Open plan redesign
Hi,
I brought a renovated house, which has an open plan kitchen/diner/living area. I love to cook and the current kitchen doesn't have enough workspace for me, ideally I'd like to turn the island around and make it longer, or look at taking down the wall in front of the fridge as there's currently a 'corridor' to the utility room. I'd also like to knock through the front room into the open living space, we currently use it as a playroom so need ideas on how we can re-claim it as a lounge but still have some space for our children to use as a den/homework area when they're older.
I'm rubbish on design so no ideas about decoration, it's currently all beige.
Any ideas or tips at all?
Comments (6)
PRO7 years agoHi - if you are thinking of moving/knocking through any walls, the best thing to do is to get a professional opinion on what is possible as you may have a load bearing steel in front of your fridge - but don't quote me. An architect can give you a free quote (many independent ones do) and they can tell you the implications and costs.
For your lounge to family room if you do decide to knock through I would suggest you have a designated grown up space and have a more casual area for children to use and to later be able to do their homework. In your new area lounge, you could move your sofa and television, whilst the secondary area could be more casual where you could have some shelves (maybe placed high up if you have little ones) where you can start building an area for children to work, by adding a small desk and lamp etc. It will probably encourage them to do their homework when you create an inviting space.
On the decoration front, you have gorgeous light coming through so you could go for most colours, it also depends on what colours you like. e.g. the colour of the kitchen tiles are grey so you could go for light or dark grey walls, but it depends on if you like it! I would also consider adding plants even if it is a few here and there it will really add some life into your space. Here are a few examples of dark and light grey walls in similar kitchens:
7 years agoRelated Discussions
To 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 MoreFloor plan redesign ideas for G.F of my semi-detached Victorian home?
Comments (19)Hi Kate. We have three children under 8 so are in a similar position to you. If it was my house I would..... In response to your first question, a 33ft x 14ft open plan room would not necessarily be too big, but it would leave you without a downstairs utility or WC. As tamp75 has commented, a hallway is good for isolating noise to upstairs bedrooms, and you need somewhere for coats, bags, shoes etc. With three storeys, having the kitchen open to the hall may create problems with building regulations (fire safety). I'm not an expert in this area but it should be considered. 2. I would definitely reposition the cloakroom. It looks like the drainage to your house will be on the right hand side of the plan, so I would not put the WC under the stairs. Something like Jonathan's second suggestion would work well. 3. I would create a utility room, but only a small one. Large enough to hold a washing machine and tumble drier (stacked to save space), sink and some storage. If you can get hold of a copy of George Clarke's Home Bible he has a whole chapter devoted to utility rooms - it is well worth a read. 4. I would reconfigure the property in a similar manner to Jonathan's second suggestion. The only minor changes would be to move shorten the hall slightly by bringing the entrance to the kitchen level with the stairs, and possibly reconfigure the area for utility/WC/cloaks. I recommend retaining the first floor living room as it stops the house feeling too 'top heavy' and could be a really good family space. 5. It's hard to answer this without knowing more about you. I think it might be possible to have a kitchen, seating area and dining area but I suspect that you might have to make some compromises. You have the potential to create two lounges elsewhere in the house, so I would compromise on the seating area. Given the scale of this project I would take my time to consider all of the options. I think it is definitely worth spending a few £100s on a concept planner as they could save you £1000s in the long run. Good luck....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
7 years ago
PRO7 years ago
PRO7 years ago
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