'The dining room is now an office'

Michael and Mary Cole brought up four children in a terraced Edwardian house in Wimbledon, but after 24 years together, they felt the need for another home more compatible with the way they live.

"Our old house, where we had converted the loft, had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, but it meant that our daughters - who had left home to go travelling and then returned - shared a bedroom," explains Mary.

"Besides this, our teenage boys, who are the size of adults, were taking up more space. At first we were reluctant to look at new houses because we thought they would be small and poky. But the room layout is more compatible with the way we live now." The Coles finally opted for a home in Barratt's Holly Brook development in Worcester Park.

"The house was sold as a four-bedroom property with a study, but we use that room as a fifth bedroom, meaning the kids can have a bedroom each. The dining room on the ground floor has become an office."