Rebecca and Michael bought a run down, red brick barn in a rural village on the outskirts of Lancaster in January 2019. They had a vision for modernising this building and making it a welcoming family home to raise their children. Having both grown up in the area, they wanted to do the barn justice and ensure it fit in to the local surroundings but still had a modern and contemporary feel to it. After nearly 12 months of working on the build, they moved in just before Christmas the same year.

When you enter their home, you are immediately greeted by a bright and airy hallway, lined with floor to ceiling glass along one side and doors to various rooms. To the right of the front door is a wetroom, perfectly located for a quick clean up after a long day at work or after being out in the countryside. The wetroom floor is tiled with Viente Patchwork by STN and teamed with Rainstone by Galilao, perfectly contrasting against each other and setting the tone for this contemporary build.

Out back into the hallway again and the vast open plan kitchen diner is visible ahead. The entire floor space is tiled in Calacatta 60x120cm marble effect tiles by Cersanit. The crisp white colour adds to the brightness in the room as it reflects the sunshine that is beaming through the full height glass windows. The Calcatta tiles stand out against the original, red brick interior walls that frame the open plan area and really enhance the sheer size of this space. 

The kitchen splashback is tiled entirely in Diamond Artic by Mainzu, a 10x20cm tile with angular 3D textures. This tile compliments the colour scheme of the kitchen diner perfectly, adding brightness to the area, alongside the gloss white cupboards, and contrasting against the black granite worktop. 

The Calacatta flooring continues into a sizable utility that runs the length of the kitchen diner on the opposite side. This room is another carefully planned space, with a large window allowing plenty of natural light in, and a lovely view into the Lancashire countryside (there’s lots of these kind of views at this property!). They opted for grey gloss units in the utility and chose to install a different tile too, one that had elements of grey to tie it all together. 2019 was the year we saw the popularity of hexagon shaped tiles soar and there’s no disagreeing, they look fantastic. Meraki Line Gris by Bestile slot in perfectly to this utility, keeping the splashback area bright yet still containing that grey colour to go alongside the units. Its pattern makes for a perfect feature and gives the room character.

Upstairs there are 3 bathrooms, all tiled with Rainstone by Galileo, keeping the crisp continuity flowing throughout. Rainstone works wonderfully with the rustic-meets-contemporary feel this barn conversion oozes. The natural colouring and earthy tones of Rainstone jump out against the fresh, white painted walls and the full height glass windows allow masses of light into the bathroom space in the main bedroom. Sitting perfectly on an open plan mezzanine, this bathroom setting is absolutely perfect for relaxing after a hard day. The end result of this project is just STUNNING!