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BARNSTORMING! Transform a farm building into a family home and enjoy open interiors, green spaces and rural life, says Mary Wilson.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Mary Wilson

CONVERSIONS, restorations, extensions -- we're all at it. And for dramatic interior spaces in a cosy country setting, you can't beat a barn.

But just how feasible -- and costly -- is it to turn one of these rustic buildings into a comfortable family home?

Ivan McCormick, 46, a successful musician and composer, who was the first guitarist of the group who became U2, found out when he transformed a beautiful, if dilapidated, barn into an idyllic house and then added an extension.

He and his wife, Louise, 35, bought Dairy Cottage in Hook, Hants, in 2004 for [pounds sterling]370,000. 'It was perfect for us, as we could live there while working on the project,' says Ivan. 'The barn was first converted in the Eighties, but had been uninhabited for some time. There was no insulation, no heating and it was in poor repair.

'Beside it was an ugly dairy, and between it and the barn was only concrete on the ground.'

The couple moved in with their one-year-old son Alfie and set about obtaining planning permission to demolish the dairy and build an Lshaped extension....

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