At home with Ken and Carol Grant

KEN and Carol Grant were always confident about their very own grand design."It didn't faze us," says Ken of their self-build experience, which resulted in a 1,300 sq ft home built on the site of an old farm steading in North East Fife.

Having virtually rebuilt two homes before buying this spectacular plot, just 13 miles from St Andrews, in 2003, the couple were happy to start from scratch. Although an old farm steading stood on the site, there was little to salvage.

It was vital, Ken says, to involve local planning officials early on. "We invited them on site long before plans were submitted," he explains. "By opening this discussion at the start we built a relationship that allowed us to negotiate over features that might otherwise have been dismissed."

The roofline is a prime example; the house is built on the footprint of the steading, with a dramatic glass-walled extension slotted within its U-shaped formation. A one-and-a-half storey roof height would have been traditional but planners accepted Ken's suggestion that a cat slide roof – which has one side longer than the other – be built over the extended area. The use of slate on top of a painted, harled exterior upheld a sense of tradition.

The Grants made another sound move in hiring Dick Curtis Builders, a family firm they'd employed at their previous home. Ken and Carol lived in Kirkcaldy as this two-year build progressed, and while Ken was able to visit every day, he also knew he could rely on these builders to get on with the job.

Thankfully the site posed no problems, although winter storms did flatten an original roundel building the couple had hoped to retain as a feature room.

"We had it rebuilt," says Ken, an abundance of glass making this an uplifting space in which Carol practises yoga. Glass is a key feature of the build, glazed internal doors, windows and roof apertures bathing the interior in natural light.

Of a block construction, the house has foil-backed insulation which the Grants found effective in their last home, while underfloor heating was installed on both the ground and first floor.

In 2004, when Ken was considering fuel options, oil was cost effective and a traditional boiler was installed. Subsequent price hikes, however, prompted a re-think. Although ground source heat pumps were prohibitively expensive at the time, air source pumps were less so, and Ken had two fitted, one for the underfloor heating and another for the 17m indoor swimming pool at the back of the house.

A keen swimmer, Ken claims that while a pool is undoubtedly a luxury, this one was not costly to build (by Alba Pools) and the heating system is economical. Of course, it would have been silly to install a pool and not a sauna and hot tub, adjacent to which sits a purpose-built plant room where equipment for the heat pumps and pool is located. As this is beyond the outer wall of the building, the plant room noise is sealed off.

It was also Ken's idea to include the galleried 'lang room', a distinctive space sandwiched between the pool and the kitchen/dining-room. The lang room is an alternative to a traditional corridor, inspired by Italian courtyards where people meet and relax rather than simply pass through. To enhance this courtyard feel, glazing was cut into the roof to throw light inside, while apertures linking this area to the upper gallery make it possible to communicate with whoever is upstairs. And it is also a nice space, says Ken, in which to hang pictures.

At one end of the lang room is a utility room (the size of most kitchens), while the doorway at the opposite end leads inward from a galleried atrium, another of Ken's clever design concepts. The front entrance porch opens into this double-height atrium (with glazed roof) where fitted units provide space for hanging coats, and from which Ken's office can be reached without having to pass right into the house.

"The office is also sound-proofed so calls don't disturb home life," Ken says.

On the opposite side of the atrium is the drawing-room, where an open fireplace surrounded by cherry wood is the focal point. But the epicentre of family life is the vast kitchen/dining area, a perfect space for entertaining.

In the original plans, a wall divided the kitchen from the dining space but ultimately Ken chose to increase the wow factor by retaining an open plan.

The couple agreed on an impressive contemporary kitchen in light shades that don't conflict with the uplifting brightness achieved by the glazing. Arctic White worktops by Corian, each delivered in a single piece, enhance this effect.

The large central island, fitted with a sink and hot plate, breaks up the vast floor space and its rounded edges soften the overall look. All the kitchen appliances, including a steam oven and heating drawer, are by Neff, while huge floor-to-ceiling doors conceal an American-style fridge freezer.

A central sliding door leads outside, to a garden which has been meticulously landscaped with paving, lawns and a raised deck. A former curling pond has been turned into a haven for nature and there is a large vegetable garden to the west of the house.

Flanked on one edge by the drawing-room, the kitchen/dining area is bordered to the opposite edge by a large sitting-room, originally conceived as a snooker room, although Ken was let down on delivery of the appropriate table. At ground level there is also a study (separate to Ken's office) while a beautiful staircase with open glass treads leads from the lang room to the first-floor library, from which a master bedroom with a south-facing balcony is reached. A second staircase (handy in a house of this scale) leads from the front atrium to the upper gallery and three more double bedrooms, while a fifth bedroom with westerly views and an open fireplace is used as a first-floor sitting-room.

The generous scale of the master bedroom allowed for a large, black-lacquered bed, the high-backed design meaning it is hidden from view on entering the room. The black theme is carried through to the monochrome en suite with extra-large bath. Ken and Carol shopped at Spittal Bathrooms, Glenrothes for the contemporary fittings used in this and a second en suite, as well as the family bathroom. Neville Johnson custom-made all the fitted cabinetry in the house, including wardrobes for the master bedroom's dressing-room and glass-fronted bookcases in the study.

Ken and Carol would happily embark on another self-build although next time, they say, it is likely to be just a little smaller. k

Offers over 1.7m. Contact CKD Galbraith (01334 659 980, www.ckdgalbraith.co.uk)

This article was originally published in Scotland on Sunday on 28 February 2010