Ground Floor Layout Help
We moved into our detached 3 bed house a year ago and always planned to do a large extension to make into our forever home. There is about 6-7m wasted space to the side of the house that we want to extend into and within the restrictions of planning, we think we can put a 4.2m wide full length double storey extension on the side as demonstrated by the white box I have drawn on the existing ground floor plan.
But I'm stuck and looking for ideas on how best to use the space. Ideally we want to achieve a large kitchen/diner/living room, a downstairs loo, utility room, small study, separate dining room (But that can open up to allow a long table for large family dinners) and a play space with a lot of room for toy storage!
I have tried many different confiugurations but the one that seems to work best is below. This seems to be the least reconfiguration of the exisiting house (making the best use of a tightish budget £200K budget). The large white box is the open plan kitchen/dining/living space but not sure if it is big enough to fit in everything I need (haven't got as far as thinking about kitchen layouts etc yet).
Any ideas/thoughts appreciated! Thanks
Joanne
Comments (16)
Sarah U-S
4 years ago
PROCaroline Couzens Design Ltd
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Ground Floor Layout help.
Comments (10)Yes we did and he is willing to change to what ever we want. From the plan he has managed to design the way he thinks best everything can fit. i am trying to upload my drawings but its in PDF format and it wont accept it over here so trying to figure out how to upload....See MoreGround floor layout help please!
Comments (3)If the house is small, there is not much you can do. Other than adding an extension to the rear and creating an open plan kicthen / dining room with a small seatign area. One house i recently designed....See MoreHelp with ground floor layout.
Comments (3)It might help to post the original layout and what your aims/needs/dreams are with the renovation so the wonderful community here can provide feedback. The plan you have posted seems to work well - the kitchen and dining space are well connected, with the dining having enough space to travel around. The living is spacious but not 'in the kitchen' so it's able to provide a restful space away from anything happening in the kitchen. A full utility /mudroom with storage. An office that is able to provide a space away from the rest of the function areas, especially useful when WFH is needed. Enough WC's in places that don't open out into living areas. All in all, seems well thought out!...See MoreGround floor layout help
Comments (7)My suggestion would be to add a stud wall in the centre to create your lounge in a more useable shaped space and then open plan the kitchen / diner. We are finding that around 60% of our projects are now kitchen/diners, usually with a bifold door opening into the garden so you can bring the outside space in. Many of our customers are opting for a sofa and tv in the kitchen area, so it’s a living space too, but also it’s nice to have the cosiness of a smaller lounge that can be shut off to watch films etc. if you are planning to extend at some point in the not too distant future I would get the stud wall in and make the lounge as you’d like it, but wait for any kitchen work until you are ready to extend, or you’ll end up doing it twice....See MoreJoanne B
4 years agoThank you for the inital thoughts.
Sorry of course dimensions would be useful. This is the floor plan from the estate agent particulars when we bought the house. It is a 1930's build.
A separate dining room is just for occasions (although on a regular basis) but we have a large, very expensive wooden extending table that we love but bought before kids (!) so not practical to become our every day table. It is literally the only piece of furniture in the whole house that has to remain and we have to find a suitable home for! We are not including furniture in the budget as we will reuse everything else we have for now until we can afford to replace but obviously we will need a new kitchen (including all appliances).
We don't necessarily need a separate additional living room but is just seemed to make sense on the plan.
I agree walking through the office to the utility isn't ideal but was thinking that having a door to access it from the kitchen may compromise the use of that space.
PROOnePlan
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
Maths Wife
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoCompletely agree with One Plan.
One thing i'm noticing is that if you do an extension that large, you cut off access front to back to the garage. I'm not sure that's a wise move.I also think the house will look slightly out of balance from the front. Therefore, the side extension should be less wide and the same / more similar width as the left side.
In fact, If i were spending that amount of money, I think i'd want a grander entrance. Therefore, as Karen says have a total re-jig.
I would like to be able to come through through the front an see right through to the back, so a complete change may be better. ie have the entrance in the middle with rooms either side.Joanne B
4 years ago
PROAnton Onipchenko
4 years agoI think in the construction there should be pillars I'm afraid that the overlap of such a large space will not sustain
I strongly advise you to contact the architect before starting redevelopment at home
Do not hesitate to sign up for my channel in youtube, there you will learn everything about the design, put the likes, to make a repost))
Maths Wife
4 years agoAgree with Anton, you're trying to remove the original back of the house and a side wall. That's a lot of steel. Therefore, this is why you would start with your structural engineer and work your plan around that with an Architect / Concept planner.
I imagine the steels would have to be something like this, with a structural column.
Then work around those:-
Jonathan
4 years agoOne option is to build forward (planning permitting). This means you can unite the whole look for the frontage.
PROStudio O+U Architects
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
PROErwin George
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoI agree with the architect, it is possible to get ride of the column in the middle bugget permitting. Just do a large house section for a client without the need for any column, with a 5m clear span.
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Caroline Couzens Design Ltd
4 years ago 
CWD
4 years ago- PRO
Studio O+U Architects
4 years ago
Caroline Couzens Design Ltd