downstairs refurb
Anne
2 years ago
Any opinions here? How would you reinstate the garage, create a dog wash area , art studio area , kitchen diner , better light from more or larger french windows. Happy to knock walls around but not without the house falling down.
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Comments (24)
Anne
2 years ago
Jonathan
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Full refurb and some re working?
Comments (3)The upstairs plan was on here a few weeks ago wasn't it? You really need to say what you want out of the house in terms of living space. If I remember rightly, upstairs you wanted to keep the same number of bedrooms but have an extra bathroom:- I vaguely remember downstairs too, however, I think i'd have quite a good 'knock about', as it doesn't flow well for most of today's family requirements. By changing the entrance, opening up the hallway, changing door placements etc. Definitely knocking down the conservatory to give light to the lounge, opening the rear a little to allow walk through form side to side, all gives more space. Something like this:- However, all would ultimately depend on what budget you want to throw at it....See MoreKitchen Refurb Advice!
Comments (13)Thanks for all your comments! Yes, I was worried about that being an issue, even though we don’t particularly mind (we hope to settle in this home). Jonathan - we have a £20k budget and that has to include a new kitchen, white goods, tiling, labour, electrics...everything. I like the idea of an external extension but I’m sceptical as to whether we can afford that. If we could afford an extension we’d prefer a warmer/more energy efficient extension than a sunroom could offer - we live in the West Midlands! The main thing to highlight is we are very keen cooks, buy in bulk and batch cook. So ideally would need to fit a large American style fridge freezer, full sized dishwasher, cooker, pantry/cupboard/shelving space for our dry goods, cupboard space for all our cooking equipment and crockery and enough counter space to prepare food on. Bearing this in mind, having such a large toilet/utility space seems a bit of a waste. What about if we reduced the size of the bathroom, replace bath with washing machine and put a door in between? That way we could potentially create a walk in pantry out of the rest of the bathroom. Is a WC off a pantry an issue?...See Morekitchen refurb and design options
Comments (19)I’ve just been looking up on line at removing utility rooms and found people saying it’s a bad idea to remove a utility and it would devalue a 5 bed house. My issue with moving utility and the toilet to the front of the house as suggested previously is that it would be a lot of upheaval to not gain that much extra space. When what I want is a large kitchen/diner. The dining room is 12 *11ft and utility is 7*5 ft if we combined all 3 rooms we end up with 22ft by 11ft room. I’m struggling so much trying to work out what’s best...See MoreGround floor & kitchen refurb - how to prepare!
Comments (9)Temporary kitchen is a must. We had a similar setup to what Martin describes, some of the old kitchen units and some worktop. We bought a combination oven/microwave which did a decent enough job ... but the absolute must have were a couple of portable induction hobs from IKEA, our architect loaned hers to us. They're around £50 and brilliant. Also, if you're upstairs think about where you're putting the fridge/freezer. The one thing you do need to have a plan for is washing up. We had to use the bath for a couple of months! Be prepared for everything to get wrecked. No matter what you do, dust will get everywhere. The builders will do their best but construction is an incredibly messy job. We took the view that anything that didn't go into storage was sacrificable. Have to say that despite it all getting very dirty, almost everything came through intact, with only a few things having minor damage. Nothing a thorough cleaning hasn't sorted. On that point, be ruthless about what you do / don't need. And I mean RUTHLESS. If there is any question about you needing a thing, you won't. Ditch it or store it. Space will be at a premium and you'll be grateful for every square inch of it. We pared to the bone, 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 cups, etc etc and there was still stuff we ended up not using (and our build lasted 46 weeks). If living in while doing a major renovation has taught me anything, it's we fill our lives with junk. If you're having any external walls taken out, then it will get very cold at night. Even the smallest gaps in any temp walls or door frames will have a profound effect on the temperature in the rest of the house. See if you can get hold of some insulation from the builder, the fluffy earthwool kind, to stuff in all the gaps. This made a massive difference for us, especially in the winter months. I don't know how much room you have upstairs but I guess you'll only have one room that you can give up to be your makeshift kitchen / lounge. Towards the end of our build, we were getting very, very fed up of being the same four walls most of the time. Try and think ahead, are there things you can plan to do / places to go at the end stages to break up the monotony? We did this the wrong way round and did loads of things at the start but ran out of steam and ideas by the time the grumpiness really set in. My last bit of advice ... enjoy it as best you can. There will be times when you think you've made a huge mistake and there seems no end to it. Try to keep in mind the reason you started. It will be worthwhile, more than you can ever imagine. Good luck!...See MoreAnne
2 years agoAnne
2 years agoJonathan
2 years agoAnne
2 years agoJonathan
2 years agoIf you are intent on putting a dog shower in the utility then there may not be enough room for your washer- in which case perhaps you need a laundry cupboard in the kitchen
Anne
2 years agoI was thinking we only need a washing machine and a cupboard to put the ironing board. I reckon we could squeeze in the little dog shower into a cupboard sized space.
Jonathan
2 years agoOk…. I think the way we drew the utility was still a bit tight for what you want but I think this will give you enough room
Anne
2 years agoAnne
2 years agoAnne
2 years agoJonathan
2 years agoAnne
2 years agokatlucy
2 years agoAnne
2 years agoJonathan
2 years agoI think this is what’s being suggested but personally I would rather use a dining room as the cut through to other spaces than the living room.
katlucy
2 years agoAnne
2 years agoJonathan
2 years agoAnne
2 years ago
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