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what would you do?...

shelley_smartway

3 years ago

Hello all,

Second post on here. More or less for the same thing except this time with a clearer idea of budget. So I love our home. I love what it offers but I’ve always felt uneasy with how the entrance hall enters the kitchen diner. Originally these houses had a galley kitchen with a door to the side of the house and the front door entrance came into the dining room. Our side door has been bricked up and the kitchen diner opened up. We’ve discussed lots of ideas for the front part of the house...front door moved to the side to open with stairs in front and to creat a better kitchen diner or maybe improve what we already had and maybe give the kitchen a breakfast bar. To be honest I feel lost. We have a budget of just under £10k and this would need to include the cost of the kitchen (we can buy this trade as Husband is an Electrician). We can also move the dining room into the conservatory and maybe create a small breakfast area and open up the kitchen? What would you do with our budget? I’ve added some drawings, measurements, floor plan etc. Any suggestions are great fully received. 3 years since moving in and my head is ready to explode with frustration! Thank you.

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Comments (4)

PRO
Haysey Design & Consultancy Ltd
3 years ago
@arc3d could you help with this one for this lovely project?
sunshineband34
3 years ago
Hi. So my initial thought was that you could move the kitchen to the dining room (and the dining room to the conservatory) and then use the existing kitchen as a lovely bright entrance hall (you would need to knock down the wall between the kitchen and front door). You could have double doors into the new kitchen and then a door into the lounge and brick up the existing doors to the entrance hall and lounge from the existing kitchen diner. However, I think this may (not sure though - should be checked) create problems from a Fire Regs perspective as your main escape route from upstairs would be through the kitchen. To get round this, I thought you could switch the stairs so that you go up from the lounge and the under stairs cupboard is accessed from the new kitchen (could make a great pantry or utility) but this is starting to sound expensive! So not sure I am much help but thought I would share in case it triggered any more thoughts! All the best. Looks like a great project!
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I really like your kitchen. It looks like a good use of the space you have, but obviously from what you've said overall the space you have doesn't work well for you. So then the space needs to change. With 60-70k you could achieve quite a lot especially if its mostly internal work. What I would recommend is that you get even more clear on all the elements that you would like to change - everything that you find annoying! You've got a great list as a starting point, but if you want to do a project that makes this your best home then you want to design out as many frustrations as possible in one go. Also all the things that you love - worth taking a note of those as well. So you know what to protect, or what to replicate if it needs to change and you can create something similar elsewhere. We can all give you a variety of ideas but to get a holistic design that meets all your needs is really the key to you ending up with a house you love. For that you need a detailed vision for what you want and if you need support to create a design that delivers that vision then work with someone who will take the time to understand it and base their designs on it. I have a free Design Your Home Vision Checklist that you can get as a starter point for this here: https://www.i-architect.co.uk/dyhvchecklist.html I'd also love to help you further with your designs if you need additional support. The best way I can do that is with the Big Picture Plan. My next availability for that is 18th April. Best wishes with your home redesign! Jane award winning chartered architect eco-home and conservation area specialist www.i-architect.co.uk For helpful videos watch my YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@iarchitect
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CWD
3 years ago
How about moving the kitchen and dining room into the living room? The conservatory can have a small seating area in it. The dining room would become cosy snug/TV room/living room at the front. Open up the wall in front of the front door to make the current kitchen into a nice entrance hall - with one door into living room and one door into kitchen from there (close up the large opening between entrance hall and living room and either choose the existing door into living room or part of the bigger current opening). I'd keep the existing door between the new living and kitchen. makes the kitchen the heart of the home and gives two separate seating spaces which is always nice - can always switch dining into conservatory and have small seating area in kitchen around the fire if that works better for you.
arc3d
3 years ago
Thanks for the mention @Haysey Design & Consultancy Ltd

I did have a look at this one when it was first posted, but the 10k budget was a bit of a sticking point. You could easily spend 10k on kitchen units alone! but I did have another think after I read that your husband @shelley_smartway is an electrician. I will assume he knows a lot of people in the trades and that he could do some of the work himself, in which case the same budget could stretch a lot further.

So my suggestion would be to use a structure that is already built and therefore just only needs to be converted i.e. the garage. I would convert the garage into the dining and kitchen space and open it up to the living area as much as the budget allows. In the plans I have left the fireplace as a see through feature fireplace, but this is also to save on the cost of removing that wall as two openings either side of the fire would be considerably cheaper than removing the entire wall. I would convert the existing kitchen into a generous sized entrance with plenty of space for kids / shopping etc. I would have the WC in the existing entrance and convert the existing dining area into a snug/reading room. I would have double doors into the living room to carry on the light and open feel from the entrance.

I believe, with some clever money saving, like reusing existing kitchen units and some DIY all of this would be possible within a 10k.

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