A contemporary oak frame home nestled in a Northamptonshire village

“All the drama’s happened before the build of the house,” explains Lucy.

The plot John and Lucy purchased is in a great location on the edge of a village, and although not in the original area they were looking at, they couldn’t be happier with its position. The plot was for sale with planning permission for a house, but not a design that aligned with their ideas.

The plot purchase was a slightly tricky business. The seller had made promises to neighbours and the parish council about donating parts of the plot to certain parties and then changed his mind. However, as John and Lucy loved the plot, and with a little research and communication with their neighbours and the parish council, they took on the reneged promises and donated a small amount of land to the council.

“As we hadn’t initially planned to design our own home, we hadn’t really written a brief and initially found it difficult to express our requirements,” explains Lucy.

John and Lucy knew what they liked and disliked about their old home and knew they didn’t want a country cottage. “This is where Pete our designer was excellent at extracting details to put together a brief,” says Lucy.

The external design and materials of the house were influenced heavily by the conservation officer during their planning application. Many of their initial ideas, such as a ranch-style home with a veranda and lots of glazing were dismissed by the conservation officer immediately.

“The planning actually went to appeal which we eventually won, but we had to negotiate many design features and materials during the process,” explains John. “In the end, we reduced the amount of glazing and used honey-coloured stone for cladding, fitting in with the village.”

Just off the kitchen but still within the open-plan setting, is a face glazed snug and seating area with large sofas and views out onto the garden. A place to relax and sit comfortably while keeping an eye on what’s cooking.

“We wanted a big utility,” explains Lucy, “and the joiners built the bespoke units, painted in ‘railings grey’. We chose to stack the washing machine and tumble dryer too, despite the site of the room, it’s an excellent space-saving idea.”

Away from the open-plan living is a tranquil sitting room with grey walls and contrasting pink sofas all framed by oak frame posts and beams.

The stunning south facing sunroom with vaulted ceiling and glazed gable was originally supposed to be a gym but became a quiet room to work from home since the pandemic and is now a glorious sunroom and home office.

“We really felt we didn’t want the staircase to be a feature in the house, more hidden from view so it is tucked along the glazed north wall, leaving the open-plan living area to be the wow factor,” says Lucy.

John and Lucy chose turnkey project management for their self-build. A turnkey service is fully managed by a project manager from our turnkey team, or through a client’s chosen builder. This allowed John and Lucy to concentrate their time where they wanted to while easing the pressure of working full-time. So, while Pete concentrated on John and Lucy’s design, his brother David was appointed as Builder and Project Manager.

Although John and Lucy were very keen to be involved, they recognised their lack of experience in building, and felt a turnkey service would achieve the quality finish they desired. Lucy was then on-site most days as it was just down the road from where she works.

In March 2018 they started on-site, however, the arrival of snow meant building work ground to a halt. Once building work started again, John and Lucy’s dream family home began to take shape quickly, with the frame and encapsulation going up within a matter of weeks.

As you can see from the photographs below, the result is a high-quality finish and a light-filled oak frame home: exactly what drove John and Lucy to choose the self-build route in the first place.