“Doing a job like this changes your family life”

It was a window of opportunity Tommy Barker couldn’t resist — the chance to view a busy family’s new extension

IT was like Texas Hold ’Em — we were all-in, joke the couple in this just-extended, and much extended, 1960s suburban house. At the time of its building and completion, they had the full run of young family stresses: a jobs move, a house extension and full makeover in full flight after a house purchase — and a second baby on the way.

Unflappable, but also able to delegate (on the house front, at least), they made it through the juggling act in late 2012 and into early 2013, and today are comfortably home, in a light-drenched extended house which came in just under budget, have had an infant son arrive to join their daughter, along with a home with rooms and space for all and sundry, for decades to come.