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ADVICE PLS converting a 2 bed flat into 3 bed

3 years ago

Hi everyone, appreciate you taking the time to read my post. We are a bit stuck with what to do about extending into the side return and the back of our current 2 bed Victorian flat in Putney, London. I have attached the floor plan to assist with visualisation.

We can only extend into the garden about a metre otherwise it will become to small. Then we were thinking of extending into the side return from the window of the bedroom next to the kitchen, the window being next to the bathroom. We’d then have a small courtyard in that space between the two bedrooms and bathroom.

We are struggling with where to put the third bedroom, we’d like a decent sized kitchen with room for an island and dinner table. The two bedrooms would be for our baby when it arrives and our then 3 year old. We would remain in the room by the lounge. Any help is really appreciated, thank you in advance!

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Comments (4)

Jonathan
3 years ago
One option without intruding into the garden
Natalie D thanked Jonathan
Natalie D
Original Author
3 years ago
Thank you for your response, very grateful! We had considered converting the front room into a bedroom but I should’ve mentioned that we are on a busy road, and we are worried about noise! :(
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Welcome neighbours - we're also in Streatham. So, remember that Planning and Building Regs are two different things. Firstly, Planning. Permitted Development rules do not apply to flats, so things that can normally be done to houses pretty informally (loft conversions and extensions within certain maximum sizes are examples) need a full planning application for a flat. Look at the planning portal and check what you need to apply for. Lambeth is annoying as you have to do a pre-planning application if you want an opinion (they got rid of the duty planning officer advice a while back to cut costs) - a bit of a scam really, you would be better off hiring a proper planning consultant/architect used to Lambeth and getting your application right first time. We did everything under Permitted Development (house), so did not have to go down that route. Building Regulations then need to be complied with when doing the work allowed under Planning. Rather than organise site visits/inspections with the council, who are notoriously hard to get in touch with, we used a private company, London Building Control, who were excellent. It costs a bit more, but you don't spend your whole life chasing council employees who are unmotivated and useless (in Lambeth's case, anyway). Generally, internal changes (removing walls and using steels etc) do not need planning permission of any sort, but are definitely a Building Regulations issue: and you will need to show proper structural engineering drawings with calculations and steel specs etc. Good luck!
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I would do three things: Firstly get a second opinion from another builder as clearly these flats can be altered so this one builders assessment that it can’t be done seems wrong. I would be very surprised if it is not possible to put a big opening in this wall if not take it out. Secondly I would introduce yourself to neighbours- particularly the people above- You might notice their layout and changes they made- it might be that your kitchen wall is not holding anything up. Thirdly I would contact the freeholders about your intended alterations as they may have requirements or advice that makes your decision making process easier. Best of luck
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Hi Abbie, I came across this discussion in the forum and it looked like a house with lots of potential and I couldn't resist sketching out an idea. Did the purchase go through? I thought that a side and rear extension wouldn’t add much space whilst also costing significantly more. But a rear extension which is slightly wider than the original house would be very beneficial. Downstairs the old kitchen becomes a utility and W/C. The hallway opens onto an L shape kitchen/dining/living room, which is also attached to the front lounge with double sliding doors. Upstairs the existing bathroom becomes an ensuite for a new master bedroom with a dressing area. A new bathroom is added in part of bedroom 2 which is enlarged into the extension. Bedrooms 3 and 4 also slightly increase in size. Please let me know what you think? I have a few more alternative ideas as well. And I wish you all the best with your project!! Phill
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I can see potential for a 3-bed by turning the downstairs reception room into a bedroom but I don’t think you’d fit a third bedroom upstairs. You could consider turning the downstairs shower room, or part of it, into a utility / laundry space. Changing to 2 separate flats could be problematic in terms of access to the first floor one - presume you’d need a shared entrance which would make accessing the ground floor front reception room more difficult. Also, I don’t know if you’d need any special permissions, plus extra fire / safety regs to turn a house into 2 flats. It seems to be potentially a lot more hassle to take that option.
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Artistic Interiors
3 years ago
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,
PRO
Devyra Atelier
4 months ago
last modified: 4 months ago
These Are 3 layouts without extention to the side, it has an extention to the back as much as 1m.

I pushed the reception room left-wall to 30cm more outside the diagonal door has too many wasted space :

These Are 4 Layouts with extention:

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