Creating a Home for Family Life — Without Giving Up the Bar
As the owners prepared to start a family, they wanted their home to become warmer, more practical and better suited to everyday family life — without losing the sociable side of the way they already lived. The answer was a large open-plan extension with room for both.
The customer story
The Problem
The existing kitchen was small, poorly insulated and cold. It wasn't a comfortable heart of the home and it wasn't going to suit the next stage of the owners' lives.
They were planning to start a family and wanted the ground floor to become a large, modern space where family life could happen together.
But they weren't designing a home only around children. They also enjoyed entertaining friends and wanted the new space to continue reflecting their adult social life.
That balance became the real brief: create a warm and practical family environment without making the house feel as though everything else had been designed out of it.
What We Built
The large rear extension transformed the ground floor into one open family living environment, replacing the cold and divided arrangement with a modern space designed for cooking, eating, relaxing and entertaining.
Underfloor heating fundamentally changed the comfort of the space, addressing one of the biggest problems with the original kitchen and allowing the new extension to feel warm and usable throughout the year.
The extension also incorporated a bar, giving the owners a dedicated entertaining area within the wider open-plan layout rather than treating family living and adult social life as competing requirements.
During construction, the structural steelwork and roof design were reviewed and refined to improve the buildability and finished result. The project also incorporated distinctive details including charred timber cladding to the entrance canopy.
How It Improved the Way They Live
The project replaced a small, cold kitchen with a space that could become the centre of the home.
The open-plan layout gave the owners the flexibility they needed as they moved into family life, with enough room for everyday routines to happen together rather than in separate rooms.
At the same time, the bar and entertaining space meant the house still reflected who they were before children arrived — a home for friends, gatherings and adult life as well as the family they were planning.
Nearly two years after completion, the clients reported that they remained very happy with the result and had experienced no issues with the work.
How we got there
Designing for the next stage of life
The owners were approaching a major change in their lives: starting a family.
Their existing ground floor wasn't ready for it. The kitchen was small and cold, while the overall arrangement didn't provide the generous shared environment they wanted.
The brief was therefore about creating a space that could support family life for years to come while retaining the sociable character of the home.
One space with more than one job
The new extension created one large open-plan environment rather than a collection of separate rooms.
The main space could accommodate cooking, eating and relaxing together, while the integrated bar gave entertaining its own place within the layout.
That meant the owners didn't have to choose between a 'family extension' and an 'entertaining extension'. The same space could comfortably do both.
Making the house warmer
Thermal comfort was a fundamental part of the improvement.
The old kitchen had been noticeably cold and poorly insulated. The new extension, including underfloor heating, changed the experience of using the ground floor and created a space that could be enjoyed throughout the year rather than endured through the colder months.
Construction input
The architectural drawings were already in place when OPB became involved, so this was not an OPB Design & Build project.
During construction, however, OPB contributed practical design and buildability input. The supporting steelwork was reconsidered to achieve a better structural outcome, while the roof design was simplified to reduce unnecessary complexity and help control cost.
The team also helped work through individual finishing decisions, including sourcing the charred timber cladding used to the entrance canopy.
Understanding the final account
The original tender value was approximately £95,000. During the build, additional works were added and the final scope incorporated further finishing costs. The final account was approximately £107,000.
That movement reflects the additional scope and finishes included in the completed project rather than an increase in the cost of delivering the original tendered works.
The clients’ own account supports that distinction: they described the project as generally coming in on budget, with cost changes tracked throughout and no significant surprise costs.
- Tender value
- ~£95,000
- Final account
- ~£107,000
- Includes added works and further finishes
Build, finish & handover
OPB coordinated the construction works and trades through to completion, with the exception of the kitchen fitter, patio and driveway.
The completed extension delivered a warmer, more flexible home that could support the owners as they started a family while still providing the social and entertaining space they wanted.
It is a good example of a project being designed around a change in life rather than simply around the desire for more square metres.
In their words
“The final result is excellent and we are really pleased with it, now almost 2 years on we are very happy and have had no issues with the work.”
The client’s own account of the project, published as they wrote it.
The downstairs layout did not really work for us as a family, it was also poorly insulated and very cold. We decided we wanted to improve the layout and modernise the house. We wanted to make one family area to all spend time together with a modern feel, without having to move house.
Once the project had begun We had some challenges around the supporting steelwork to carry the upstairs, Paul came up with a good deign to lift the steel and give a much better end result. We had worked with an architect before planing the build and therefore had figured out the design of the new structure however once we started Paul helped to guide us on the roof design to make the build simpler helping to reduce the overall costs.
The end result came in generally on budget and there was no real surprise costs. The CSA at the start of the project was well maintained and communication throughout the project was good.Paul sourced the charred timber cladding used on the entrance canopy which looks really good and we were pleased with the outcome.
Paul project managed all of the trades throughout the project with the exception of the kitchen fitter, patio and driveway. It was coordinated well with only slight gaps and down periods. All of Paul’s team were polite and easy to work with.
The final result is excellent and we are really pleased with it, now almost 2 years on we are very happy and have had no issues with the work. Paul was great to deal with throughout the project, he always answered the phone and helped to explain and work through issues. We would have no hesitation to recommend Paul to friends and Family.
Gallery
Inside the finished home
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