Advice on extension shape please
hello, I’m looking for (and would greatly appreciate) advice on what layout to use for an extension please. We started the “extension journey“ 2.5 years ago and I’ve learned a lot from it, but feel like I’m back at square one. I had plans drawn up based on what I wanted - which ended up way out of our price league (budget is approx £60k). and I’ve spent that much time going round in circles, I feel lost and can no longer see the wood for the trees and need help please.
the main points to note are:
- we currently have 1 downstairs living room that is an awkward shape (approx 8.6m x approx 3m). We have 3 young children and want another, separate living room. we would like a settee, wood burner / open fire and TV in each room.
- the back garden would be an ideal place to extend as it isn’t used now and is in the shade most of the day (see light green area on photo), plus extending to the front cannot happen as it would block the drive (see grey area on photo) and extending to the side would block the garage, however...
- the front of the house has beautiful views that I would love to take advantage of. Our garden slopes down (see dark green area on photo) to a river with fields beyond that, so my dream would be bifolds straight across the front to make the most of the view, but because of the layout of the house and drive, that’s unfortunately not possible
- I had originally wanted to leave the kitchen untouched as it’s pretty decent, however it gives a lot more options to start afresh (and I would love a kitchen island).
- the utility is at the front of the house, so if a new kitchen is put in the extension - would I need to move the utility closer?
- we would love a study area (which could replace the current utility?) or be added on elsewhere
- one real bugbear of mine with the current layout is the downstairs wc. It has been squeezed into the lobby and that area is too small and has too many doors, I think it would be better suited elsewhere.
- we’d love to replace the dining table with a pool/dining table (which means it would need more space around for when functioning as a pool table)
- the garage (which is 5.5m2) is 2.5m back and 0.5m to the side of the house. so it’s 8m from the back of the house to the back of the garage.
- the back kitchen wall is 3.8m wide.
- the back part of the living room is approx 3.4m
- I’d love a boot room / porch, just putting that out there...
so, I’ve come up with several different ideas, but none are right. Either theres no place for a tv, or for the fire, or the room is too small / wrong shape. I love the look of open plan living & dream of a perfect kitchen/dining/living area that’s the hub of our family life. I’d love to take advantage of the views and have the rooms as light as possible - and would love if someone could look at this and work some magic please.
Comments (10)
Katie Staines
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoHi Jonathan, thanks for your comment. I do agree about the ideal thing being to move the garage, however the costs would sky rocket as we would want to have a garage (or at least a huge storage shed) somewhere. plus, the back garden (the part between the back of the house and the side of the garage) is unused, overlooked and in the shade most of the day. So I wouldn‘t miss giving up that part of the garden. Whereas extending to the side would render the garage useless, reduce the size of the drive and leave the back garden untouched. If money were no object, I’d demolish the garage and rebuild on the lawn at the front (I’ve added a photo that shows roughly my garden boundary in red and a yellow arrow to the front lawn). But I have limited funds and am really struggling to pick the most effective and efficient shape extension to tick as many boxes as possible. The sun rises where the compass pic is on the right hand side and sets just further down than the yellow arrow to the lawn. Any help is appreciated, thank you.
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