The result of this was that we spent 3 months trying to find any builder who would be prepared to quote us to do the work. Eventually we found one who's quote was so exorbitant that we nearly cried when he gave us the price.When it sank in that we couldn't afford what we had laboured over planning for the past six months, we had to have a major rethink. Armed with a new stratagey, we sat down one afternoon and worked out exactly how many square feet of extension we could purchase for our set budget. It was a shock to realize that we had moved so far away from this simple principle! Under advice from various builders, we decided it would be cheaper to knock down the old barn rather than trying to convert it, so this allowed us to completly redesign within our budget." It was here that our architect friend gave us some great ideas on space saving. As you can see in the plans below, the concept of "cutting off" the corners in the bathroom and study made a very large hot press in the hall without apparently losing any space from those rooms. In fact, the heating and domestic pipework together with electrical wiring all use this cupboard as a central distribution point which made installation easier and cheaper. The large and airy front hall was also achieved by angling the walls of the lounge and bedroom which has made for a fabulous feature to the house. This was achieved without losing any actual size from the lounge whilst at the same time creating an intresting shape to it
