Converting our Victorian maisonette into two flats
As some of you may remember we have been looking to help our daughter getting her first step onto the property ladder.
Not surprisingly this is proving financially a near impossibility here in London.
However because of a change in circumstances we are looking into splitting our Victorian split level flat/maisonnette into two self containing flats whereby she could occupy the lower ground flat.
Previously you’ve come up with some brilliant ideas so we would be so grateful if we can count on you lot again for some advice on the possible layouts of the two flats.
Ideally for the upper flat I’m hoping it’s possible somehow to keep some kind of double aspect (front-back).
I have seen a very similar flat in which the owner managed to do that. If useful I can share the floor plan.
I’ll attach the floor plan with our current layout to this post.
Many thanks in advance!
Comments (20)
E D
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago
Jules Mc
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Help needed with Hall flooring in converted flat
Comments (46)Hello Robin, No need to remove anything just add a huge mirror on the right hand wall with some height as I suggested earlier in the thread, then you will get a border reflected and also the arch! It is quite important to work with what you have, and you can cleverly with the oversized mirror! eBay have a shop for them! Once you paint frame to match the walls you will see how useful it could be. Possibly 8ft by 8ft as high as you can go to get the arch in! It's what I would do.. :))...See MoreHelp for 1-bed Victorian Flat Layout
Comments (20)I like the idea of moving the kitchen into the bedroom. But I think it would be a mistake to split up the shower and toilet. It looks like there is room to have a wet room off at the back of your bedroom (with some clever storage), which would save you the expense of moving the plumbing/waste pipe. In general people don't like toilets coming off living spaces. If you do want a bathroom separate from your bedroom for guests I would go with Jonathan's idea (which is the best use of space imo but more expensive). Good luck!...See MoreVictorian flat kitchen renovation on a budget- advice in London
Comments (31)Good news that a builder is coming over. I suspect all the green walls I have drawn are originals and can’t be changed without permission- you can probably tell by their thickness relative to thinner partition walls but it would be good to check. As Bobby said you need to know where the buildings soil pipes are because this will dictate where you can put a wc. There may however be more than one- I suspect your wc pipes go under the kitchen and exit near the kitchen window. 1- get the builder to tell you if there is any extra bit to the left of your kitchen window that has been hidden behind boxing- extra square footage is nearly always useful. Are there original doorways (2 & 3) that could be reinstated- look for telltale signs in the skirting board, flooring, hollow walls where an opening has just been boarded over, door shaped cracks in the decorating etc....See MoreADVICE PLS converting a 2 bed flat into 3 bed
Comments (4)Hi Natalie, This is actually a hard one. I know this was posted some time ago, but in case you are still in a conundrum about this, a radical possibility is as follows: My intial idea was to open up your back area with the following extension (detailed below), so that your family could live facing your garden. But given that you are on a busy road (unless you want to reconsider using the front reception as a bedroom which you can test by pulling your mattress in there and sleeping in it for a couple of nights), this may do the trick, if you are willing to change your garden differently than you had intially considered. Here is how to get what you want - 3 bedrooms & open plan reception space to plan a kitchen with an island / breakfast bar, lounge & dining area. Knock all the walls through from your front reception room & your first bedroom area. This will give you one huge open-plan reception space to take advantage of and configure just the way you want to include kit - dining - living. Extend the hallway through the current kitchen - dining area to the back of the flat (and slightly beyond into the extension (detailed below). Out of the rest of the kitchen dining space, you can create another bedroom that can either retain the current window or have double doors opening up onto the garden. On the left side of the garden - all the way down the length of the garden - do a 1 room extension (13'6" long x 9' wide) with large windows or sliding doors onto the courtyard garden. This will give you the 3rd bedroom you desire and also with planning permission approvals or under permitted development (must find out what applies in your area), possibly give you enough space for a small ensuite shower room too. The extended hallway into the new left-side extension should be used to create access & a door into the courtyard garden. Your court-yard garden will still then be about 13'6" x 10' (rather than 19'9 x 10' as you suggested with a 1m back extension across the rear of your house) and you can still use your side return for light. Not doing the side extension will reduce the cost significantly - and as you know getting the 3rd bedroom out of the size of the side return extension was very difficult. If you do what to also do the side return extension, you can enlarge the kit - diner converted to a bedroom, and also add a small ensuite to that room behind the other bedroom (if you retain the courtyard area on the side from the current large bedroom, past the bathroom & 2nd bedroom windows, upto the fireplace). If you do decide to use the front reception as a bedroom: You can create a lovely open-plan living - dining - kitchen in the garden extension I suggested above & the current kitchen dining area - putting in all glass (sliding or concertina) in both areas facing your courtyard garden. You can configure your kitchen - diner in one side and the living area in the other. Both areas will have full light and exposure to the courtyard, and offer indoor-outdoor living when weather is nice and doors are all fully opened - giving you an L-shaped open plan living around your courtyard. Also if you do the side extension as well, this will extend this reception area even more across the back of the house, give you more options for skylights & allow you to add a small ensuite or w/c in the side return too. The rest of the blue-print of your home would remain the same & you would use your front reception room as a bedroom. Well, hope this helps and best of luck! Best wishes,...See MoreE D
3 years agoThanks arc, no apology needed!
We’ll have a look if we can improve the floor plan, the program seems limited though. Internal walls are normal walls. We couldn’t find thinner walls in the program.
The house doesn’t get smaller upstairs. What’s not showing in our plan is the communal entrance hallway (positioned over the lower flat’s hallway) so the entrance door to the upstairs flat is the door at an angle, with the arrow pointing towards it.
EXTERIOR OF OUR BUILDING. GREY FRONT DOOR IS COMMUNAL. FRONT DOOR TO LOWER FLAT IS DOWN THE EXTERIOR STEPS
Doors in plan are indicated by ‘quarter circle’.Hope this makes things a little clearer.
E D
3 years agoFloor plan idea from other (lower ground) flat for our upper ground flat, possibly.
FRONT AREA OF THIS FLAT
TOWARDS REAR AREA OF THIS FLAT
Jonathan
3 years agoAn alternative idea is to divide the flat front and back and have two flats both with two floors.
But when we draw it out you can see it produces two flats that are small two beds. Could you consider a one bed or extending at the back?
One further thought as a leasehold property you will need freeholder permission to split this flat.
E D thanked JonathanE D
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoE D
3 years agoarc3d
3 years agoE D
3 years agoConsidering the plans, we are wondering if there’s a way for the small bedrooms (in both flats) to be bigger.
Perhaps we could leave the walls between the kitchens and small bedrooms in both flats were they are (they are load bearing I think)? Then we can pinch some space from the bathrooms maybe?
Although there are some head height issues going into the small bedroom in the upper flat, I think it may also be possible to nick some space from the ‘landing’ where the stairs are now.
And then there also might be some storage space under the communal stairs going up.
OUR STAIRS
Note the sloping ceiling.
OUR STAIRS FROM OPPOSITE ANGLE SHOWING DOOR TO SMALL BEDROOM (STUDY)
Hope that all makes sense. 😊arc3d
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoAbsolutely ED. If you are okay with a slightly smaller living space then I would definitely keep the walls where they are as that will help the budget.
However... points to consider would be things like how much use the second bedroom would get vs the living space, e.g. if the second bedroom is going to be an occasional guest room and the living space is going to be used everyday would you be happy to loose that space to a room that would rarely get used? If on the other hand the bedroom will be used by a lodger or family member then sharing the space out a bit would make more sense etc. The design, as I mentioned, is quite flexible in that regard.
Regarding the extra space under the stairs, You could, depending on head height give that to the bathroom. I think there would be enough space to get the entire bathtub under the stairs in which case you could claw back 1 meter for the kitchen area, which would be quite significant.
alternatively you could put a hole through the bedroom wall and give that space to the 2nd bedroom as a built in closet.E D thanked arc3dE D
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoAs you can see on the original floor plan, there is a small patio area to the rear of the lower ground flat.
It measures 5.5 M x only 1M up to the retaining brick walls and concrete steps going up into the main garden area.
Would it be feasible to make that patio larger by moving those walls (either side of the concrete steps) further out, you think?
We‘re considering what would be the best garden scenario for both flats, how to split or share the garden.
Personally I think making the main garden shared (‘communal’) is not great, but I’m open to opinions.
What are your thoughts?
Cheers!
Please see photos. In real life the area doesn’t actually look that depressing...😊
E D
3 years agoE D
3 years agoarc3d
3 years agoAh I see so you like to give a bigger portion to the downstairs flat by pushing back the retainer walls?
Yes that's a very feasible idea. Do the metal stairs come down from the balcony?
If light is a problem I would also consider converting the balcony floor to frosted walk-on glass.
E D thanked arc3dE D
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoYes, move the retainer walls back.
And yes, the metal stairs from the balcony go down into the garden.
Thank you for the photos 👌
Love the glass ideas but not sure if budget allows or indeed if it would lead to ‘over development’ for the kind of flat(s) and the location.
Would something like this be practicable?
Industrial or just plain ugly? 🙂
Speaking of budget, any tips perhaps on how to work out a rough idea of total cost?
arc3d