Real

Putting the “For Sale” sign up on their dream home has been very difficult for Ben and Sara Smith. The couple have transformed what was a bog-standard 1980s property into a stunning, contemporary abode they have renamed “The White House”.

“Leaving is going to be very hard. We’ve put our heart and soul into this place. If we could pick it up and take it with us we would,” says Ben.

He and Sara are moving to be closer to their families but are leaving behind an impressive architectural legacy.

They bought the house in the popular Huddersfield suburb of Fixby six years ago after spotting it during a “drive by” along sought-after Lightridge Road.

“It was being advertised privately with an A-board outside and it wasn’t what we were looking for at all. It was a typical, boxy 1980s build and the rooms inside were bland but when we saw the enormous garden we knew we had to have it. It was a small houseonaverybig plot with potential to extend,” says Ben.

He and Sara knew exactly what they wanted to do and, thanks to a design by Wake Architects, Kirklees Council planners agreed they could go ahead with a two-storey extension to the side that extends three metres from theexistinghouse and a flat-roofed single-storey rear extension of five metres. The rooftop