Do we actually need an extension? Please help!

2 years ago

Hi,

Please help me!

We recently moved into a 60s property and I can't work out if we need an extension to create our forever home, or if we can get away with internal reconfiguration.

Ideally we'd like to have:

* a utility room (we're outdoorsy and our winters are muddy!)

* a study (doesn't have to be as big as the existing one)

* a snug for cosy family movie nights

* a family-friendly kitchen-diner space with some soft seating if we can squeeze it in, that opens on to the back garden as access to this is currently limited (and it's a great garden!) and that has an island or breakfast bar for family baking and chats

The conservatory was built in the 60s and is no longer fit for purpose so will be removed shortly.

I'd welcome any reconfiguration ideas as I just feel like I'm struggling here and I'd desperate to create a lovely family home for my children.

I've attached floorplans and measurements for upstairs and downstairs as long-term we hope to put an ensuite in for us upstairs.

FYI the RHS of the house (as facing towards it) is 30cm higher than the LHS, and the bathroom is another half-flight of stairs up from the landing - it's quirky!

Thank you!

First Floor -

Family Bathroom - 2.18m x 1.81m
Bedroom One - 5.26m x 3.58m
Bedroom Two - 5.28m x 2.44m
Bedroom Three - 4.37m x 2.82m
Bedroom Four - 3.58m x 2.84m

Ground Floor -

Entrance Porch -1.68m x 1.5m
Ground Floor Cloakroom - 1.25m x 1.5m

Dining Room - 5.23m x 4.37m
Lounge - 5.26m x 3.58m mx
Study - 3.58m x 2.84m
Kitchen - 4.37m x 2.84m
Conservatory - 4.93m x 2.36m

Featured Answer

faye_lloyd

2 years ago

Hi Flying mumma, I had a little play with your layout, it’s super basic and looks like I did it in paint but hopefully it explains it better than I can 😊

I was thinking if you moved the front door then you enter on the front on the house you then have the opportunity to go right and left. If you turned the bottom of the staircase either left or right you then create a space for a console table when you enter, picturing a big mirror.

I’m not sure the proportions would allow for what I have suggested but you could then put your boot room close to the from door along with a utility, if you are doing work above for an en-suite anyway this could be possible.

You then can play around with the room sizes for a study and lounge, the lounge can have patio doors out to the garden but is still a cosy space. Kicking the wall down from the kitchen to the dining gives you that big open plan living with an island and a picture window on the back wall means you can see out into the garden without loosing cabinet space?

A wrap around deck could then tie the outside space together. This is very out of the box as I don’t know much about designing but hopefully there’s something that helps 😂

Obviously supporting walls would mean allot of work so maybe the hallway isn’t needed, I just remember as a kid I loved running around and around

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Comments (14)

Ellie
2 years ago
Open kitchen into dining room.

Turn study into a study/ home office.

Use conservatory as a utility room?

Is the garden at the back? Where are best views from? Are you wanting sliding/patio doors to open onto garden? If so, which wall would be best for them opening from to allow for best views?
Flying Mama thanked Ellie
Flying Mama
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you, Ellie.

Best views are from the dining room/kitchen side and also on to the garden at the back of the house.

Unfortunately, the conservatory is very old (more of a 60s lean-to) and needs to be dismantled asap so isn't useable space.

I'd love patio doors, sliding doors or bifold doors on to the garden - these would have to be from the back wall of the current kitchen and/or study if we don't extend.

When we lose the conservatory space, it's squeezing a utility in that is causing me the biggest headache. I really feel like we need one so that I can dump our muddy stuff in there in autumn/winter!
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Hi Jenny, We went through a very similar process 6 months ago (and are still mid renovation) so can share our experience with you if it helps. We went around and around in terms of what and who you need and in what order, including architect, structural engineer and Interior designer and found it very difficult to work out what we needed. With some help we got there in the end and have learnt quite a bit in the process about the different options and also costs!!! There are probably a couple of questions that are key before anyone can really share any helpful advice ... Do you need planning permission for any of the renovations you want to do? Do any of the alterations you want to make include structural walls? (If you don't know that's fine and also helps determine who you need to consult) Do you want creative input / design advice on actual layout or do you already know what you want to do? (Again if you don't know then that also helps determine who you need to consult) Once people know a bit of the above I'm sure we can help :)
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If you are staying in this house and need the space I would say extend for what you need but make sure sliding doors etc so room will be an extension of the garden. We thought the same about our kids as they grew up , spent less and less time in the garden , and now it's mainly us sitting out or if they or their friends join us , or have a meal outside and a few beers Also our weather doesn't lend itself to much drying outside so a good utility room or even a pull down rack onto an outside wall is fine..Our remaining garden is 10.5 metres by 10.5 and with a good sized shed and loads of shrubs and planting , and we still have plenty of room for sitting out, a table and chairs and loads of space around. We have a line with connections to two walls that winds up so when you have people around your wet clothes aren't hanging around, and we had a climbing framed and slide for the kids until a few years ago when it went to a good home. I would say go for it!
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Its hard to give a full breakdown of options without studying the full plans, your requirements and budgets. This is something you need to do with your chosen Architect. However, there are many options for adding windows and ways of making light bounce around the house, but if your architect has said you can't add more glazing you should ask why. I would suggest it is because it will start to impact the thermal efficiency of your house. North facing windows get no solar gain so by adding too much you could end up with a house that is difficult to keep warm especially if your house is older. You could upgarde to super energy effiecient glazing but of course that will come at a cost. Having looked at your existing plans it looks like your house has already had extensive work done. Unfortunately it doesn't appear like an architect was involved. A lot of the cost of your renovation will be in correcting previous mistakes and even then you will end up with columns in ever room unless you are willing to pay to have that corrected too. The cost could make the option of moving more viable? Did the previous owners also extend upstairs?
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tamp75
2 years ago
Hi, do you need to keep a lounge as well as a snug & soft seating in the kitchen-diner?
Flying Mama thanked tamp75
Flying Mama
Original Author
2 years ago
Hi tamp75,

No not at all - we'd like space in the lounge for our children's computers and our pet guinea pigs, but the lounge can become the snug, or be sectioned off broken-plan style into computer/pet area and a separate snug - I've tried doing this now actually, but it is quite cosy!

The soft seating in the kitchen-diner would purely be for me to enjoy a cup of tea whilst keeping an eye on the children in the garden so it isn't an absolute must...just a dream of mine!
CWD
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Add external door into Study so it becomes the utility, and carve a bit off that for small study - or just add a desk with some office storage in the utility room? Depends whether you need a proper home office which is quiet and separate or if it's a desk space and some storage for dealing with house and kid admin. I had my office in mudroom in previous house and it worked really well. Laundry was upstairs in laundry room though - might not work so well if you have to do Zoom calls beside a washing machine.

And knock through kitchen and dining to create big welcoming open space. Separate lounge with a door.
Flying Mama thanked CWD
CWD
2 years ago
Or how about carving out a proper front hallway as you come in the door, with lots of storage options for getting rid of the muddy boots and clothes. Then the stairs would come off that, rather than be included in open plan kitchen/dining? I'd steal a bit of the study to put washer/dryer there though as you don't want that at front door - but separate it from the remainder of the Study so it can be nice and quiet.
Flying Mama thanked CWD
Beverley Alexander
2 years ago
Remove the wall between the kitchen and the study to create a lovely room looking out on to the back garden. Section off to create a utility room the left of the kitchen which has a window in it anyway. Perhaps move your back door into there and archway through to the kitchen. Subdivide the lounge into a study and a snug. Use the dining room as your lounge.
Flying Mama thanked Beverley Alexander
g b
2 years ago
My suggestion woukd be to knock through your kitchen and dining room. Turn your existing study into a utility/bootroom/pantry. Put a door with a keypad lock on it (similarly the side gate) which will really encourage you/the kids to use it raher than the front door. Put your kitchen cabinets floor to ceiling along the stairs wall and continue to the back of the house with the last door being a ’secret’ door into the boot room. At the bottom end of the stairs ne of this run of cabinets' , build a lower level cabinet to house the guinea pigs (following the kitchen cabinet line but not tall so the stairs don’t feel narrow). Don’t worry about your comfy chair but definitely Use the money you save on not building an extension to tidy up your patio and get some comfy chairs out there. Maybe even a glass veranda cover if money allows. Similarly, buy comfy bar stools for your island and you’ll sit there all day. Make sure you have a socket in your island somewhere to plug in a laptop. The kids can do their homeweork there while you potter. The rest of the dining room become a dining/sitting room and your living room becomes a snug/study. These two activities rarely happen at the same time but it means that working from home is not confined to a cupboard. Your front door is then a non-muddy entrance for grown ups and guests. One last thing, if you have a dog, put a hot/cold mixer tap outsude the bootroom to rinse the dog outside before bringin him in. Good luck with it all.
Flying Mama
Original Author
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Thank you for all the suggestions so far - I will be drawing prospective floorplans again later today!

@CWD- I like the idea of carving out a proper hallway - how much for the current kitchen/dining space do you think should be given to the hallway instead?

@Beverley Alexander - I like the idea of having the whole of the back of the house as one large space that looks on to the garden - would you also remove the wall between the kitchen and current dining room to create an l-shaped space, or keep the wall there? At the moment, the room is a sort of "through space" and I'm finding furniture placement a bit tricky other than a narrow dining table and my piano tucked under the stairs.

@g b - the hidden door is a great idea to maintain the visual flow and still allow access into the utility space. When you say the cabinets would run along the stair wall, do you envisage that the lower level cabinets tuck under the stairs? Or would the cabinets wrap-around the stairs? Also, where would you position an island/breakfast bar - I agree it would be lovely to sit on a bar stool and look out to the garden.

I think you've all given me some great ideas - thank you. I'm now hopeful that an extension (with its mess and financial implications!) is avoidable :-D
Flying Mama
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you @faye_lloyd - your picture is very clear! I had wondered about adjusting the staircase but just don't have the vision to figure out how that would work, but your suggestion makes great sense. I'd also love to have the front door at the front so the switching of the porch area/WC could work well. Hadn't even considered trying to link the two sides of the house externally, but the wraparound deck/patio would work really well as we have a small side garden and then a larger back garden and this would join it all together. Thank you for your time :-D
faye_lloyd
2 years ago
Oh amazing! I’m glad it wasn’t all rubbish 😁 I would really suggest the show my home made perfect on the BBC, especially episode 1.7 and 2.6 Laura the architect changes the stairs there and it’s so simple but give you so much more usable space x
Flying Mama thanked faye_lloyd
PRO
Nest Estimating Ltd
2 years ago
Hi, once you have decided on a potential layout, we can provide you with a budget cost estimate. The budget cost estimate provides a detailed breakdown of works and expenses as well as highlighting potential areas where you can save money. If this is something of interest please send the plans and photos to hello@nestestimating.co.uk and we can provide you with a quote. Thank you
Flying Mama thanked Nest Estimating Ltd
Flying Mama
Original Author
2 years ago
Thank you @faye_lloyd I shall try to look those episodes up over the weekend :)

Do we actually need an extension? Please help!

faye_lloyd

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