"Extending and improving the home"

by Athole Murray Fleming

Conservatory and kitchen extension by Lyndon Conservatories and windows

As you may have read in my 'welcome' column, we are now almost finished with our kitchen renovation work at long last, despite the little bit of additional direction from the wife!

Anyway, none of this would have been possible without extending our planned kitchen area, so we had to start our plans by looking at building work and all that that entailed.

Luckily for us, we have known Gordon and Sheila Smith who run the family business of LYNDON CONSERVATORIES, for over seventeen years now, and although based in Dundee, they do work all over Perthshire, Tayside and beyond, such is their reputation,

So, it was with Gordon who we sat down with and laid out our plans.

The first obvious challenge was to somehow build a brick based extension with a solid tiled roof and connect it to our existing conservatory (another LYNDON success) via the side doorway, while at the same time giving us access to our rear garden.

We needn't have worried. After a couple of visits, we were presented with drawings that showed how everything would work, including matching brick types, the levels of the walls beside the conservatory, the same design of windows, everything we wanted was there.

The next stage was planning, then on with the job.

Now many of you may watch the likes of Changing Rooms or Grand Designs on the television, well I can tell you this, I won't be designing or building my own house in the future, I will leave that to the more adventurous and those who can stand the pressure.

At some points we had at least four different trades working away at the same time, stepping over and around each other, and a whole fleet of vans outside the house just to keep the neighbours happy!

There is a saying that it gets worse before it gets better, well isn't that the truth.

But, do you know something? Once the work is done, the cleaning up of the mess is almost over and you start to personalise your new space, be it a conservatory or an extension, everything becomes worthwhile.

Adding value to your home may be one of the main reasons for undertaking such a big project, but for Christina, Helen and I, this whole thing has been about making a family home to enjoy, to have a summer room to relax in, a kitchen in which to cook and socialise with friends and family.

We are now beginning to finish off our 21-foot long kitchen with a dining area mainly for lunches etc, and the outside grass in recovering from the beating it has taken.

Having such a large multi-linked space at the back of our house gives us many different things at different times in the day.

In the morning we have breakfast with a view over our garden and the field where the horses are playing. In the afternoon a quiet place for lunch, and in the evening the conservatory is perfect for reading the papers away from the TV in the lounge.

Today, with house prices forever soaring, it is somewhat daunting to think about a new house in the country or whatever. So perhaps improving your current home is the answer for most of us. After all, it you like the area that you live in, why feel that to improve, you have to move?

Speak to a reputable company, get advice on what is possible, and take it from there.

Certainly we are delighted with the results to our home, and we plan to stay here for many years to come with all the new projects still in our minds, oh yes.... it is never ending at Chateau Fleming!

And when we do plan for the next adventure, we will once again lift the phone and call our friends at LYNDON CONSERVATORIES.

Perhaps it might be worth your while to do the same?

Happy house planning.