skip to main content

Home Organisation Renovating Design Dilemma

Ground Floor Plan redesign/renovation

Graeme Hamilton

2 years ago

Hello all. We have been in our detached house for five years now and the ground floor layout is really not working for us. We want to change things up to suit our living style better but are very stuck for ideas of the best possible layout.

The current floor plan is below and these are the key things that we want and some other considerations:

What we want:

Larger Kitchen
Open plan Living/Dining/Kitchen area (want to be able to fully see the living area from the kitchen)
A Boot Room for coming in/out the house with mucky kids, dogs and be able to store all our various coats and footwear
Preference of the living area to be at the back of the house. This side gets all the sun.
We want to avoid extending out the back and use our current footprint

Considerations:

We are willing to remove any internal walls
Happy to even move entrance to house
We are willing to use all or part of the garage
Current entrance is tiny and cramped, happy to combine main entrance with boot room to avoid creating a redundnat front entrance.
Access to WC is through entrance / dirty area
Don't necesarily require a seperate utility room. Just need a Utility "space" if it helps the layout.

We are really up for anything and would welcome all ideas as we are struggling!

Thanks.

Featured Answer

katlucy

last year

No, i see the rear of the garage as the boot room combined utility and wc for muddy boots etc and the main larger entrance as a calm stylish introduction to your lovely house.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

PRO
Maddalena Minerva
2 years ago
Hello!

Quick question, would you consider removing the downstairs WC altogether? Some pics of the house as is from the front and internals would be really helpful to see!

Best,

Maddy x
PRO
SBS Homes
2 years ago
Hi there. Where about is the property? We might be able to help
Related Discussions
Extend terrace house and redesign ground floor
Q
Comments (8)
Thanks for the comments so far. I'm kind of thinking there's a hybrid option that isn't 1 or 2 and will probably cost a fortune, but until I find that solution, option 2 is definitely what I'm pulled towards. Oneplan, to answer your questions specifically: - The house is built on two floors - just three double bedrooms uptstairs. I'll be putting a small bathroom in upstairs as part of the project. - The "lobby" area is a vast overstatement on behalf of the estate agents when they were making the plan. "Pantry" would be a more appropriate word. Our builder mate suggested making the Pantry into a small shower and WC and converting the current downstairs bathroom into a utility room. - My kids are 4 and 5. - I haven't actually measured the porch up yet, although see comment below. - Regarding the question about the extension size. I borrowed the dimensions from a plan already submitted to the council for an exact same sized house (plans submitted before the govt relaxed planning rules). This size works because the garden is not so big. If I make the extension any bigger the garden will be really too small (and I want at least some space for the kids to run around in). Actually, I saw this post earler today https://www.houzz.co.uk/discussions/how-can-i-bring-this-kitchen-to-life-dsvw-vd~1171087 and I love it. Wonder if I could work with something along these lines.
...See More
Ground floor redesign - confused by options
Q
Comments (24)
Dosia_Konn Perhaps I could answer your query by explaining first what Architects do. The Architect takes the client's brief and instructions, prepares feasibility designs , cost estimates and makes Planning and Building Regulation Applications, negotiates with Planners & Building Control Officers on behalf of the clientdesigns the whole building/extension, specifies the materials to be used in the construction, specifies the quality and method of construction, provides detailed, dimensioned drawings to Engineers, Quantity Surveyors, etc etc, prepares tender documents for the whole project, checks potential contractors, invites tenders, reports and advises on received tenders, prepares Contract documents, administers the Building Contract, issues Certificates for Payments at appropriate times, inspects the work as it proceeds to ensure it conforms with the Contract, agrees Final Accounts with Contractors and issues Final Certificates to clients etc for payment, makes six month inspections, issues instructions to contractors to make good defects etc etc Interior Designers are sometimes, but not invariably, engaged as part of the Professional Team to advise on the design of the interiors of buildings, including colour schemes, fabrics, fittings and furniture, estimating costs, sourcing fittings, furniture and fabrics including floor and wall coverings. They specialise in these aspects of the building project but do not offer the extent and quality of services as offered by Architects who are normally regarded as the leaders of any design team and who are required to have considerably more training, qualifications and expertise in all aspects of building projects than Interior Designers have or need. I am unaware of the minimum qualification necessary to call oneself an 'Interior Designer' and would be interested to learn that. Some Interior Designers offer more than the normal service as mentioned above and if a client prefers to take that option that is their right to do so. Some draughtsmen do the same but I wouldn't recommend that course of action in this specific instance unless the particular Interior Designer/Draughtsmen shows himself/herself well equipped, experienced and qualified to do the job as well as an Architect.
...See More
Ground floor redesign - how to best make use of large floor space
Q
Comments (8)
Ask your self if the kitchen is actually a good kitchen….. if you need a utility room next to the kitchen for additional refrigeration or storage or additional work surface then it’s not a good enough kitchen for you. Ideally the utility should be just a laundry room in which case it’s best near the bedrooms upstairs or at least near the bottom of the stairs.
...See More
1930s Semi - Ground floor redesign feedback (HELP!)
Q
Comments (5)
Hi Peter, thanks for the dimensions . Swapping the kitchen into the dining room and having an island is going to be a squeeze but if you’re up for moving the wall between the old kitchen and dining room then you could gain a little space that might make it work. If you go for this sort of layout, using a reduced depth cabinet for the storage by the back doors could give you a lovely long run of cabinets straight from kitchen into dining room. Also I would look at using a pocket door into the WC from the utility to enable a longer run of utility units under the side window.
...See More
Jonathan
2 years ago
One option
Graeme Hamilton
Original Author
last year
We need the downstairs WC. It can be moved but we need one.

Thanks for that floor plan suggestion, some good things in there we never thought of before. I like the entrance particularly. Main issue would be no great line of sight from kitchen to living space but could be adjusted slightly I suppose.
Cle Campbell
last year
Was thinking that you could combine the boot room and utility by enlarging the boot room and reconfiguring the kitchen / diner / lounge area. That way if you had a muddy dog or boots etc there would be a space to clean off as soon as you walk into the house. You could put a sink in here and stack the washing machine and tumble dryer to save space.
Enter the open kitchen space at the rear of the hall.
katlucy
last year
Remove the wall between the dining room and kitchen and have the kitchen in the dining room with an island then the kitchen is ‘all seeing’…into the front sitting room and the new kitchen/dining/living room across the rear.

I would put a door from the utility into the garage and flip the utility into the rear of the garage along with the wc, you could have an additional entrance recessed at the bottom the stairs, I’d keep the front of the garage for storage and retain a bigger entrance (your current entrance), for guests. i would move the utility entrance along the garage wall to the ’new utility’ to square up the new kitchen/dining/living area
Graeme Hamilton
Original Author
last year
For the entrance do you mean use the additional space gained by moving the WC for a combined front entrace/boot room area? I'd worry it is still a small space for our needs
katlucy
last year
katlucy
last year
Very scruffy, sorry, but thought it easier to draw out what i was thinking
Graeme Hamilton thanked katlucy
Graeme Hamilton
Original Author
last year
Thank you for taking the time to sketch that. Very helpful to visualise it and I like the layout very much!

Sponsored

More Discussions

Large sliding door or keep small French door and window

36

How can I make this wall look less bare?

15

Too much blue. what other color is right here?

33

Which layout do you think would look best for our renovation project?

5

Above garage extension to create primary suite

0

United Kingdom

Tailor my experience with cookies

Houzz uses cookies and similar technologies to personalise my experience, serve me relevant content, and improve Houzz products and services. By clicking ‘Accept’ I agree to this, as further described in the Houzz Cookie Policy. I can reject non-essential cookies by clicking ‘Manage Preferences’.