is tricky if you want to create something special from your space. You have to find interesting ways to make room. For Cat and her husband, Wayne, their idea came after a few years weighing up their options. With two young children, they'd debated whether to extend upstairs - but decided the living area downstairs was where they spent most of their time, and, therefore, could do with the extra space. We needed a toy area, more seating, and we wanted as much natural light as we could get,' says Cat.

Opting for a glass-heavy extension proved a cost-effective option, and gave the couple the light they were after, from large sliding doors across the back and a glazed roof above. Cat enlisted the help of her sister, a structural engineer, for the nitty-gritty of the build. “It was quite a challenge thinking about space versus cost, and how to fit in everything we needed,' adds Cat. 'I didn't want it to feel like a conservatory, so I made sure there was space between the glass doors and the ceiling. There was a bit of to and fro with the builders, too - we needed a column in the corner and the ceiling had to be lowered from my plans to meet a specific pitch.' The work was held up by a neighbour consultation, but the couple avoided further delays by ensuring the project came under permitted development.

To avoid waste, Cat kept the kitchen they inherited with the house and made a feature of it. 'I wanted to keep the structure as it was, so we took out a window to create a hatch, and opened up the sidewall into a breakfast bar, she says. "We thought a lot about how we use the space in a social way, but also for day-to-day life - and the idea of sitting the kids at the breakfast bar really appealed.'