Pete I am North London (Islington borough) and went ahead with mine, finished just over a year ago and it’s changed the flat entirely, so happy I did it. Layout similar to the plans in original post but larger kitchen. If you have an idea of layout you want I’d recommend trying to find a junior architect or go with some sort of basic pack option. Architect fees were way more than I expected and unnecessary for me. I found my original suggestion was the best option anyway and despite agreeing a planned budget it was way over spec’d resulting in tenders out of my reach. I ended up finding a very well priced builder myself using mybuilder.com who still worked to fixed fee contract, came in significantly cheaper than lowest architect tendered builder. Speak to your neighbours before Party Wall letters go out, you are about to disrupt their lives for 3 months or so, worth having them on side :) Try and pick/plan the small things as early as possible - you can’t imagine the ridiculous amount of stress you feel having to pick and order kitchen cupboard handles out of the millions of options there are when the builders are ready for them now! Good luck!

Sorry I can't see the photos you are referring to - my comments are limited without pictures/plans. I agree with Man about the House - pricing seems to be top end. We live in Highgate, North London (not a cheap area) and our house is approx. 3,000 sq ft. Prices for work on period homes are not in this range unless you have opted for a very high end fit out. Our side return costs £55k and that included all professional fees, lighting, underfloor heating, bi-fold doors, domestic appliances and lovely leather sofa from Habitat. Admittedly, we kept our existing Britannia range cooker and dining table and chairs. Yes we got many quotes for £140-£200k+ but decided to use professionals for planning and some visits during key stages only. The rest of the project was managed by us. There are many ways to create value in a project - Ikea Voxtorp handleless kitchens are great with a quartz worktop. You can even get the doors sprayed with a F&B colour, it's a fraction of the price and visually compares well to Roundhouse kitchens - which I love but simply can't afford. We got endless quotes for quartz worktops - the costs varied by more than 50% for exactly the same material. We needed 13 steels in total and paid a total £4.8k inclu vat and £3k installation costs. Remember you should be negotiating on all elements of your project. I can also compare to a similar house/project in a nearby road, not a high end finish but inexperienced home owners who paid £140k for a pretty average side return turnkey solution. Keep researching and talking to home owners that have actually completed projects on their homes to get a really good view about the costs and where you want to spend your budget.

Courtyard- often the cost of moving drains is prohibitively high and a courtyard does get light in to the center of your home and lots of people don’t like high up window in a bedroom plus they have to be a certain size for regulations that often doesn’t fit the available space. Personally I love them. Separately- do you need to extend? Your stated aim seems to be an extra bathroom. Could you put one under the stairs and move the kitchen access?

Hi Tanya! You really need more information about where the drains currently run, what rights you have as well as those of your neighbours, if you are a leaseholder then there are likely to be additional restrictions in your leasehold contract to check out. It's quite unusual for planning permisison to be granted for a rear first floor balcony but your neighbours having one may help with there being a precedent established. There are lots of options as others have suggested - switching around the use of rooms at first floor, making the ground floor the kitchen, etc... so you're not short of possibilities. The key at this point is that you really need to dig a bit deeper into what you'll be allowed to do and what might limit you. Obviously budget can be a factor too, as well as figuring out what is going to be worth doing for you. Best wishes with your home redesign! Jane chartered architect, eco-home and conservation area specialist www.i-architect.co.uk Join Jane live on facebook for home design tips and expert Q&A. Midday Mondays: https://fb.me/e/fXBDxgZ3x