Open plan project
We have recently purchased a 3 bed 1970's detached house which has been renovated a number times by previous owners. The house layout doesn't really work, it's a bit of a mish mash and has had a badly thought out extension added at some point which is currently a fairly unusable long room.
We've been messing about with a few ideas, the most favourable is detailed below however would like some input from the Houzz community and some fresh eyes and ideas would be very welcome!
Potential renovation:
This is my partners mock up of a view from the rear of the house. The main changes that can be seen are to the open plan kitchen/dining/seating area, however towards the back, the front door has been moved to the side extension and the current downstairs loo has been made into a wet room by blocking off the old front door and extending the bathroom into the old entrance corridor.
We have a 1.5 year old daughter with another on the way, due any day, so the layout needs to work as a growing family space. I am particularly keen to have a proper entrance way (the current location next to the small downstairs loo isn't working) where we can fit a bench and proper storage for prams and coats while the girls are small, and later bikes, PE kit etc. We are also keen to keep a 'snug' for cosy family nights watching movies or playing games (currently labelled Lounge on plan).
Perhaps you can see something we can't or have done a similar renovation? If you have plans or photos or ideas I'd love to hear from you!
Comments (20)
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bedroom opens on to open plan livingroom /kitchen
Comments (1)Which arrangement?...See MoreTo open plan or not to open plan??
Comments (2)I think it would look great open plan and make the dining room lighter and the kitchen bigger. I'd build a wall from wc to hallway and make that the new utility room and keep the wc where it is. I'd then move the kitchen into the dining room, knock out all the hallway doors for a dining room table and have some sofas in your sun room (remove current utility room wall too)...See MoreOpen plan or not open plan ?
Comments (2)I think it will look fine but you need a fire escape route from the bedroom and so this plan won't pass building regs. Have you considered putting the kitchen into the bathroom, making the living room bigger by extending into the kitchen then creating a new bathroom off the bedroom...See MoreOpen plan or semi open plan? Floor plan / furniture layout help please
Comments (5)Hi all, Thank you for your comments; I appreciate them! Natasha - the units you have suggested are very much what I had in mind. We will have a shaker kitchen and the media unit would also be shaker style and would have 4-6 cupboards with the TV in the middle with book shelves either side. Part of the reason we kept a partial wall was to make the space more usable. I can’t envision how the fully open plan room will be able to meet all our needs, but I am open to ideas! I feel that open plan would be more impressive, but potentially less usable. With regards to the doors. I do plan to reverse the doors both into the kitchen and family room part, but couldn’t work out how to do it on the app I used for the floor plan. It is a 1920s house and we have the original doors which we are planning to keep. We are also keeping a lot of floor space as when the table is not extended, we still have young children with lots of Lego and trains etc. I plan for these to be hidden in the cupboards at bedtime. J - we haven’t installed the kitchen but we have ordered it and paid a big deposit. Some of the units are bespoke/irregular sizes and I don’t think we would be willing to change this. I have attached a photo of our rendered kitchen plan. Thanks again for your comments. It is good to have other people’s opinions and ideas....See More- 10 years ago
Here is a very rough sketch of how the layout would look, and not at all to scale, sorry! Have asked my other half to send me the floor plan he's done too.
I agree that the entrance hall, although fabulous(!) would take up a lot of space which could be used as a room. I have also attached a photo of the front of the house from an old google image, it's on a slight incline with the driveway at the front, the grass area has since been covered in shrubs and roses but the trees etc on the right are all gone. Ideas for a porch would be very welcome!
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10 years agoThanks for the plan :-)
I really like how you have got rid of the wasted space in that corridor (which I assume was probably really dark too!).
I got the impression the lounge would be more of a family/tv room than formal guest area - with young children that may seem like a waste of space! So having it off the open plan kitchen wouldn't be a problem. Having said that it looks like you are taking the fireplace out anyway so you could put a door straight in there from the new hallway. Might be worth doing for flexible living as the children grow/you sell up?
I don't know if it would be practical with structural walls etc but given you are planning moving the front door anyway could you have the entrance hall where the new lounge is currently going? Make that space slightly narrower and have the snug off to the right and the wet room off to the left, with a door straight from the hall.
I've attached a (felt-tip!) picture!
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10 years agoDo you really need a wet room downstairs? I've moved the lounge wall over a little, made the window smaller, but made the hallway bigger.
or if you wanted to keep the cupboard, you just make the island smaller.
This could be a lot cheaper than moving the front door, plus if you've forgotten something, you have to leave the kids in the car, run in the other end of the house, through the kitchen, up the stairs to get whatever you have forgotten. just seems a long way to go for a forgotten jumper ;)
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