Joan and Stephen lived in his family home, a century old pile on 1.25 acres in north Dublin. By the mid-1990s, the house was too large, too labour intensive and in need of an expensive revamp. Joan wanted to move house but not location. "All our friends are here, all the amenities we know. About seven years ago I brought Stephen to a spot in the garden and said `this is where I want to retire'," says Joan.

The half-acre site for the new house presented itself naturally in a section of the garden furthest away from the main house. They had an architect draw up plans for a dormer bungalow, set back from the road. "We shopped around for an architect, saw his work, talked to friends," says Joan. "It's an important relationship, and you need to know you can work with him."

Before they began, the couple told possible with neighbours."

Last February, they opened the site and laid the foundations. "The first thing we did was to sow the lawn and plant shrubs in what was going to be the back garden, while fencing off the rest of the site," says Joan. "Our builders were recommended by our architect and given that he would be supervising the work, we felt it was important to choose a firm with whom he had rapport. We had site meetings every two to three weeks. The wonderful part about building in your garden is that you're on site, yet sufficiently removed from the muck."

Last May, when work on the new house was well advanced and the roof was on, the couple put their own house on the market. "It meant that any buyer could see exactly what they were buying," says Joan. "The house sold at auction in June, and we moved into this house in September."

Their timber-framed bungalow is set in mature trees, with the garden bound on one side by the old wall, and separated from the main house on the other side by mature hedging, complemented by newly planted hedge and fencing. "We have retained almost all the trees, and wanted a house style, including gates and pillars, in keeping with the rest of the road, as well as fitting in with the facade of the original house," says Joan. The interior is simple and spacious with plain earthy colours. "Coming from a big house to a smaller house you want to avoid feeling too cramped," says Joan. "We asked for a large hall, ceilings are higher than average, and we have a ground floor layout with interconnecting reception rooms and conservatory. When the doors are open there is a great feeling of space."

The house cost about £350,000 to build and they feel they have achieved great value for money. "Retaining some of the land did not affect the price we got for the big house," says Joan, "If we had to buy this site, it would have cost us £300,000, so keeping some for our selves and building on it ourselves has saved us a lot of money as well as allowing us create exactly what we wanted."