Grander Designs: How to get inspiration for your self-build

If you’ve dreamed for years of building your own house, now would be a great time to do some research and start putting some ideas together for what you would like your dream home to look like.

Do you want to find a plot of land and build from scratch or does renovating a derelict property appeal to you more?

Do you like minimalist, sleek interiors or are you a pushover for shabby chic? Are environmental considerations top of your wishlist or is making an architectural statement more important to you?

Luckily, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to finding sources of inspiration for building our own homes. From the moment Grand Designs arrived on our screens over 20 years ago, TV production companies realised that viewers have a huge appetite for programmes that capture the highs and lows of building projects. There’s an incredible number available to watch. Even if the scope of many of them is not necessarily a practical choice for most of us, there’s no doubt that watching a few of these programmes can really help spark ideas and get the creative juices flowing.

Here are a few of our favourites:

• Grand Designs, currently available on Netflix and Channel 4 is still going strong. The most memorable builds are not necessarily the largest or most ambitious. They do show how important it is for any self-builder to focus on creating a home, rather than just building a house. The projects are all enthralling, ranging from converting a shipping container to an extraordinary underground home with a retractable roof. The planning application for that one took over two years to secure!
  
• Building Dream Houses, a popular BBC series, follows architects who are leading the way in groundbreaking design and working hard to keep their clients happy. Some clips are available here.
  
• For escapism at its best, it’s hard to beat Escape to the Chateau on Channel 4, which follows the adventures of Dick Strawbridge and his wife Angel who renovated a 45 bedroom dilapidated 19^th century French chateau, set in acres of neglected land and turned it into a spectacular events venue. Clearly beyond most of our budgets, not to mention ambitions, it’s worth a look to see just what can be achieved with the right craftspeople and how something that starts out as a ruin, can be turned into something beautiful. All set against a backdrop of sun-drenched French countryside.
  
• At the other end of the scale, The House that 100k built has some great, sometimes wacky, ideas for stretching a small budget, including recycling aeroplane parts! Some clips are still available here on BBC iPlayer.
  
• Dreamers and technical geeks alike will enjoy Your Home Made Perfect, which harnesses the power of virtual reality to show homeowners how their dream home could look, thanks to computer wizardry, before building it in reality. You can catch it here on BBC iPlayer.
  
• If you want to make your imagination really take flight, why not take a look at The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes? Available here on Netflix, every episode features four incredible homes all round the world. The architect and owner are interviewed, which provides unique insight into the design process, in some of the most beautiful locations imaginable.
  
  Don’t forget, if you want to explore the possibilities of self-building, we would be happy to discuss a potential project with you. Whether you are in the first stages of looking for land or you have already secured planning permission and know exactly what you want to build, we would love to work with you. Contact us to find out more.