WE DESIGNED OUR home three times before we got it right

It was a case of third time lucky when Claire and Ian Watson searched for their ideal home.
For Claire and Ian Watson, building their own home in Tyne & Wear was an adventure. The couple found a site they loved, demolished the bungalow that occupied it and set to work But a few years down the line, with two young sons growing up fast, they began thinking of ways of increasing the living space, as Claire explains. When did you realise that the house needed updating? It began to dawn on us that there were other elements we could have incorporated in the initial build. Wed enjoyed living here, loved the house and had two children, so our requirements changed - and so did our tastes. Second time around we knew what we really wanted from our home, and financially, we were in a better position to achieve it, so we decided to start again.
Did you stay in the house during the building work? No we didnt. Together with our sons Mark and Craig, Ian and I rented another property nearby once the contractors were ready to move in. Were also in the enviable position of owning a holiday home in Spain.
Once the building work was complete, how did you go about furnishing the new spaces? I started looking around some of the local shops, but I was so disappointed. Everyplace I went to had rather predictable colour sections full of duck - egg blues, browns and lilacs, and that really wasnt what I wanted. I kept wishing I could find some of the palettes Id discovered in Spain. So it occurred to me to call up the designer wed used out there, Juan - Carlos Morel, to see if he would help us decorate this place. Once hed agreed, I cut pictures out of magazines and scoured the net in search of inspiration. I kept everything on file so when Juan - Carlos arrived, we could pore over the tear sheets together.