Set a stone’s throw away from Henley-on-Thames,
this is a house its owners never intended to build, but the result is a triumph — a new home oozing with character
(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
"We never set out to build at all,” self builder and homeowner Tracy Head begins, describing her three bedroom home. “We wanted a barn conversion, but couldn’t find one locally. We saw this Colt bungalow and thought we could make it into a barn-style house.”
Initially the plan was to renovate the Colt house, but a cold winter – and the subsequent discovery of the bungalow’s scant insulation – along with a serious look at the costings, saw Tracy and husband Steve switch plans from renovation to demolition and a self build project.
“It was hard for us to demolish the house. We had a connection to the place and it had a real charm — we loved it,” Tracy says. “It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was the right one. We said that we weren’t allowed to look back and wonder ‘what if we had renovated?’ We just went forward.”
Here, the couple share their self build story and how they created their characterful new home.
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Self-builders Tracy and Steve knew from the outset that they wanted a home with timber cladding, an overhanging roof and expansive glazing on the front elevation. The overhanging roof provides a sheltered entrance and a place to store logs for the woodburning stoves.(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
The external timber cladding is painted in Farrow & Ball’s Down Pipe. “The cladding was going to just be natural, but we didn’t like the idea of how the different elevations would weather. We bought the cladding prepainted because of the worry about shrinkage. That was done in Grimsby and shipped down to us,” explain self builders Tracy and Steve Head.(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
1. Designing a barn-style home
Having already spoken to architect Shaun Tanner of Day Tanner about the potential renovation project, Tracy and Steve returned with an idea for a new house: “We told him that we wanted a long, single-room barn with overhanging roofs and lots of glazing facing the garden,” Tracy begins. “It was going to be an oak frame home, but it got tricky with the long span, and we had to come up with a new solution.”
“The decision was made to design a similar looking build, but to drop the oak frame design and use insulated blockwork for the external and internal load-bearing walls,” Colin Buckett, who project managed the build, explains.
An oak frame roof structure (under which the first floor rooms are tucked) would then sit on top.
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The Heads did consider an oak frame for the whole house, but the long span of the building made this impractical. Masonry construction with an oak roof – under which the first floor rooms are tucked – was the solution; the visible oak downstairs was introduced for aesthetic purposes only.(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
2. Renovating a side annexe on site to live in during the build
The Heads moved into the annexe on site while demolishing the old house. The annexe, despite being a tight squeeze for the family of four, proved to be a key element in the build process, acting as a test site for elements – from the colour palette, the windows and doors, through to the flooring, sanitaryware and kitchen – that would later be replicated in the house.
“We’d fully renovated the annexe before we started the build,” says Tracy. “So a lot of the design choices for the main house were made when we were renovating it. The annexe was the guinea pig.
“Do as much research as possible before the build begins,” she advises. “Once it starts the questions are endless and answers are expected quickly. And don’t let a trade talk you out of an idea just because they haven’t come across it before."
(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
3. Planning the characterful interior spaces
With the architect instructed to design a shell, interior designer Tracy finished off the scheme. The Heads also handled all the procurement themselves, from the fittings to the bricks, finding bargains all the way through the process — Tracy singles out the doors and stone flooring as two of the best buys.
The kitchen is deVOL, though Tracy sourced the worktop separately. It sits at one end of the large kitchen/dining/living space that also features bifold doors to the garden, and two log burning stoves — though the primary heat source is underfloor heating.
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The open plan kitchen, dining and living space features exposed brick, bifold doors onto the garden and two woodburning stoves, sourced from Country Stoves, as a complementary heat source to the underfloor heating.(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
Tracy picked out the inframe deVOL kitchen, pairing it with an independently sourced worktop to keep costs down, and cites the stone flooring used widely on the ground floor as one of the biggest bargains of the project at £29/ m2 (after the VAT reclaim).(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
The living room – which is zoned off from the kitchen and dining area – benefits from the full height of the house, with the first floor landing gallery above.(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
4. A floorplan that works for the whole family
There’s also a sitting room and study on the ground floor while upstairs is the master suite, two further generously apportioned bedrooms and a family bathroom. “The architect originally wanted us to have an extra bedroom,” Tracy adds. “I think he was thinking of long-term plans and resale, but we decided to have that space as a gallery area because it would let more light into the family area below.”
“Our home works perfectly for us as a family. The large hall never feels cluttered with shoes or sports kit, while the open plan kitchen living space means we can be together but still have our individual space,” she continues.
Tracy puts her contentment with the finished house down to the decisions she made early in the process: “I don’t think there is anything I’d change now,” Tracy laughs “We thought about it all too long and hard when we signed off the design!”
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The generous landings on the first floor create a bright and airy space that the family use as a spot to relax and work out of.(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
The snug provides a cosy spot to relax.(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
The en suite is partitioned off and features a freestanding bath (from the Cast Iron Bath Company) which sits beneath large rooflights and the exposed roof trusses.(Image credit: Simon Maxwell)
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Nick was Features Editor and had a particular interest in what homeowners were able to achieve on a tight budget as well as sustainable building methods. He has recently moved on to tackle a Masters degree.
