Renovation design advice please
We're looking at a redesign of a large proportion of the ground floor of our 1970s house. There are a couple of key aspects we want to resolve as part of the redesign:
1) We have a porch that is very old, the wooden structure has not been maintained and so it needs replacing. It's also wooden/single glazed with a flat roof and is very cold, which essentially makes the space unusable. We also think it would be nice to have a bit of a covered area above the front door to shelter from the rain when searching for keys/locking up.


2) We have a utility room that is also very cold, again making it uncomfortable to use. The doors are old aluminum units that are ill-fitting and the windows old and drafty. It's also got a flat roof.
3) The kitchen is functional but will need renovating in due course. While, with young children, it's nice to have a separate kitchen so we can keep the kids out while cooking, equally we can see when they are older it may be nice to have a kitchen-diner etc to make the kitchen more a part of where we will spend time.
4) We have a lovely open south facing garden, which at the moment is only accessed through the lounge french doors or utility room door. The patio extends across the back of the house, although again needs rejuvenating. It would be nice to start making the garden a bit more integrated into the home for the summer time, e.g. from a kitchen dinner. When the sun's out it's already very warm through the windows, so we'd need to think about incorporating some shade.
5) There are old glass doors between the Living Room and Dining room. This is non-safety glass and so we want to replace this to make it safe. We're not sure if we want to keep the opening or close it off (if we were to open the kitchen into the dining room, we would essentially end up with all the downstairs living rooms being connected, which we are not sure about).
6) Adjacent to the utility room, at the back of the garage is a 'workshop' area, which we don't really need. It would be nice to integrate this into the house to make better use of the space (an additional sitting room, a nicer aspect for a study, a guest bedroom perhaps...). It would also be good to have access to the garage from the house (rather than having to go outside to get into the garage).
7) There is currently a corridor between the main house and garage, which leads to the utility room back door/garage side entrance. It feels in part like this is dead space....



Seeking input for design advice/considerations!
Jonathan
HU-586101160Original Author
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