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Re-design ground floor help

10 years ago

Hi. Apologies for the naff drawings. We are having a loft conversion to our bungalow and have free reign to re-design the ground floor.

We want the kitchen to be visible to the living room, and we want to have the stairs in the hallway space rather than give up the toy room/4th bedroom.

We are trying to squeeze a downstairs loo in but it's proving tricky.

If we go full open plan then we have to lose the space in the toy room as don't want a loo in sight of the kitchen.

If we run the stairs to start in the dining space and wind up into the designated hallway (not so open plan) then I think I can tuck a small loo in under the stairs and in the hallway, therefore retaining toy room.

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome!!

Thanks

Featured Answer

Jonathan

10 years ago

Is there room to build a porch and wc on the side?

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Comments (12)

PRO
Amber Jeavons
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Hello John,

(going by your top pic only) What about taking the wall between living room and toy room and creating a slatted divider.. Put a small loo in the (external wall) corner of toy room divided off with sliding or bifold door to enter. Toy room then becomes smaller too of course and could also have sliding doors...
It could have other possibilities in that you might at some point consider it a study or small home office, reading room for either your children or you and wife/partner. This too if you ever considered selling can then be sold on as a multi- functioning space that can fit a variety of prospective buyers..
This takes out the corridor and makes the living room seem more open on two sides whilst retaining some degree of separation re where loo could be situated.. It also offers the entrance more light and a feeling of space.. For the kitchen consider an island that morphs into dining and therefore may afford you more space. It could be designed to be functional and social but by linking them in some way means you could give yourself more space as you don't have to have such a degree of separation between island and dining and therefore dining might be able to be slightly more central to the room.
It's currently to one side which is fine too, I rather like the idea of island and dining to be somehow connected. Some ideas perhaps that might be interesting.. :))
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Hi. I'd have the utility/loo at the top off the kitchen (front of house) so you have the whole of the back of the house opening onto the garden. I'd run the utility parallel with the hall wall and have another entrance into the kitchen (just need to be careful if using the loo!). That should give you a utility of just under 7ft deep. The kitchen would then be a long L shape and give you 17ft for kitchen/dining. It does mean taking washing through the kitchen if you hang it in the garden but personally would much rather have the open living space but depends what you prefer! I'd also put in double doors from the kitchen end too and move the others along so you have a clear view out when opening the door from the hall. Bifolds would be great across the back but obviously not cheap.
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Mulled 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.
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I am not a fan of the dog leg designs - I am unsure about the pinch point but also I am not a fan of the much more awkwardly sized and shaped sitting room. I am sitting somewhere around.. 3-5-4. It may help you to see them drawn up properly - so may be worth consulting a concept planner / interior design layout package to be able to see it.. this will show you what you can fit. With my layout package, we also have 3D images and a 3D video included so you can see what it looks like from different angles - i.e how much of the back can you see, what does the step in the dog leg look like, what can you fit into the utility at different points. Layout packages are cheaper than getting an architect or redoing plans once you have them, so it is a good first step to ensure you get it the right the first time. I think 4 is a great contender! ... I like that it keeps the back nice and open, and I like the access and size of the sitting room. I like that the utility is at the front in the darker area but still with good access (this would depend on the kitchen position). I like the size of the open plan and the impact it will have on entering from the hallway. It is also great that you keep some of the garages for storage as that is actually invaluable in most homes (to have that bit of storage - Christmas tree, tools etc). It is hard to give too much input because we usually do an in-depth brief to really understand how you want the space to work and what is required within it - but 4 is where I would be looking and tweeking things (3 maybe a little more cramped having a longer, less squared space). I hope that helps and wish you the best of luck with your project. Do keep us all updated. Gina
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I’m glad you are excited about your new home- you are spending a lot of money so you should be excited. And I’m pleased you like my alternative- I really wasn’t keen on the first plan. In fairness to the architect though they may have been designing to a specific budget and my original plan was a fraction bigger- if you want more still that means building bigger again. so the revision below is bigger. I use an app called HouseDesign but it’s no longer available on the App Store. It does however illustrate you can get good amateur results when exploring creative options. Although you are of course going to check the measurements I think I have correctly shown the size- so yes that upstairs arrangement does fit. You should just satisfy yourself that you will get planning permission to build that close to the boundary. And I’m not a professional but since you are looking at creative options it may be cost effective to explore these with a designer or a concept planner before returning to your architect. In the meantime I have interpreted your requested changes here:
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Grace Bloggs
10 years ago
I would avoid having the bottom of the stairs in the living space personally - from my experience noise and heat travel straight up. If you turn the loo room 90 degrees and have access from the hallway I think that gives a better shape to the toy room?
John Smith
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the ideas all.

Porch and loo not an option as looking to extend to side in 3-5 years.

Lots of ideas there, unsure how all that would work with toy room but appreciate the detailed response.

We did want a dining table that met with the island with some type of waterfall solid wood but were worried we'd be blocking out the bifolds.

Re: point about bottom of stairs in living space, alternative is to go up in hall and have the bulk head in dining area space. Then would defo need loo in toy room as don't want loo in dining space which is where space under bulk head would be.

Thanks again.
PRO
User
10 years ago
Dimensions would really help a lot as it's difficult to denote space allocation without knowing exactly what's availble.
PRO
Interior View Design
10 years ago
Dimensions are really one of the most important things here as then we could get actual scale of areas. I like the second plan, but then with dimensions the layouts could be more defined and a design which will give you the area you desire could be planned.
John Smith
Original Author
10 years ago
Apologies guys. Ground floor is 28 x 20 feet. About 8.5 x 6 metres.

The squared papers is roughly 1 foot per square.

Toy room is 9'6" both ways.

Kitchen run is about 13 feet.

Thanks
Jonathan
10 years ago
Alternative idea
Jonathan
10 years ago
Alternative idea
John Smith
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you Jonathan. We have talked a lot about bringing the door round but never considered the play room at the back. That would give much better access to garden for kids. Thanks again.
PRO
User
10 years ago
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 !
John Smith
Original Author
10 years ago
We are having a loft conversion which is being floated on the external walls. Hence being able take down walls etc. Thanks for your efforts with the designs, much appreciated!

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