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Design Dilemma
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Small semi help…packing too much in?

Jelly Legs
2 years ago

Hi all.


Can anyone help please!


We have a small semi, mid century, quite boxy. Upstairs is snug with three small beds and a compact bathroom. We’ll be leaving that as is but want more space downstairs without making the house too bottom heavy. At the moment there’s just a hall, kitchen and lounge. Plus a detached prefab garage at the side that desperately needs to go. Looking to add a little more living space (dining area), definitely a loo, ideally somewhere for a washing machine and also a study. The dining room and the WC are the most essential parts.


We were going to extend both out the rear (big garden) and side but the quotes were too high, we don’t need that much space anyway and tbh we think that would leave the existing lounge very dark (north facing). There’s much more light to be had at the side especially with potential skylights facing in all directions.


So I’ve come up with the design below. Three pics attached - existing floorplan, proposed floorplan (blue boxes are skylights) and side view/potential roof structure.


Any feedback or alternative ideas would be very much appreciated...





Comments (26)

  • H A
    2 years ago

    I’m thinking it’s a bit awkward trekking from the kitchen to your new dining room. Personally, I’d look into opening up the wall between your kitchen and living room and blocking up either the door or the gap into the kitchen. The living room then becomes your dining area and your extension the living room. Also, if you increased the extension size further back (say an additional 1-2 metres), you could have a nice west-facing window (or french doors) and a courtyard-style patio out from your new light-filled room and your existing living room. Good luck xx

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Thanks H A, that’s a great idea about switching the dining/living rooms. I had thought about knocking the kitchen through to let the south facing light in but was trying in vain to avoid that level of disruption. Bit silly really if we are looking to knock through elsewhere anyway!


    The courtyard idea has got me thinking tho I must admit we are very overlooked by the other half of our semi. I wonder that west facing doors further out like that could leave us feeling exposed being within plain view of their bedrooms. An awning might help but we wouldn't want that up all the time. Also, next door has a rear extension so the courtyard could feel a bit enclosed by walls on all sides.


    Aaargh, I don’t know what’s best really. Maybe, at a push, the utility area goes and we could shunt the dining room up and have a bigger opening...thus creating a more open plan living/dining space? That cuts a little off the budget - I keep trying to think thrifty because we were shocked at building costs down here in the SE atm. In fact, we’ve been advised that now is a bad time due to building supply issues and spiralling costs. It’s just that the old garage roof is falling down so we can’t wait forever...

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  • Newcastle 14
    2 years ago

    As a suggestion, and If you have some time free/patience, learn to use SketchUp free (google). we redesigned our house downstairs using it, all with accurate measurements of walls, doors, furniture etc. we even scaled to people. we chose which walls to lose and where to add skylights/windows, utilising the light feature and direction of our house, it really helped. yes its a learning curve, but if you accurately measure your home inside you can build room by room and eventually walk around in the inside. took us about 3-5 months to learn, but really helped guide our decisions and we could play with designs and check light throughout the day/year. Youtube has loads of tutorials. just a suggestion 👍🏻. heres some pics to illustrate.


    our pre-build design, looks like this now. was great to check door openings/space etc.


    with skylight (looks exactly like our house now)


    without skylight, glad we opted for skylight as our house was dark before.


    this is all built with shapes, and once you learn the basics its “quite“ straight forward.

  • Newcastle 14
    2 years ago

    We also swapped the kitchen at the back to move it to the middle, knocking down two walls at the back to create a large space as an extra room for lounging/dining. we did also speak to an architect friend (after sketchupping designs ourselves) he was v.helpful too….i wouldn’t hesitate to involve an architect again, because they understand much about light, space and how you might want to use the areas in question. a decent one will help add value to your own ideas…id also consider getting then involved in the project management too…but thats personal experience talking! sorry to waffle.


    before layout of house, kitchen at back left, dining middle. we knocked out both walls and placed kitchen at the centre of the house. creating big space at the back.


  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Newcastle, I had never heard of SketchUp. I love things like that. Thanks.


    The skylight in your picture makes all the difference so good job you went for that. Light is everything!


    One thing I’ve learnt on here already is that I’ve been fixed on keeping the existing layout the same (for convenience/cost) but I might need to be more flexible. We are happy with the kitchen atm as it’s just been re-decorated but best to keep an open mind on that...and everything else!

  • katlucy
    2 years ago

    Hi Jelly Legs, looking at your plan I was wondering if you could have the doorway off the hall into the study, there maybe rules about doorways at the bottom of stairs but maybe you can recess the doorway (with a bookcase arch) to get around this. If this is possible then you could rotate the WC 90 degrees and use the corridor for the utility allowing for the dining room to increase in size and squaring the room more with the living room. By widening the opening between them you will have more circulation space around the dining chairs. Is it possible to widen the extension at the dining room end for the same reason?

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Hi Kat. Have thought about a door straight into the study but we have a big soil pipe and drain there (always something isn’t there!). The latter will be redirected but the soil pipe would probably just be boxed in to the study. Am not sure if it can be moved easily tho we will obviously get advice on this.


    The dining room can’t be any wider as our neighbour is built right up to our boundary (and over it tbh, before we moved here). We have to leave a 1 metre gap and side access.


    I really like the idea of turning the WC though and having the utility running adjacent to it. Where would you suggest the door into the loo would go in that case? Straight off the dining room? I stuck it up the corridor past two sets of doors for privacy if we have guests but am not sure if that’s necessary?

  • katlucy
    2 years ago

    How about the utility cupboard along the stair wall, move the study door more centrally and then a sliding door to the WC?

  • katlucy
    2 years ago

    Still keeping the WC enclosed behind a door to the dining room, I should have added

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Oooh, do you mean something like this? Excuse the scribbling!


    I like it as the loo/utility always seemed to be taking up unnecessary room length ways. This seems like a better use of space, more compact and we could have a larger opening between the lounge/dining room. Which also means more light from the skylights into that dark living room.


    Two doors to the study might be a bit much but it’s annoying to have to go right through the house to get to it so that needs some manoeuvring for sure...


  • katlucy
    2 years ago

    Yes that’s what exactly what I was thinking and the added light would be good. With the soil pipe I believe you can have a few bends to keep it outside…worth investigating definitely. Looks good.

    Jelly Legs thanked katlucy
  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Actually, just out of interest how do people feel about having to walk through the house to get to the study? Would it bother you? It’s not really an issue for us and we are trying to keep the building work manageable disruption wise. If we start knocking through by the front door as well as the lounge it’s going to be more complicated...and then there’s the staircase, banister, carpet, radiator that will all need addressing so the costs spiral too.


    Having said that we won’t want to tackle it at a later date so that’s why I ask if any of you guys see not having that extra access to the study as a big deal?

  • H A
    2 years ago

    Wouldn’t bother me, makes it feel a bit separate from the rest of downstairs…. if you need to work/study in there. Also gives you some wall space in the hall for hanging coats if you wish.

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Thanks H A, that’s reassuring to hear.


    Cheers to everyone who took the trouble to reply. Really helpful and gives me lots to work with.


    In the meantime, if anyone has any other bright ideas I’d still love to know!

  • maya
    2 years ago

    You could do kitchen and dining room in the extension and the study etc in the current kitchen.

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Hi Maya. Thanks for the suggestion. It really does make sense to have the kitchen and dining room together but I must admit to being quite lazy when it comes to moving the rooms about! We like our kitchen, how it’s set up and decorated, so I don’t relish having to have a new one fitted. Still, not averse to a wee bit of juggling so will keep all options open.

  • Victoria
    2 years ago

    I’d put the door to the study in the hallway and wouldn’t bother with one from the wc/utility area. That way you can gain a bit of extra utility space.

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    That’s interesting Victoria. I guess we need to decide where our storage priority is - hall or utility area.

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    I measured up for turning the utility and WC 90 degrees (as brilliantly suggested by katlucy yesterday) and it’s going to be tight. Very tight, with maybe a few centimetres short. Alternatively, we could possibly box the WC and washing machine in together and have a small corridor running to the study alongside the wall of the existing house. Maybe put an all glass roof on that small corridor for interest and light as there’d be no windows. That’s if we don’t knock through to the study at the front and need access from the dining room of course. I will have to try to do another mock up!

  • 88wj88
    2 years ago

    Definitely swop the dining and living room and open up between the kitchen and dining room to create one larger more open area, which would probably be used more than a separate dining room tucked away at the side through the living room. However, if the dining room is not utilised much - perhaps double that up as a study otherwise the house interior will not feel as if you have added any space, just a series of small rooms. If the small study remains at the front, with a window - maybe you would not need a sky light especially if you are looking at a computer screen in there - I also think that a glass roof over a corridor would be adding ££££ to the building costs. To create more space where it is tight - consider pocket doors rather than conventional opening doors.

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Thanks 88wj88. The house is modest so no point in spending wads of cash on a glass roof for a small corridor if it’s that costly. I think I got carried away from watching too many home renovation programmes!


    We are keeping an open mind about knocking through from the kitchen (would bring south facing light to the rear) but are loathe to do so unless there’s no other option. Living room is definitely more important than the dining area and if we swap them round that’ll make the lounge small. We are thinking of putting built in bench seating & a small table in that side extension under a folding sliding window so we can eat inside but open air iykwim. Overlooking the garden which is lovely.


    I take your point about a series of small rooms though...

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    I think we’ve realised we need extra help on the layout and can’t sort this ourselves!


    In the meantime so we have an idea of what may or may not work I’ve mocked up a couple of options for the WC/utility in the centre with the extension now finishing flush with the house at the rear. It looks veeery tight for that central section. I’ve added the measurements. Corridor would be 900cm to meet regulations.


    Is it feasible to have the loo and washing machine/tumble dryer fit like this in either design? We could take another 10-20cm from the study if needed for the second option...




  • Victoria
    2 years ago

    Do you have to be set back by that 50cm at the front?

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Possibly not Victoria, depends if the planning dept are worried about terracing effect as next door is high, right up to the boundary and level with their frontage. We are only going single storey though so hopefully not an issue. I guess I thought it would look a bit more characerful than flush. What were you thinking it could be used for...more space for the utility/study?

  • Victoria
    2 years ago

    Yes, and to have the door to the study there to avoid the corridor you have currently.

  • Jelly Legs
    Original Author
    2 years ago

    Oh yes, of course. Having the door to the study there has come up on this thread quite a lot and I failed to notice that we could only do that if we move the extension forwards. Duh!

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