Rick & Alison Wheeldon's conservatory extension added extra space to the house and opened up the garden.

The conservatory is built up on both sides, and extends into an equal size room to the rear - a part of the existing property. The area used to be a
kids playroom, but now houses a comfortable corner sofa and chest, with light bouncing around the walls from the garden. The glass roof is suspended at 4 Metres (12 feet) to keep the roof height in character with the style of house.

Years ago, the property was flats, and we never used to go into the garden, as the door wasn’t in the right position. The area was dead space which cut off the house from the garden. Now it’s different – there’s a really nice view.

We mainly use the room in summer, when it’s especially nice with the large glass roof and the sun in the garden. It’s used a lot as a breakfast room. The doors open wide and it’s nice to just sit and chill in, and you can hear the waterfall in the garden. It’s great.

When it gets cooler in Winter, we switch the under-floor heating is on. The floor heating makes it nice and warm with has easy to use controls. The floor can get really hot.

Design wise we came up with the idea – we knew what we wanted but Barry helped us out with his ideas. We just put bits of wood on the floor to get an idea of how we wanted it to come to, and it took about 8 weeks to build with minimal disruption. Everything was put up, airtight and waterproof before the room was knocked through, and the Plasterers, Tillers, Electricians and the rest of the team were superb.

Rick didn’t want a conservatory and I did, but he loves this room. It has a really airy feel to it and doesn’t look like it’s just stuck on. It flows around and is a great area of the house.