Help & Inspiration for Grand Ground Floor Design. Thanks!
Dear Fellow Houzzers
After being inspired by some of the
stories and projects here we have decided to re design our ground
floor. We find our current set up claustrophobic and dingy. We want to open
things up internally, and also open up to the garden and let loads of light in. We are trying to find the
optimal design.
Our current thoughts are:
Relocate the WC (it’s a wasted space
right bang in the middle!), but we're wondering where would be best
– under stairs is really tight and I don’t want to build
this out eating into kitchen space.Open up the dining/kitchen/pantry
area at the rear to create one wide space, though the pantry steps in a little
which might pose a problem.Have bifolds across the dining area, and a really wide window in the kitchen. I’d love to have bifolds all across the back, but we would lose valuable kitchen
wall space.Convert the remaining garage and open
up into existing playroom, creating a combined study/play/entertainment area.
My designer thinks there’s enough space here to add a small mezzanine floor –
which is very exciting but I’ve yet to be convinced there’ll be enough
headroom
I've added existing plans, a sketch of
our thoughts above, and some
outside pics.
Your help and inspiration is truly
appreciated!
Mo
Comments (12)
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Re-design ground floor help
Comments (12)I don't think you're going to fit in the downstairs loo at this point. It compromises the existing space and would be better left until you extend again in a few years. I noticed that you took down the wall between the lounge and the kitchen, is this a supporting wall?? You did put the little wall returns supporting an RSJ presumably in one of your plans, but took it away on the other. I think it's better to keep the formal lounge seperate, but with door that you can open if you want to. I've done you a before you extend and after you extend plan. I think it's better planning for the future to save on the expense now and not having to re-do. ( Hope that makes sense! )The future !...See MoreCalling all inspired architects and designers. Help needed!!!
Comments (15)Good morning!, Well i've been at this one now for nearly 2 1/2 hours! One of the main problems is the entrance. I didn't want to incorporate the garage, as with a full house, outside storage is all important, I know just how much stuff we have in ours. I also kept in mind the your requirement for front to back access. Thus, i moved the entrance to the other side of the house ( garage side ), Hopefully when postie arrives he will naturally presume the entrance is on that side, ( i think you would! ) I split the kitchen / downstairs cloakroom to give you a much bigger cloakroom / downstairs shower room - don't know if you have dogs, but very handy for washing them and mucky kids without trapsing upstairs! This split area also gives you your Utility Room. ( However, you could have a smaller cloakroom and a bigger Utility dependant on your own requirements. ) Also, I extended slightly across the front to the left to make downstairs slightly bigger ( filling in the gap on the original plan ) - and give way to two reception rooms, so the front will be continuous with no set back. ( That part could be dependant on budget, as you could make do with a slightly smaller 2nd reception. ) So, some more planting in the front garden will ensure that you know there is no entrance on the left. Bearing in mind that a house full of kids / teenagers can be very noisy and that zoning would also be my preference, I put the two main reception rooms at the front, seperated them by a nice hallway and gave you a study / music / teenage den in the middle of the house, off the kitchen diner. The extension ( preferably full height to allow amendments to the upstairs ) gives the noisey heart of the home to the rear. If you do the full height extension it gives way further to a much larger Master bedroom suite, a family bathroom, and a seperate toilet / shower room ( All of that will be dependant on your budget. ) The build itself in my lowly opinion is infinitely do'able on your budget, where a lot of people go wrong, is that they just don't realise how much of the budget goes on refurbishing the internals, ( New Kitchen, bathroom fitting, flooring etc ) So keep a good chunk for that! Always get at least 3 quotations for the build, and try and get a fixed price one if you can. I hope that covers it, and that you can imagine what it looks like walking around the new layout. It's easy for the experts, but no so easy for the homeowner, as quite often you can get stuck on what things look like at the moment. Try and blank that out, and imagine a completely different house. Good luck x...See MoreNeed design help inspiration
Comments (9)The knock on effect in the entrance to downstairs rooms can make this a tricky exercise when moving staircases... but worth investigating if this is your long term home. If you found a local design and build company to help - that might be the easiest route to get building control plans done all at the same time - and application for the extra windows etc too ....See MoreHelp with Ground Floor Plan Design
Comments (5)One plan- yes others in the street have extended to the front, although most have done a full height 2 storey extension - so the precedent is there. Jen - it is a lovely layout but we have the opportunity and the money to make it perfect before we move in so would rather reconfigure it now. The combined dining/kitchen would be only 3m deep, and we couldn't extend to the back as the garden is just about the right size - we don't want to eat into it. Plus the living room feels too long and narrow at 5m deep...See More
PROUser
8 years agoMulled this over, overnight! Decided, way too much building work and knocking about to justify the cost, plus you lose the garage, which will most probably devalue as per Jonathan's comment above. Makes house less saleable, as main lounge now not seperate from rest of downstairs, therefore less appealing to some. Plus, having a room labelled Study / Play area / Entertaining............cannot see how you could possibly furnish such a room, too many dual purposes. My plan below, keeps it far more simple. Leave the garage, leave the Utility and Pantry, but change their uses. One becomes downstairs shower room, the other changes from pantry to Utility. Build across the end of the Hallway and make the area under the stairs a coat room. ( handy storage), this then seperates the back of the house from the front of the house. Now take out the downstairs loo and remove both walls, this opens up the Kitchen / Diner into one big space. Add a door from the kitchen to the playroom, which you can leave open to keep an eye on the kids. You have made massive improvements with far less building works, and, should you want to at some stage make the space even bigger at the back, which isn't necessary, you could add a ground floor rear extension. ( last plan shows this ) The above layout will appeal to far more people, should you wish to sell in the future.
bhamani thanked Userbhamani
8 years ago- PRO
User
8 years agoJust one more thing before you get rid of the garage.................did you consider that if you incorporate it into the main house, you will have a steel running across the ceiling cutting it in two halves. I think a room without a flush ceiling may look odd. Instead of extending the playroom into the garage, why not remove the doorway into it from the hall and then open it out from the other kitchen end. You could have just a door, bi-fold doors or a full on archway. This would allow the extended family to use the kitchen diner are and spill out into that room also without the need for huge structural work on an outside wall. One great big L shaped space, which keeps the main lounge seperate yet provides a large entertaining area with little structural work or planning permission for change of use.
bhamani thanked User 
PROOnePlan
8 years agoIMO, the initial view from front door is a key one - the line of sight taking in the garden as you walk in is a good feature to add - so outside folding doors could move over a bit to achieve this - the pantry is usually a place where you have everything on open shelving and isn't meant to be particularly pretty - so I'd be tempted to maximise it behind a Fridge freezer so you can have food deliveries through back door and keep recycling etc in there too - this makes the kitchen a better workable size - have tall ovens on wall backing into study area - maybe make toilet a bit larger into playroom area to make it feel less claustrophobic ( if you feel it to be ) . Have hob on other side of island so you stand looking into garden when cooking . Have sink and DW closer to the dining end so DW isn't between sink and hob .
Bring in someone qualified in site to ascertain what requirements are required to retain structural strength etc too.
And yes - getting a pro kitchen design is a good idea !
bhamani thanked OnePlanbhamani
8 years agobhamani
8 years agobhamani
8 years ago
Jonathan