Interiors: By adding a dining and family room to their Bathgate home, Mark and Nicola McCabe enjoy the best of period features with contemporary convenience IT WAS the high ceilings, original woodwork and traditional grandeur that attracted Mark and Nicola McCabe to Tweedholm when they bought it six years ago. While they wanted to celebrate the turn-of-the-century property's period features, when it came to upgrading it they embraced a contemporary extension that has turned it into a 21st-century family home. When the couple bought 117 Glasgow Road in Bathgate it had already been extended by a previous owner and had planning permission to be extended further - but the McCabes had their own ideas on how to get the best out of the property. Not only did they decide to extend the kitchen to create a striking dining and family room, they turned a disused breakfast room into a useful rear vestibule, transformed the dining room into a fourth bedroom, and replaced the downstairs shower room and family bathroom. As well as monoblocking the driveway, after demolishing a worse-for-wear timber garage and rear porch, they built a substantial garage and overhauled the garden, creating a play area, lawn, decking and stone circle patio. The amount and quality of the work carried out is impressive. "When we bought the house it did need a bit of work," admits Mark, a government auditor. It already had a flat-roofed kitchen with planning for a sun room - we wanted to take that forward but not in that style. We wanted to knock through from the kitchen to make a family room. We also decided to put a pitched roof over the kitchen and family room. As we were creating the dining family room we didn't see any need for the breakfasting room, so we changed the window into a doorway to create a rear vestibule for bringing in the shopping and pushchairs. He adds: "The very first thing we did was replace the bathroom as it didn't have a shower. I stripped the bathroom back to the bare walls, then we got the new bathroom fitted and I did all the tiling. We lived here for nearly two years before we started building the extension. I project managed the build myself - we had quite a few guys working here at the one time so it was all completed within three months. It finished just before our son Finlay was born - I remember it all being quite stressful at the end. From opening the front door and walking through the entrance vestibule that is framed with original glass panelling, Mark and Nicola, who works in recruitment, have created a house with charm and elegance. The honey tones of the original wood on the staircase, the original fireplaces and the square bay window in the living room have all been highlighted by a carefully chosen palette of subtle wall tones. The furnishings - from the chaise longue in the bay window to the wooden sleigh bed in the master bedroom - have also been carefully chosen to complement the period-room proportions while meeting the needs of a busy family home. The black textured tiles in the family bathroom create a striking mood alongside the monochrome wall covering, while the rich tones of the limestone-style shower room evokes an inviting ambience. In the kitchen, the mix of solid oak worktops, ivory painted units, grey slate tiles and walls covered with Dulux's Sea Urchin exude a mix of the contemporary, classic and practical. With a leather sofa and TV positioned before a rear wall of glass with French doors that open on to the deck and, in turn, into the garden, it is clear to see why the couple and the children - Elizabeth, two, Finlay, four, Lucy, 11, and Hannah, 15 - spend a lot of time here. "We have tried to maintain the character of the house," says Mark. One of the reasons we bought it is because, along with next door, it is the only house on the road with full-height ceilings both upstairs and down. We just loved that. We also love the original wood - I always feel the big open hallway gives the house an air of grandeur. But when we were doing the kitchen we wanted a complete contrast, so the extension looked new and light. We put in the glass wall at the back to bring the light in. Light floods into both the central salmon pink-painted hallway and the front-facing living-room, with a mix of aubergine and oatmeal-toned sofas creating a peaceful air against the subtle green toned walls. "We came across that colour in a coffee shop in Falkland - we liked its grey-green tone," explains Mark. Though the downstairs bedroom has planning permission to create an en-suite in a large alcove, in the end the couple didn't see the need for another bathroom. However, the alcove space has been used as an office in the past, as well as an extra sleeping space for friends. "Sometimes the kids use it like a den," says Mark. They also use the big understairs cupboard like their own Harry Potter cupboard - we love all these quirky areas in the house. The one quirk I really love though is in the bathroom where the Velux window perfectly frames the Plough - it's like a picture on the ceiling. Despite loving Tweedholm, the couple are selling as they hope to move to Kirkcaldy to be nearer Nicola's parents. "Finlay is coming up to school age and Nicola's mum and dad are going to help us with childcare, hence the move," says Mark. In an ideal world we would pick this house up, throw it over the water and let it land in Kirkcaldy. We really love the kitchen and family room - we all pretty much live in here. We cook, eat, do homework and watch TV here - we love the original bits of the house but this is one bit we would definitely recreate in another property. Tweedholm, 117 Glasgow Road, Bathgate, is for sale at offers over £265,000 through Turpie & Co (01506 668 448, www.turpies.com)