Don't know where to start

9 years ago

We have an 1910 semi that we would like to reconfigure the ground floor. At the moment we have a front room off the narrow L shaped hall way that leads to a long 20 ft corridor down to what is a back room with French doors to the garden. The kitchen, utility room and downstairs loo all lead off the same corridor. They are in the middle of the house with the neighbour's house 12 ft away. Ideally we would like to keep the front room as is but knock through the rest to make the space more suitable to modern life. We are not sure whether we need an architect, designer, builder etc. Advice please!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (2)

PRO
Lisa's Kitchen Design Company
9 years ago
Hi there, you are best advised to use experts in each area. Interior Designer is the best start as they will organise the flow of the property. Kitchen designers like myself can advise then on that particular area. Architects can be brought in to do the plans etc... and then a builder to advise on costings. Please make sure that your builder is a kitchen fitter as well, or has a experienced kitchen fitter on their team (it is a specialist job, despite what you may hear)
Good luck with it - let me know if you need any help/advise with the kitchen area.
PRO
OnePlan
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Start with a competent concept planner - who will look at the floor plan and make suggestions !
If you are thinking of knocking down walls then a structural engineer might be needed, together with a builder . Usually the home owner gets the builder in first, to see what's required then he/she liaises with the SE to work out exactly what can and can't be done. Then your builder will let you know what's possible and approximately how much it will cost.If your property is more that two floors high then you can't open the stairs, due to fire risk . Then you need to keep a fire door'd hall around the stairs to protect them ... If you are thinking of external changes too, then an architect would be a good idea, as its lots more involved and Planning Dept comes into play too - but with internal changes its buildings regs monitored to keep standards and safety high then when it's complete they will sign off the work. If it's not done properly they won't sign it off and you will have problems if you try to sell the property - so it's worth having a proper, and safe, job done !
...if you add your floor plan here and add a bit more info - ie number of floors etc - I will take a quick look for you, on my break this afternoon ! Just finishing my lunch break now - so won't be back on Houzz till later !
Related Discussions
Help, I need to renovate and don't know where to start.
Q
Comments (3)
Hi Diane Unless your work is structural you needn’t get an architect involved, and I may be able to help you. I’m an interior designer and am based just a few miles from SE25. I’d be happy to come round for a consultation. DM me to express your interest and get your home sorted.
...See More
Garden Next Stage - Where to Start
Q
Comments (4)
Hi dahlia444 In answer to your 3 questions (very quick answer) 1. Simple solutions - paint the fence a grey colour - it makes it soothing and helps it disappear into the background. The orange colour now is very over-powering. New paving, properly laid would make it feel a lot better - top (and bottom of the garden potentially). Think of ways of breaking the space up on the patio - rather than everything being around the edge; and similarly for the garden - currently you look straight down it with nothing of interest and to break up what you are seeing. Stories, journeys and a bit of mystery all make for a great garden (don't be afraid to put things in the middle or have wide curved beds). 2. Cost is difficult because it depends what you do and what materials you use. As with many things - to an extent, the more you can spend the better. Hard-scaping is the most expensive - for example paving costs about £200-250 per square meter (includes the paving and the laying). You could easily spend £10k on the garden, but obviously you may be able to make a big impact for less. Employing a contractor is more expensive of course, but if you do stuff yourself make sure you do it properly - for instance laying paving on a proper sub-base with appropriate drainage; otherwise it will quickly look terrible and start to move. If you do hire a contractor make sure you get a good one - generally beware of the 'general builder' who does a cheap deal. Contractors who are registered with the APL or BALI are generally very good. 3. A garden designer would be great and will get you a really nice, cohesive design with plants that will do well in your garden. Again check the quality of their work - are they registered with the SGD? where did they train? what are their design skills (rather than just being a good gardener)? have they ever done a show garden? Charges vary a lot, but a good designer will charge overall around 10-12% of what the garden will cost. On these grounds, the size of your budget is important. If you only have £3-5k to spend then you don't really want to spend a big chunk on a designer. Obviously you can invest in a good design and then implement it in stages over a number of years if money is tight. Hope that helps.
...See More
How to finish off the kitchen! Arghhh
Q
Comments (3)
Hi Kel, Definitely agree you need to add some colour and accessories. However before you can pick a colour its all about how you want the room to feel? Do you want it to feel warm, bright or cocoon like and cosy? Once you can describe how you want the room to feel it's easier to come up with the colours. Let me know how you want the room to feel and I can suggest some colours for you. In terms of the wall with the cupboard I suggest creating a gallery wall by a way of adding your personality, interest and more colour! I wouldn't add any furniture here as this area looks like the entry point for the room so you'd want to avoid blocking this area and instead create flow. I recommend a small bench perhaps in a natural material like wood to go under the bay window so that the light can enter and not block the view. I also recommend changing the blinds to either shutters and or curtains. I feel like there needs to be softer elements in this room as the kitchen units look nice and modern but that can sometimes lack character so you want to add as much character back into the room. Let me know what you think? Thanks Rukmini Patel Interior Design
...See More
HELP! I don't know where to start...
Q
Comments (3)
To keep a sense of the space, probably best to go for full height larders and worktops and dont have any wall unit showing if you can, This makes it feel more open and functional and contemporary. Your WC will be determined by existing floor structure and existing drainage runs... for hygiene you should have two doors between it and the kitchen. and also think of space hierarchy. If you want to look out the back patio doors then move the wc to the front, the obvious place is by the front door (probably for drainage also) which leaves the rest to be relatively open.
...See More

Don't know where to start

Comments (2)

Lisa's Kitchen Design Company

OnePlan

Related Discussions

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US