Help! Advice needed on a major reno
Hi everyone
well first happy new year & thanks again to everyone who has (generously, exhaustively) commented on my very detailed previous posts.
I've now made some more progress towards finalising plans for a renovation to our coastal timber house, hoping to make it more comfortable for our family of 4 & all the guests we have to stay.
A draftsman has measured our existing layout accurately. Yay!
But also I got a Bushfire attack assessment and discovered that new windows (or moved ones) would need bushfire shutters, like an aluminium roller door sitting in a metal canister above the top of the window ... they stay open unless there's a fire so do not alter views from inside but they add to the cost of the renovation.
Anyway, with these bushfire requirements to comply with - and with Houzzers past comments making it worryingly clear just how expensive lots of fiddly changes would be - I've been plugging away desperately at my renovation plan, studying the previous ideas people have given me on here, and trying to come up with something less involved that still meets our needs.
Part of that has been trying to refine our ultimate priorities & the floorplan issues we absolutely HAVE to fix - some of which were highlighted by how many guests we had staying over xmas, where the limits of our current floor plan were insanely annoying. Such as: bedrooms being small and poky; kids not sleeping because the tv was too loud & all bedrooms but are open to noise from living areas; everyone having to wake up the minute the first kid woke again because of noise; people constantly getting stuck in our kitchen every time we opened the pantry or fridge, and also people getting stuck in the long long narrow central hallway.
I've now come up with a rough plan that addresses these problems using as much as possible of what is already in our house. (just dont look too closely at the kitchen or lounge - the overall floor plan changes have stumped me so much I lost energy to add any changes here - but dining/kitchen should swap places, will go with a plan suggested in previous houzz comments - still studying them to decide which combo of ideas to go with)
All of the bedrooms are bigger & off a hallway along with the main bathroom, the long narrow central hall is shortened.
To make the scope of the renovation clearer - I marked up the changes on our existing house plans.
Here now are the new plans Ive roughed up:
If anyone's got any patience left for me - after all my requests for help!!! :) - I'd really REALLY love some ideas for how we might better use the eastern end of our house without changing too much.
currently this is where we have a linen cupboard, WC, laundry, vanity room, bathroom.
A previous idea (thank you to oklouise for it) was to turn the end of the family room into a small bedroom/office & then the main lounge could remain as it is. Good idea BUT there are times when our bedrooms are all full to the brim and we'd love every bedroom to be off a hall as otherwise things are just not comfortable.
I have 2 ideas for changes for this section-
1. it could all be a master suite - with an office going where the laundry is now; linen/WC and vanity room could be an ensuite; bathroom could be a compact WIW
OR
2. the laundry (with a new layout), linen, hallway could stay as they are - and the vanity room and bathroom and WC become an ensuite - with the main bedroom having a BIR. By leaving the laundry there we wouldn't have to touch our garage.
thank you in advance for any thoughts you might have!!!! if it would help you to see a better clearer drawing than my mark up of the existing plan, just let me know! :)
and lastly - additional background for you....
Here are our existing plans obtained from council:
here is a rough sketch the draftsman did with actual accurate measurements of our existing plan- he has not provided a CAD yet so it is rough & not drawn to scale
And lastly here are my previous posts as an FYI
[https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/help-needed-for-our-big-reno-plans-dsvw-vd~4495048[(https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/help-needed-for-our-big-reno-plans-dsvw-vd~4495048)
[https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/bedrooms-straight-off-a-living-area-yes-or-no-dsvw-vd~4501940[(https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/bedrooms-straight-off-a-living-area-yes-or-no-dsvw-vd~4501940)
[https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/need-some-thoughts-on-reno-plans-dsvw-vd~4903887[(https://www.houzz.com.au/discussions/need-some-thoughts-on-reno-plans-dsvw-vd~4903887)
thank you :) :)
liz
Comments (41)
siriuskey
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoWow Liz, I have just done a very rough sketch, Adults Master suite/Study/lounge/retreat at the front of the house. Kids bedrooms x 2 off family. Bathroom to stay in same position in line with bedrooms, remove everything else blocking the view, add deck across the rear.
Laundry with toilet and shower in rear of garage along with 2 extra guest bedrooms.
I think this would be a cost effective way to make your house work, with good separation between adults and kids when needed.
You could possibly make access down the side of the garage so that everyone could enter the house via the deck into the family room or kitchen. Forgot to draw the deck across the full length of the rear of the house. Adults to use the front lounge/ retreat at night for watching TV.
Elisabeth Henderson
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRelated Discussions
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Comments (7)If you can't move the front door, I wouldn't look to add a hallway as that room will become 1.7ish wide and not much more than a narrow single/office. If you can move the door, I'd go in on the side. Create the 3rd bed from the reception room and make the conservatory a solid brick building that is kitchen/diner/lounge. I'd be wary of the drains/plumbing. I'd guess they're somewhere along the back wall and will be very expensive to move if you want to extend left of the current conservatory....See MoreElisabeth Henderson
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agoAgree with that OK, except I have already moved the laundry to the rear of the garage with access from the kitchen, at the moment it has the laundry and WC with an out door shower which can be made private beach style to service any guests.
A kitchen plan to look at, which would only give approx 900 ea side of the 600 wide bench, it would act as a barrier for those traveling to the laundry and garage bunk room. It also acts as a servery to the Alfresco space
Elisabeth Henderson thanked siriuskeysiriuskey
6 years agoThe Master suite Parents retreat, the WIR could always be used as a nursery. I have kept the toilet in the same place to save the cost of moving it.
Elisabeth Henderson thanked siriuskeyoklouise
6 years agobased on new dimensions my suggestions aim to retain as much as possible with the original bathroom reduced in size to create an ens and master bed with biw, the old laundry retained as a multipurpose space...the new laundry is in the refurbished garage with the external door closer to the clothesline, recycled kitchen cabinets could be used for storage of sleeping bags, bean bags and wall hung folding tables, chairs and tv, painted floor, insulated walls and ceiling...the major improvement is an optional "kick out" style mini extension for the new kitchen to create better space for the sink, dw and a servery window to the deck...there's now 3 distinct bedrooms, 2 study sized rooms, the rumpus room and the lounge that can be used as sleeping rooms separate from the family, dining room and kitchen
Elisabeth Henderson thanked oklouisesiriuskey
6 years agoMy latest thoughts for you to go over this evening, trying to keep the wonderful view through the house and separating parents and kids zones, without altering bathroom positions and moving walls.
I have included an office behind plantation shutters in the Living room, both lounges could be night n day for guests You could even include a desk in the new WIR under the window
The family bathroom has a wonderful view.
Elisabeth Henderson thanked siriuskeyElisabeth Henderson
6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoback again - having tackled those plans. before I explain them though, just to respond to your questions & ideas
- oklouise, great ideas for smartening up the garage & having folding tables painted floor; we had been thinking of painting floors, painting walls & fixing holes etc, roof already insulated, we could also add wall insulation.... also we could tidy, store and possibly move garage things somewhere else (like the mower), I was hoping we could add proper damp proof storage under our house (under where laundry is now) as the highest space is too low for a room, it is 2m. but if we lay down a slab, adding walls, ceiling it would be a great storage space. if we can't afford to do it now we would do later but would prefer to do with everything else so we dont have to bring the trades back.
- siriuskey like your laundry plan idea, it looks awesome... also definitely good idea re keeping master where it is... thank you so much for those drawings you did! I liked them a lot, but I do have a variation to that (with master staying where it is) - below - love to know what you think of it.
- re our kitchen - if it moved to the dining area I was thinking of settling for 900mm aisles either side of an island - so long as extra space could go in front of the pantry and fridge. Or we could use a 400mm wide island for 1m aisles. Oklouise I liked your bigger kitchen so much, but unfortunately to move our house out onto deck is expensive, lots of tricky changes involved & council & bushfire compliance steps to meet - but one option to widen room would be to steal space - eg 20cm from the lounge room?? moving the walls in western direction? they are just stud walls where as our exterior walls are load bearing so much more involved to move them, could this make the kitchen space bigger/better?
I'm now attaching some other plans I've thought of (twiddled from your plans oklouise!! :) ) - I'd love you to take a look:
Plan A has master at eastern end, kids off entry hall - it is a favourite of mine because it retains so much of what we have now and gives us a lot of what we want. I'd really love your thoughts on it.
especially would the family room be big enough for a decent amount of lounge room furniture?
And what do you think of having an office sort of an alcove beyond the family room - this could be my office but the kids could use it after school for home work and supervised computer work if we have a glass door to the family room.
an alternative would be leaving the laundry where it is. Or is it too weird to consider having a laundry in a hallway on the way to the master bedroom? the reason the laundry would be good staying where it is, is that it already has a doorway out to the deck which is where we nearly always hang our washing out, the laundry stuff could be concealed in a cupboard/behind curtains so it doesn't look ugly, perhaps a shallow ledge might fit there too to allow other work to happen out there? also if the laundry stayed put, perhaps the back of the garage could have a pantry instead of a laundry to help make the kitchen better?
I tried to come up with a kitchen layout extending it into the lounge room (rather than out onto the deck) - I know i haven't put the kitchen things in the right spots & its all a bit terrible but I wanted to give you the idea of what I was sort of thinking
Also I added the dimensions of our kitchen table and the fireplace too, so you know how big they are. Dining table is extension one - oval when extended, circular when not
Plan B moves master too - but walls are removed at the end of the family room for the view- FYI the master here is squishy with BIR alongside bed but I know it can be done because we used to have this same layout in our current master, we especially got skinny bedsides so 2 would fit... I played around with a wild kitchen idea too.... getting a bit desperate here though probably!!
Plan C is more involved - it keeps bedrooms where they are - kids rooms are equal sizes, but a kid would have to give up their room & they'd have to share whenever we had a couple over to stay (as a queen bed couldn't fit in the small office/guest room).
On the plus side though (with extra changes to existing structure) this plan would also allow for a shallow - say 1000mm deep - pantry, or at least an alcove where you could put a pantry and fridge - where the existing study is (shared with ensuite? also with WIR?) then the kitchen could stay where it is... this has its pluses in that when guests are here now we can see and speak to people in either dining or family room from the kitchen, which we both really like.
You might think 'well thats a lot of changes to keep the kids bedrooms the same size they are now'. But in this plan they would be 3380 x 3000. Where with the current configuration - with the alcove/hall and back to back BIRS - the actual functional space of the bedrooms (the place where you can put furniture) is only 3380 x 2380mm, this is just too small.
sorry to inundate you again with so much info and so many ideas.... I know its all so very very involved, so I'm incredibly grateful for your patience, insights, drawings and thoughts!
Now - off to have about 3 more coffees to add to the 3 I've already had today! :) :)
girlguides
6 years agooklouise
6 years agofirst response was to redraw the original plans with measurements as close to accurate as possible and i've included a blank plan to be easier for you to use (make a bigger copy of the blank plan then redraw over the top with tracing paper)...my suggested kitchen window was not an extension (more like a bay window pushed out the old window opening and only big enough for the standard kitchen bench and is like a wide doorway from inside without changing the roof or floor and looks like a shallow enclosed verandah with a window servery from the deck) but wouldn't be cheap (but an optional extra to talk over with the builder....
i'll now study your latest ideas and respond asap
Elisabeth Henderson thanked oklouiseElisabeth Henderson
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years ago3D shows the view and the long narrow passage from the front entrance of the house and looking at entrance to the laundry and the ensuite
Second 3D without laundry and the lovely outlook
cheers
Elisabeth Henderson thanked siriuskeyoklouise
6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agolovely idea, soft grey paint, i have a feeling I bought some from aldi wayyyy back for the garage but never got around to doing it!
I've just revised Plan B with an improved 20cm wider kitchen. It is like siriuskey's suggested one and its simple so could be a flat pac.
Pantry/fridge placed on garage common wall, along with the lounge doorway, because the pantry/fridge need extra space in front - so it made sense for the doorway (which also requires a space) to go there too. Sink in the island for view & because people also congregate there so it benefits from extra space to the side of it.
By grouping the tall things together, this lounge door/fridge/pantry placement also allows a long island and a long run of cupboards & countertop (varying from 60cm deep in old dining to 40cm deep in old kitchen) right along the former dining/kitchen walls. The aisle either side of island is 1m.
I think this would work actually?
siriuskey
6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoyes yes :) tbh though I think I could go both ways as I see benefits to both.
here are some pix of what it looks like when you have a view via another room...
Elisabeth Henderson
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agoWell done, smaller house doesn't have to feel small. I would also like to see the entrance via the kitchen into the front room removed, it brings too much traffic through the kitchen.
The living room is a great place to bring people into especially if you're in a big mess ,along with any possible clients. It's also a parent escape and visiting elder sister on one of the night and day lounges.
The kitchen island only needs a small sink being only 600 deep, keeping the bigger one and the mess on the back wall
Sorry to nag again but I wish that you would not only keep the entrance to the living room off the front entrance but the study office with lovely barn style doors if you would like to close it off when not in use
I've added a fireplace with a ledge, you could have the TV above or beside. cheers
oklouise
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoadding to the choices, my suggestions include a more generous ensuite with original bathroom window, up to 5m of biw and freestanding furniture for the master instead of the wiw, old laundry converted to multipurpose space with bigger eastern window, glass sliding entry door moved to western end of family dining room, unchanged south and west windows, repositioned biw for small bedrooms, family bathroom in the old study with old ens converted to separate toilet with basin, original living divided into small lounge and study/bedroom with new window, the original opening between dining and living could have a wide cavity slider to be able to keep the view through from the new kitchen to the front garden, the door into the garage is moved to allow for better placement of kitchen cabinets with new kitchen window opening to the deck with servery counters to deck and lounge, IKEA cabinets or similar along the walls for dining storage, laundry in the garage with no dividing wall, garage upgraded as previously suggested and, once the long hallway is removed, the entry foyer won't feel so cramped and you'll be glad you kept the original linen cupboard
and the 3d view shows the view as you enter the family dining area from the front entry with the kitchen island on the left shown in red and the desk chair in the multipurpose room shown as purple (in front of the bigger eastern window) and with the black heater unmoved on the right
Elisabeth Henderson thanked oklouiseElisabeth Henderson
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoSiriuskey I love fireplaces on a ledge. Our fireplace is this one, it's a wood heater on legs. I did think of putting it on a ledge next to the telly, but i'm not sure if we have the room to put the lounge chairs far enough back from it for comfort- you wouldn't want to sit too close to the front when it's blasting out the heat, even the cat has to get away! I'll consider it though - once we settle on a plan, I can work out where the lounges would go and if a ledge could work
Regarding that kitchen entry to the front room, I know its not right to have traffic flowing through your kitchen triangle. But if I try to redo that front room entry, the ways I come up with muck up the whole layout - not only of the kitchen (making it a lot smaller) but of the whole floor plan, and I have to go back to the drawing board. which I just can't do again!!! I'm running out of puff and need to finalise.
At least the kitchen on plan B v2 is laid out with some buffer space around the fridge & pantry & sink so people can get past each other if they need to. not like now for us, where the kitchen is a corridor and if the fridge or pantry is open no-one can get past at all till its shut again. Imagine how annoying it is when a 7 year old is trying to decide what iceblock to have for dessert - like just happened earlier tonight!!!! :)
Elisabeth Henderson
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agoGo drain always, another reason to keep the living room separate from the kitchen is to recess the linen cupboard in the entrance back into that room keeping the entrance open " keep it simple S" always should always apply
oklouise
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agooklouise
6 years agoElisabeth Henderson
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years ago
PROVuetrade
6 years ago
siriuskey