How to downsize and modernize - Telegraph

How to downsize and modernize - Telegraph

When Judy and Peter Acornley’s children left home they realised, like generations of empty nesters before them, that a five-bedroom Edwardian family home was too roomy. Their solution to the problem was to build a contemporary house in the same town where they had brought up their two boys.

In the process they divested themselves of almost all their possessions, saw their timetable spiral, and had to cope when their builders went bust mid-project. And even though their award-winning new house is much smaller than their old, it actually turned out to be significantly more expensive.

They have no regrets. “It is absolutely brilliant,” says Peter, seated in the immaculate white kitchen he helped install himself. “It is a wonderful place to live, and by building this house I realised a lifetime’s ambition.”