Reconfiguring Victorian ground floor - creative ideas needed
Hi all!
Very excitingly we started the groundworks this week for a ground floor wraparound extension to our Victorian semi-detached house. However, we have still not found an internal layout we're wholly happy with.
This is the floorplan with no internal layout marked up. Seems like there should be a lot of space!
And this is the best we have come up with so far for the internal layout.
While we know we have to compromise on some things, I still feel there is quite a lot of underused space here while other key areas are cramped, and I'm sure there must be a better option.
What I don't like about this layout:
- Only entrance to the house is through the snug/playroom. This will be an assault course of toys during the day to navigate (we have two young boys).
- The next section is where the roof lights are, yet this space is really underused so basically a well lit corridor.
- Shower room blocks out a key view to the garden
- the kitchen is a LONG way from the playroom/snug. Young children are limpets, I can already see they would move all their toys into the kitchen to be close to us. ,
- Only access to the living room and stairs is through the kitchen. Not a huge deal, but a bit annoying.
Please please can someone have a better idea than this!
Here is our existing floor plan, and also the new floor plan with dimensions:
Ideally we wanted to utility and shower room in the old middle room, however due to shallow drains we have to have the toilet on the left side of the house. We only have one bathroom with the one toilet at the moment, and plan to stay in this house for a long time so we simply must squeeze in the second bathroom.
We access the house through the back garden so we do need to have storage for coats and hats in this part too.
Many thanks
Scarlett
Comments (16)
rinked
3 years agorinked
3 years agoI used your floorplan with measurements to recreate the floorplan.
Could it be some measurements were incorrect? (walls are quite thick lol)
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Ground floor reconfiguration - Creative ideas?
Comments (13)Hi Shas. I hope you don't mind me saying but the list of additional rooms and bigger rooms seems to have grown but there appears to be little opportunity to increase the footprint of the house. Do look to see if loft conversions have been done down the road to give you a master ensuite. To add the new extra bedrooms I think you would need a double height extension as the current bedrooms are just not large enough to create 5 rooms out of 3. Has anyone else done this down the road? If you were to extend double height you also need to allow for corridors and you'd need to think about getting light into the current bedroom next to the bathroom. In terms of an office and meditation room, where were you looking to put these? You could use the garage space but it is very narrow in any case and I would strongly suggest you keep garden access so you'd end up with rooms of 5ft width. I'm not a pro and don't want to put a dampener on any of your plans particularly with the imminent arrival (congratulations!) but maybe think about buying a house which has potential for significant expansion. Hopefully a pro will come along and prove me wrong! Do also think about resale, houses that are overdeveloped may not always make a return on your investment...See MoreReconfiguring the ground floor of a Victorian Terrace
Comments (3)I think you'd benefit from using a drawing program to get this into a working plan with 3D views too - will help you visualise it all better ! There's various Apps and even free downloads you could try ... And you can move furniture around and see what works best. Or hire in a pro to do it for you ....See MoreHello, I am looking to reconfigure the ground floor of my house.
Comments (17)Thank you to both tamp75 and rinked. i was hoping to utilise the wasted hall space where all the doors are. its a dark area leading to the dining room, WC, and kitchen. in the corner of the utility room is the boiler. so the niche for a basin couldn’t go there as access will be required to the boiler service door. i have wondered if a Wc could go along the wall of the utility room either a joining the study or ajoining the hall. with the door off the hall. is there enough space for this? Also i am not keen on a Macerator so can the Utility plumbing be easily adapted. its such a shame both the family bathroom and downstairs WC are in the middle of the best aspect. the Ensuite is in the area to the side of the house between the dining room and lounge. many thanks for any help....See Morereconfigure ground & first floor extension ideas
Comments (4)Hi Alison, I think with such a large project you should definitely be looking for someone to help with the planning phase. A concept planner or interior designer is probably the cheapest way - obviously, I can't talk about everyone's rates. My clients usually then find they have an idea of what they want and what's achievable, from a variety of options - which can then be taken to an architect. This generally cuts the costs of redo's down (and the package you need from an architect). There are a few tweaks I would make to Jonathans but this is definitely a great design to look at in more detail. I especially love upstairs and everything he has managed to get in as well as taking the garage to add a utility room and the office which is a really practical use of the space if you are converting. I am imagining the step-in at the back is a little like the garage and is there due to the boundary lines - so can't be changed. This means that the extension would be going across the existing back of the house. Maybe it is worth looking at if you can add a porch to the front too....See More- PRO
Scarlett Swallow
3 years agoHi Rinked,
Thanks for replying. The support wall is 1.4m, that part of the house is slightly narrower, 4.8m wide in total, and decreases to just over 4m to the back of the house where the back door and bifolds will go. Double checked, measurements should all be correct?
It's having to stay as there is an existing horseshoe steel here which we are going to keep:
Original plan was to remove all supporting walls and replace with steels, however our house is built into a hill and the extra cost of excavating and retaining walls has used up a large part of our budget!
The other side of the wall can't be made smaller apparently as that's bits the corner of the old house.
ThanksScarlett
rinked
3 years agoOk, so more like this?
Though I completely understand budget issues (me&hubs have been renovating our house for 10 years, new projects every time we have some savings left), that chunk of wall sure is a ..well.. chunk! There is no option to slim it down? (as this might be the only chance you have! no pressure, wink wink)
- PRO
Scarlett Swallow
3 years ago - PRO
- PRO
Jonathan
3 years agoPersonally I would have a macerator in order to put a shower room closer to the bottom of your stairs
- PRO
Scarlett Swallow
3 years ago - PRO
Scarlett Swallow
3 years ago rinked
3 years ago- PRO
Scarlett Swallow
3 years ago
rinked