For 6 months now our family have been living upstairs, while the back of our home was removed to build a new open plan extension. A boarded door separated us from the noise (mostly) and dust of the work and allowed the trades to come and go freely. It was a great arrangement that saved us months of rent and our builders, Bellagio Construction have managed everything so smoothly.

But the boards are finally down - light is flooding through and we can see the garden! It was sooo exciting to see the front and back flow together how we had hoped it would. All the inconvenience of a renovation fades in the face of moments like this.

There had been some difficult periods to get where we were, not least trying to place all the lighting within the bulkheads of a room held up with massive steel beams. Aaron from HLS Designs was invaluable in removing the stress from this, he will visit the site, draw up a lighting plan and deliver the lights to your builder.

See what an amazing transformation takes place when the walls were plastered and the ceilings painted? The framing necessary to cover the steel beams disappears and the walls move further away as the rooms seemed to expand in size.

The carpenter’s masterpiece, and our delight, is the Alfresco. With it’s apex roof lined in Weathertex cladding and soon to be built open fireplace, it allows light to stream in from the north but will protect us from bracing south sea breezes. We can already imagine happy gatherings of friends here. I have to stop myself from mentally drawing up menus already and remember to be patient - we have a certain distance yet to go!

Adela.