Have a look at how this house would have been presented in 1928. See if you can find any archives from the firm which designed it. Pebble-dash has a long history of domestic use here, going back to the nineteenth century, and it is possible to renovate it or replace it with modern pebble-dash which looks very handsome. At one time a terrible pink pd was used (later twentieth century), but the look you would be after is a tawny, sandy-beach range of colours. Your house was built at a time when there was a great taste for creating manageable homes with subtle rustic touches to give a cottagey feel without making extra work for the maid/housewife or actually making it look like a real cottage (which at that time still meant the slums people were escaping as much as anything else.) The 20s were also a time when the popular taste for half-timbered and timber-framed buildings was very strong. The people who call the buildings in Canada and the US "Tudor" because of the timber decoration on the exterior derive their description from early 20th c useage in Britain. Real timber-framed etc buildings used render which had to be reparied and repainted pretty constantly. This is where pebble-dash, a vry tough material, comes in. I wouldn't lose it! I'd keep it and clean and mend it. If you get someone in to fix it the old-fashioned way you'll be surprised at the skill it takes (not unlike harling.) Look at the nice way it flares at the bottom so neatly. Don't lose these humble period details, I beg of you. But rethink the porch and hide the burglar-alarm.

Hi, it is hard as effectively you've only got one ŵall! Have you tried the small sofa in the bay so where the armchair and tv are now? Would the tv go to the right of the fire or even over the top? It would mean losing the armchair though, will it fit in a corner of the dining room? Or maybe angle the small sofa between the bay and corner of the fireplace, move the bookcase where the packing cases are and put the armchair in that other corner. Or would you consider blocking access to the dining room through that door? Will the small sofa fit on the rhs of the dining room?? You obviously can't move the table as the light is centred

Thanks for your help and advice- all really useful and helping me sort the confusion of what I need and want and what is and isn't possible. The skinny space is the kitchen now. It's not ideal as of course is very small and narrow so can't house much. But I like that it's just off the reception room and. It quite in it! The kitchen houses the boiler currently and all pipe work there for oven and sink etc so I know this can be the kitchen but just worried the space is too small. My original plan was to keep the kitchen where it is but rehouse boiler and put washing machine in the toilet. The toilet would go in the bathroom but of course now that's not possible I need to put the boiler and washing machine somewhere and if back in the kitchen then I lose so much space. Could such a small space work? I need to rule out this ideal by speaking to a specially that deals with very small spaces. Any recommendations please?

Thanks Jonathan, good to hear that our budget doesn't sound way off! We know we're in a pricier part of the country, but have been shocked at the quotes received so far. I didn't think our design was that elaborate! We have one steel where we are opening up the back of the house to push the kitchen out, plus a vaulted ceiling there with a couple of Velux windows. Our plan includes a couple of new french doors, but not bifolds or anything, so no major glazing costs. One things that could push costs up is our extension roof as its a slightly odd design (flattened a bit at the apex) due to jobsworth planning officer. We were also hoping to have it vaulted with one Velux, so there may be costs there with insulation, wiring, beams etc, although the engineer didn't think a ridge steel was necessary. There are no major plot limitations or access issues. We do need our existing tandem garage demolishing, plus removal of possible asbestos roof and moving the manhole to the new side passage. We also know that one corner of our new kitchen will need deeper foundations due to our leylandii hedge (which we'll probably remove at some point anyway!) - we've already had a fruit tree removed so it didn't impact the other side of the foundations. We have also asked for under-floor heating in the kitchen and know that we'll need to move/replace our boiler and possibly have a new consumer unit. We also asked them to quote for a couple of "extra" bits, like replacing the existing ancient front windows to match new ones, refitting current family bathroom, and stripping out some ugly wood cladding in the hallway. So I guess there are some issues and extras there which we need to explore further..... but we thought we had allowed for some of them by setting our budget around £100k and holding £50k back for spec decisions and unforeseen bits and bobs. We will definitely be speaking to the first builder who quoted £155k ex kitchen and bathrooms, as his quote was the most thorough and we had a good feeling about him. I think perhaps there can be some further discussion with him around costings and where we could make savings (or put things off until a later date). We were keen to get all quotes in before entering discussions, but the remaining two are taking an age.......