Hello all, thanks for all the comments! I'll reply one by one...: dundrum16 - thank you, yes that is one concern - do you know how much space ideally should be left either side of the toilet (and is access always needed from both sides?)? lkirk44 - great thank you for your view. If we did have a separate toilet and utility we would not use the utility as an office space (which is one of the drawbacks of this option). If we can make it work with a separate office in this location then we will go with that option! Midcenturylass - cheers for your comment although I wonder if you have misunderstood the drawings? The toilet (in either scenario) will be completely separate from the kitchen/living area - there will be a door to get into the toilet room, and another door to get from the hallway into the kitchen. OnePlan - Thanks for your various comments. Yes you are correct we are putting a walkway through the kitchen but unfortunately unless we completely re-jig the ground floor layout, the only way to avoid this would be to massively eat into the kitchen/dining area with an extended hallway. One good thing is that we have side access outside to get into the garden and back into the dining/living area so when we have quite a few guests that will be the entrance and not through the kitchen. Incidentally, we do also have a large front room which will be the formal sitting room. There will be a sink on the island to serve the hob which does contain that element although I accept the oven is still interrupted by the walkway through to the living area. Yongpei You - Thank you. We would be open to you helping us and us helping you but I suspect it may be difficult as we have just started demolitiion and foundations for the extension are about to be dug, so in terms of the layouts in my query, we need to decide those in the next two weeks or so - would that work for you? temple274 - Thanks for both your comments. I was going to ask if I could have some of what you were having but your second comment clarified matters!!! CreatePerfect - thank you, appreciate your comments and that is exactly why we have come on this board, to get others' opinions on our ideas. The space/dimensions available are all on the drawing so any feedback you have on that basis would be appreciated as we need to decide this soon (the office idea only came about a few nights ago - we were set to go with the first option of a separate utility). I do have the plans to scale but for some reason I can't seem to upload a PDF so had to take a picture of my plans and upload that! Do you know how to upload a PDF? Cheers all, any further comments and suggestions very welcome. Pratik

In your kitchen plan the space between the wall run and the island is massive - maybe 1.3 or 1.4m? It should be more like 1m otherwise you will find the two surfaces are inconveniently far apart. That also means there is more space for a dining table than it looks like from your plans. Do you have a cellar? If not then the understairs space is available for a WC, you might need to carve a small corner out of the kitchen to add to the understairs space depending on its size. Or if you do have a cellar the wc can go where Jonathan has put it (entrance can be from the understairs area if you have the height, or from the kitchen if not). Is there somewhere upstairs you could put a laundry room/area? In or near a bathroom perhaps?

Thanks all! fran I had originally planned a mirrored splashback to add light and width. But in the end the room doesn’t feel nearly as cramped as I thought, and mirror would reflect all the junk I leave in there! Yes there is a green we have used in the downstairs WC that I could also use there - Pea Green by Little Green - or could use a dark colour like Squid Ink which we have in our front room. rinq I like those murals but it would be semi hidden by washing and ironing board so not sure if it’s worth it? colourhappy Green is what I was thinking.... either Pea Green as mentioned above, or there’s a Botanical Green colour by Sanderson that I really like but wasn’t brave enough for elsewhere! I thought maybe a white mosaic splashback with green grout? I will look up Liza Giles thanks Sonia, I like the idea but can’t find any patterned tiles I love hence thinking of white mosaic with a coloured grout to make a pattern. But now I like the zellige idea... hmmm!

Tobias, I am planning on doing less in the boot room - have even looked at much simpler carpentry as I think it is just too much. Its quite a big space and I was worried that we were wasting it having what is essentially massive seats so just on one side and a bit more manageable like this or this This would mean just one side and so easier to accommodate a wider door from boot to kitchen. Outside the back where the bi-folds will be is going to be a paved terrace - out the boot room leads to the big gardens pool and tennis court. We would slip out the kitchen via the bifold to the bins which will be placed behind the garage and behind a wall from the paved terrace. We want a shower room downstairs because we have a pool and it stops the kids running up he stairs with wet feet. Not sure what you mean here If you want wow - don’t but the living room wall back when you remove it or have a door from the kitchen to the hall. Slice everything open full height vertically to the ceiling you have enough of an interesting floor plan to create private spaces and an enclosed front room. You will have a wow entrance and staircase as well as dining room and kitchen. Do you mean no wall on the living room? Can you draw what you mean when you say slice everything open full height? Yeah always looking at new stuff and new ideas that I can integrate into the space - useful storage doesn't have to be cupboards. Quite fancy the bottom two stairs lifting up to reveal a bit of secret shoe storage. Thanks for your ideas - I am really keen to have views. Keima