First house ideas and advice
We are looking for some advice. We are buying our first property and I attach the floor plans. As you can see it is quite spacious with a full bedroom / en-suite downstairs.
The decision we have to make is:
(1) keep the en-suite in the master bedroom (add a shower / basin), convert the small bedroom 3 into a dressing room and convert the open study space into a small bedroom. So we have 2 good rooms and a small room upstairs.
(2) convert the en-suite into a dressing room and combine the small bedroom and study space into a good medium size room so we have 3 good rooms upstairs.
The bathroom is to be modified with a new bath and shower. Plus the two storage space in the master bedroom on the right is to be converted into a single storage space. The entire house will need to be re-carpeted and decorated.
Please share any advice and ideas and most of all approximate costs for either of the above options.
Many thanks in advance for your help
Ismail
Comments (35)
Ismail Akudi
8 years agoRelated Discussions
My first home-advice desperately needed!
Comments (10)Agreed about the floors, they look lovely. In that case I would definately go for a pale grey curtain, or the room will look very white and the grey couches will stand out in a bad way I think. Or if you want to add a colour to the room, say blue for example, a pale blue curtain and then a rug with bits of darker or lighter blue on it would tie in a colour subtly. If you want to stick with the grey and white colours, I would go for a greyish or cream (darker than floor) rug with a pattern on it to make a focal point in the room. That info is all about the lounge. If you let me know the colour scheme and feel you want for the bedroom I can try and give some advice on that :)...See MoreFirst house , need advice for room & living room
Comments (3)Just look through Houzz to decide what style you want to go for. Also, make sure your furniture is the right size and there is space for it....See MoreFirst home - found cracks in wall. Advice please?
Comments (1)Get a second opinion before you begin cosmetic work. If your surveyor finds structural problems you can challenge the original report as unsound. However adding the wall ties as suggested may be what is needed before you begin the renovation. In future get a full structural survey before you buy....See MoreHelp / advice needed pls on redesign layout of first floor flat
Comments (5)Hello Sarah, There is a possibility that you have combined sewage in that location. I can see a drainage pipe from the roof on the front of the house. Have a look down the street and see if there are any other houses with bathrooms or drainage on the front or contact your local Building Control who will confirm. I have no idea how important the number of bedrooms are for your needs but you could forfeit the third bedroom. Alternatively have a smaller kitchen area. as the second plan and take a small chunk out of the bedroom, probably less is needed than I have indicated. If your budget allows then remove the chimney, but it is not necessary. I would take out the walls around the stair to below as that will make the space much broader. and also give the space a funky feel to it. Add some velux windows with shafts down into the kitchen dining space. I am not sure why there is no window onto the garden, perhaps look into that on your deeds and see if it could be allowed. The kitchen may be better located towards the front of the house on the first plan so that any seated area is not adjacent to a circulation route/ corridor space. Set the roof windows in a neat pattern of 2 or 3 over that space as it will help to tie it together as one. I am not sure how often you would use the front small bedroom but it could be opened out as part of the living room now and when you eventually sell, put back as a bedroom.. Hope that helps Roger...See Moreminnie101
8 years agoIsmail Akudi
8 years agominnie101
8 years ago- PRO
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8 years ago Ismail Akudi
8 years ago
PROSolid Furniture Design
8 years agoIsmail Akudi
8 years agoThis is the kitchen as it is currently. Do you have some suggestions / ideas for a modern kitchen - something that full of light / bright? What would be a typical cost range for a new kitchen of this calibre? If you could share some suggestions / costs, it would be greatly appreciated so we could consider you as our first port of call. We always liked the idea of a centre island (of some size) whether it is for the cooker or sink or indeed both or even a breakfast table; however this is not an absolute requirement as we suspect it would be too expensive).
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Solid Furniture Design
8 years ago wilson_kay
8 years agoIsmail Akudi
8 years agoIsmail Akudi
8 years agowilson_kay
8 years agoJonathan
8 years agoIsmail Akudi
8 years agoJonathan
8 years agoIsmail Akudi
8 years ago- PRO
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8 years agoI agree with Johnathan that the cost for going through the main wall upstairs may not be too prohibitive, as it's only holding up the roof. However the costs would still be - Structural Engineer, plans, Planning permission from Council- possibly, Steel most probably but big old wooden beam possibly + a builder. Plus on top of that you're moving a bathroom and all it's plumbing, so that's more cost and drainage work That's quite costly and is adding no value to the house at all. The only way of adding value and future saleability upstairs is to make bed 3 more useable and that way is to claw back the Study area on the landing and combine it with the bedroom. The wall between the bed 3 and the study area is almost certainly not load bearing and can be removed at no cost.
Open up the downstairs by adding a structural arch from the lounge to the second reception room / Kitchen diner. One great big space at the back of the house, and save all the pennies for bi-fold doors across the back. The best way to make sure you are absolutely correct is to show the plans to an Estate Agent and they will then confirm how much value you are adding. We have done many full renovations in a 'previous life' and always kept the Estate Agents onboard as part of the process. They will tell you what adds most value, and you always strive to do that with minimal cost.
Jonathan
8 years agominnie101
8 years agoIsmail Akudi
7 years agoJonathan
7 years agoIsmail Akudi
7 years agoYes we finally decided on the ideas below. Attaching the pictures (not to scale & drawn very poorly)
1st Floor
The master bedroom is quite small, so we are reclaiming the old boiler cupboard & storage space (on the left) to create a large wardrobe space and we are also reclaiming the ensuite space to make the room larger.
As before we are extending the small bedroom to make it larger and refitting the bathroom.
We are also (hopefully) widening the doorway leading to bathroom / end bedroom.
Ground Floor
For the kitchen we are leaving it as it for now. We are taking the wall between the dining room and kitchen away and adding an island / breakfast far (separated from the kitchen tops which we will replace in the future).
In the dining room we will remove the soil stack & boxing to claim back the corner, widen the door frame / add door leading to bottom room & shower / bathroom (to be refitted). Back wall have a mourned flat to on the wall and (eventually) a long thin electric fire with log fire effect under the TV along with a small couch.
For the lounge, a flat screen on the back wall with some recliner couches and to the left near the window corner a wood burning stove with a flue going straight out and along the side of the house. With either a granite or exposed brick hearth and exposed brick surround.
Replacing all the laminate flooring with carpets and re-tiling the bathrooms. Pretty much paint the rest of the walls - all carpets / walls being an off white, cream or ivory colour.
Sadly the archway between the lounge & dining is plasterboard / stud wall so we cannot add the exposed brick archway we would have liked as it will have little support.
Work was due to start early August but got out back to mid August and now the builders have had someone resign meaning the job will much longer (by about 5 weeks) so won't be completed till the end of Sep. Sadly we have to vacate our premises by 31 Aug so we are working with the builders to prioritise the master bedroom & bathroom so we can live there....
A lot of work and challenges.... In need of divine intervention!
Ismail Akudi
7 years ago
Graeme Collin
7 years agoGraeme Collin
7 years agoIsmail Akudi
7 years agoIsmail Akudi
7 years agoGraeme Collin
7 years agoIsmail Akudi
7 years agoIsmail Akudi
7 years agoGraeme Collin
7 years agoIsmail Akudi
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoHi everyone.
We are now progressing with the house bur need some help / advice. We have decided to take down most of the wall between the dining room and kitchen & build an island that will sit half in the kitchen and the other half in the dining room. (See plan).
In the dining room we decided, instead of a formal dining table, we
would place a log /bench type table (the kind you get in a pub outside
or in a canteen) - right in the corner where by the wall between the
lounge & dining room (where they meet the corner or bedroom 4 as in
the plan). The table could be a great idea for a more formal meal as
it would be for to sit more socially. But we want to use a storage
bench / box (maybe an Ottoman style) along the walls with plenty of
cushions to sit on / against the wall. This type of seating would
continue across both walls in the corner, skip past the opening (leading to the shower / bedroom 4) and
continue on into the corner where the dining room & kitchen meet (in
front of the shower room).
So it looks sort of like this (more like the second picture with the brown table)
Diamond Avenue · More Info
MacGroveland, St Paul · More InfoSo it looks sort of like this (more like the second picture with the brown table). We love the type of seating / cushions in the first picture (white & blue).
Since we do not know where we can buy such tyoe of seating. We
thought we could, perhaps, recreate it by buying some wooden storage
benches / boxes and add plenty of cushions on them to make them more
comfortable to sit / lounge on.Not sure if our ideas are cominf across in my posts but in case you do understand. Does anyone have any suggestions / ideas?
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