With so much pressure on familie it’s not suprising that many folk start to think about moving to biger premises but discover they can’t find anything suitable wihin their locality. The houses around my area are a good example – they are spacious, that is true but they have not necessarily been designed to maximise their full potential on a room by room basis. My own house has an attractive ‘family room’ annexed next to the kitchen, an L shape design. I love sitting there to take in the sun that streams in the patio door. However, the designers could have made the kitchen bigger by building it out to the same depth as this family room, thus giving another 2 metres of width. Many owners around here have in fact extended out and up – so a good design team is needed to make the most of the space and light aspects. Good knowledge of the planning application route is essential – you cannot take it for granted that your brilliant idea will get the green light. Building a design in a way to minimise the maintenance is essential too – using up to date energy saving innovations may cost a little more now but will of course help save greatly as theyears go by.