Help me with floor plans - modernise bungalow

6 years ago

Hi, I'm hoping you can help me to modernise an large 1970s bungalow approx 3200sqft. I've drawn out the plans and thought of some ways to eliminate the small rooms and create some larger living spaces. The centre pics of the house would be a double sided walk around feature fireplace.

Really interested to hear people's opinions and other layout ideas!

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Jonathan

6 years ago

My counter proposition...... for me your original plan had the principal reception at the heart of the house and this always felt disconnected from the view which I assume was a big reason for buying the house. This is why I suggested the bedroom was knocked out to make room for a reception room with a view. To connect it with the view you could fully glaze the front gable and then have an oversized staircase in a large open plan hallway and then the double reception you planned with the two sided fireplace could have a view over the entrance to the view beyond.
You will notice that I have suggested an alternative bedroom layout as in my opinion the master should have the best ensuite.

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Comments (16)

Jonathan
6 years ago
Good thinking to consider the position of the sun. Could you also post a note of where the drive, garage and garden are, plus how many bedrooms you want.
The reason I am asking this is because if the best sun hits the bedroom near the kitchen perhaps this should be a reception space with a westerly window, if the best garden is near the bedrooms perhaps the kitchen should swap. If the front door is near the road or car parking perhaps the master bedroom would be more private at the back. Since you have a lot of space you should also think about if you want to make any rooms dedicated to your interests.... perhaps you want a wine cave, laundry room, office, kid playroom, cinema room, craft room, boot room, tack room, etc etc
threethree five
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks for the reply Jonathan, I've mocked up the site layout with some additional details. The house is on a hill and on a steepish gradient. I've also added google map satellite view to give a good idea of well matured the area is (The google maps screenshot give a very good indication of the hill based on the shadow cast by the house compared to the other 2 in the picture. There are 3 house in a cul de sac.

I had thought of converting Bed 5 into a study/den/man cave but that would be further down the line.

Our main priorities right now are functional living space/ kitchen + master bedrooms.

You can see from the google map image there is a shadow cast on the garden view out of the kitchen window, the other window in the new kitchen is just overlooking the hedge.

The more I look at it the more skeptical I become!
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Jonathan
6 years ago
Great house. I have enjoyed imagining what I would do to it..... of course in my mind there is unlimited budget.
For me there are a few things that don’t sit so well- for instance I think the extra long drive encourages you to only ever use the back door and it occupies the sunniest part of the garden, the entrance hallway is in my opinion not big enough for the house, the stair position is no good if you ever wanted to extend upwards, the best view should be enjoyed by the front reception but there is a fireplace in the middle of the view and I think the current trend in larger properties is towards bigger bathrooms not just more bathrooms. I also think that a property this size needs a bigger kitchen. This is of course just my opinion.
For me I would get rid of the side drive and have this as a sitting area to enjoy the elevated view and afternoon sun and relocate a reception room and kitchen doors to this side. I would be planning a later extension beyond the north gable to have a better connection with the back garden.
I would be investigating a garage lower down the drive- given the slope I hope this would be sufficiently downhill so that it would not obscure any views- perhaps you could even put a terrace on its roof.
Because of the elevated southerly aspect I would want to put a new terrace on the front of the southerly gable and in what is currently the sunken living room replace the fireplace with doors to this new terrace.
Personally I would spread out and have a larger master suite than you were planning. At the back of the house you should get the breakfast sun and more privacy than if you had front facing windows next to the front door.
I would have two front facing bedrooms, I suspect that the lower level bedroom could be made into an ensuite bedroom later and with my suggested stair repositioning you also have the option of extending upwards later.
It might be worth paying a designer to help you with the creative side of things. Look for a designer or a concept planner who will spend time helping you to decide what you want from the layout and to help you visualise it before you knock down any walls or even apply for any necessary permission.
And of course Houzz is a great resource along the way to help with decisions as they occur and I am sure that everyone would love to hear regular updates.
Jonathan
6 years ago
You might also consider moving the front door to the conservatory to make the bedroom wing more private
threethree five
Original Author
6 years ago
If only money were no object!!

Really like what you have done here - aside from money issues I believe a bigger challenge would be to get planning permission to change the front or side of the house.

I'll have to spend some more time looking over your plan, I'm sure I'll have some questions!

1 very important thing I forgot to mention is that there are stairs up to the main entrance. The downstairs bedroom has 2 large supports going through the ceiling meaning there is only ~6ft head room - I would likely have to look at lowering the floor to make real use of this space.

I have added some stills from a video I took to give a better idea of the landscaping, layout and gradient.
Jonathan
6 years ago
Thanks for the pictures.....it is actually very similar to how I had imagined it except I didn't imagine such a cheerful colour and I now realise that the roof pitch is too shallow to allow a loft extension. I can also see that lots of the plot is shaded so presumably this is also a consideration inside the house.

Given the likely high cost of excavating bedroom 5 for additional head height I might be tempted to see if the money could be used to add square footage elsewhere. The flattest parts of the plot seem to be the right hand side near the bedroom wing and where the shed is currently which I thought might be the case and so I had future extensions in mind when playing with the layout.

Since the roof pitch is low perhaps you should be planning roof lights as part of the renovations to let in more light.

Of course planning will be required for external changes but if you decide this is good for you then I would investigate it. You can always have an informal chat with your local planning office although in my experience they rarely tend to give you advice about the likely end decision but at least it would assure you that the process is not as difficult as sometimes thought.
Jonathan
6 years ago
Bumping this thread as I am surprised there is not more comment
threethree five
Original Author
6 years ago
After getting inspiration and ideas from your layout, I threw a budget out the window and started asking myself what would I do if money was no object.

I started by tackling one of my bigger issues with the house - the 1970's facade. See front elevation view of house as it stands now:

Current Facade:

The layout below modernizes the face of the house (something I didn't think was possible) by making the main entrance on the ground floor - the 'Wow factor' comes from a double staircase on leading up to either the main hall or the sitting room, double height single pane windows mean both staircases are visible from the outside (Also letting tons of light through). The ground floor entrance is large enough to be used as a separate living space by itself (which is no harm as the staircase into the sitting room reduces its size. The only planning changes are to the centre section of the front facade.

Updated Facade and Layout:

Thinking the new front would look well finished with stone.

Per your advice the fireplace is now moved to the side of the sitting room leaving a large centre window and the kitchen is now utilising the old utility space by removing the old kitchen W.C

I also took the advice on Bed 3 but I have left the original master as is. The hotpress is now in Bed 3's old ensuite.

I couldn't even hazard a guess on the cost of works detailed above.....
Jonathan
6 years ago
I am loving that you are feeling inspired. I have some thoughts about your design and a counter proposition.
Personally I wouldn’t have a fireplace in the front reception as I think you naturally point the furniture towards the focal point and equally the view is a focal point. As an alternative you could have a wood burner style stove in front of the glass.
Your plan has the front door entering into an area with modest ceiling height that would be very costly to excavate. I think it may be more impactful to have a double height hallway and just one impressive staircase, the front reception and downstairs room could remain where you might choose an office or occasional bedroom.
Jonathan
6 years ago
Additional photos
Jonathan
6 years ago
Further idea
Jonathan
6 years ago
Since you are unhappy with the frontage you might consider updating the bay as well. You could continue the theme of glazing like the front gable or you could swap the subservient structure you have now for something with more presence and more glass to enjoy the view.
threethree five
Original Author
6 years ago
Great ideas Jonathan - thanks!

I had originally thought of a single double height staircase which would replace the current wooden external stairs but I'd struggle to justify spending money on this when the facade just looks wrong:

I tried a number of different options to balance the front face of the house but am really struggling, even with free reign and a fictitious infinite budget!

I really like the concept of a double height full entrance, A negative I see here is losing the 200 sqft of real estate and the shear expense of that wall of glass. To make it look really well it would have to be converted to a vaulted ceiling.

In your latest mock up what would you do with the space highlighted below?

I struggled with this in my original proposal, opting to make it part of the open plan room as I couldnt find a purpose for it, also a major part of the decision was that I thought it would block light to the open plan room in the evenings.

The open plan room is 4.14m x 7.80m, would you think this is too narrow + long?
Jonathan
6 years ago
As far as the facade goes I think that you can have balance without symmetry. When you get to the stage of speaking to a builder you might find the aspiration challenges the budget but perhaps you might keep the chimney breast, perhaps you will glaze with panels that are a standard size and perhaps you won’t vault the ceiling and perhaps in the lower section you won’t have glazing but instead have cladding to give the illusion of glazing.
As far as loosing real estate I think you should check with an estate agent- I suspect they will tell you that creating a great first impression will make up for it.
You have highlighted a corridor I created in the middle. This was specifically to separate rooms so that if one person is watching tv there is somewhere else to go. It also allows you to have a private guest wc without using the bedroom wing. There is also a benefit of separating an entertaining room and a separate room where the focus can be the TV. In answer to your question I don’t think that the open plan room is too long and narrow although in honesty I don’t love the idea of the two sided fireplace as I think it limits furniture placement and excludes the possibility of having a TV in this space meaning (for lots of us who rely on TV) that it is no good for big family christmases.
Jonathan
6 years ago
Any updates on this?