I would slightly disagree with comments above. I'm coming to the end of a renovation project that has taken 3 years from concept to reality. We initially contacted a local building contractor who put us in contact with his recommended architect. We all sat down together and worked out a design/plan and budget for our renovations. If you don't consult a contractor at the beginning you could find the beautiful architects drawings you have - and have planning permission for, are completely unaffordable! I agree at the design stage a contractor will not be able to give you detailed costs - but they can at least advise what design elements would come within your budget. Also we found good reputable builders can be booked up anything up to a year in advance - so yes if you want to start next spring you need to get started with plans/budgets etc. As for moving out - that would depend on the existing and new layout of your house - and if the building work can be done in stages minimising disruption to your living accommodation. With our project we were left with no choice really but to move out. For us it's made for a much less stressful process and probably a considerably quicker build time. Most of all good luck with your project. I've enjoyed our ours so try to enjoy the process!

Hi ... As you see on my profile picture, the front door is very much at the office, the only way to reach the house is via the main driveway to the black door. It's because the driveway is so long, the house is behind another house, and currently we dont have our "own" boundaries at the side of the driveway at the main road to post a sign on that some have an issue finding us....we will get to rectifying that. Even if we did allow access via the path to the utility room (which we dont want to do), that path also doesnt reach the main road either, and looks like an entrance to the new telephone exchange next door with identical gate to theirs (we are the "old" exchange). The main door was the utility but now I changed things and put the new entrance in, it's very obvious that going further than the office front door is private. Trust me... bloke with a sledge hammer has happened here already, several men 2200Watt demolition hammers... this place doesnt wan't to budge! I agree on the macerator, but it's the only way, I have however taken heed and re-planned to to only need one, not crazy 3. None of the internal walls are structural so to speak... apart from holding up the ceiling, which I add that is not sufficient as an upstairs floor using beams that should have been bigger than there is. The house is adapting through stages of also being able to live in it. While we tear down one part of the house, 2 bedrooms needed to be in service, the one bathroom retained, and the kitchen/laundry are going nowhere. Currenty the newly "finished" rooms are the Office, kitchen, Laundry, Bedrooms 2 & 3, the hallway(stairwell) shaped up and about to cut the bathroom door, the in floor electrics are in the living room, 65" wall mounted tv. Basically, we are working from one end to the other whilst keeping it liveable. Upstairs is future /maybe at this point. To be brutally honest, I dont think the architect has given it a thought, and in the latest plan actually removed a steel truss to make rooms look like will work, odd cupboards at the extremes, diagonal steel truss through bathroom, no thought to head height or where the plumbing services are. I'm sending a plan back with everything stripped out of the loft bar the master bedroom because of this... What I want to know, is how we are going to construct the floor and ventilate the loft etc... I cant say I'm enjoying it anyway, and I thought it was going to be and exciting move for the money :(

Fantastic job, it'a slightly too minimal for me personally but love what you've done. I particularly like the styling of the fireplace and love the kitchen.

You've got some tricky dimensions to work with there. So before you go ahead with a design, you may wish to contact one of the Concept planner's on here, who will help you see where to put things, work out the walk room needed around objects and help iron out the flaws before you build. Karen at OnePlan comes highly recommended on here. There are a few points to look out for as I see it. The width that you have left over from Bathroom wall to outside wall of 2887 isn't that long. A bog standard king size bed is usually just over 200cm with the covers and may be more. That wall also, isn't particularly wide, therefore, if you wanted bedside tables, it could be tricky to use that space. So, putting the bed on the back wall, which will probably look nicest has other problems. Easier to show in diagrams ( hopefully ). I can't see how big the nib is at the top where i've put a couple of Chests of Drawers . I know we couldn't manage without them. I feel the large window is too big, and if you're going to put wardrobes on that wall, then you need to make sure the window isn't to large and that you leave a big enough gap either side for not just the wardrobes, but also for any window coverings. You don't want to be pushing curtains in to wardrobe doors and not having enough room for poles. I'd make the bathroom a little smaller to get better walk room in the bedroom. Unfortunately, Architects rarely think about furniture placement, I personally think it's paramount in considering the sizes of walls, windows and how to live in a space. However, i've done many a build in my time, so I know the pitfalls. Concept planners will help you with all of these problems.