Please evaluate my floor plan
Hello Houzz! I’m currently undergoing a renovation and extension of my home and wanted the group to provide any thoughts on my home layout. This will be a home in London for myself, wife and two children who are aged 5 and 7.
Some points to help explain our current approach:
Home office - I work from home 2 to 3 times a week hence preference for a home office.
Kitchen - we are not big cooks which is why we have gone for a ‘broken plan’ kitchen. set up and Plan is bring in some natural light to the kitchen by having a narrow glass pane placed horizontally on the wall being where the sink is current located. The doors to the kitchen will also have glass panes to also allow for additional light. We think having pocket doors is a simple solution that allows us to transition from broken plan to open plan (kind of).
The corner room shown on top of the kitchen is intended as a kids playrooms which will then become more of a games room with console etc as they enter teenage years.
Downstairs wc & shower - located somewhere central that is easily accessed from downstairs hallway. The shower is included as the property will be a four double bedroom house and the first floor has one en-suite and one master bathroom and so the shower downstairs will be useful if we have guests staying over in the fourth bedroom and the downstairs shower is likely to be an electric shower so will serve as a back up if we ever have boiler issues.
Square room next to shower - cabinet to house jackets, shoes and kids school bags etc.
Room on right hand side of front door - formal living room which could be used as a cinema room and hosting smaller gatherings in a more formal setting.
I’d welcome all and any comments!
Thanks
Comments (33)
Dee
3 months agoManish Patel
3 months agoRelated Discussions
Advice please for my floor plan!
Comments (5)I think it will look great to open up the kitchen and conservatory areas because the area is quite small. However, here are a few things to consider (this is from someone who lives in a house with a similar layout to your existing ground floor). The conservatory faces south and presumably overlooks the garden. Is this an area you are going to want to sit in because it will be beautiful and tranquil? If so, it would be better to keep the dining room in the centre area because you don't need a view when eating (except of the food). Then use the conservatory as a small sitting room. It looks like you have not drawn the plans to scale. The new hallway looks narrow and the new wall will take up space. Make sure if a new wall is put in that you will have enough space for a useable room plus a hallway. Why do you want to access the new downstairs bedroom/study from the living room? Wouldn't it be better to access it from the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. Good ideas though....See MorePlease help with my plans!
Comments (4)I would get quotes for a loft conversion now. I'm sure it will be possible, but obviously more expensive. Personally I would go ahead with the downstairs extension and move the bathroom to bed 3 now. I'd be thinking about either moving or putting 2 bedrooms for the boys in the loft in phase 2. I agree I'd keep a downstairs room as a potential future bedroom 'just in case'....See MoreDilemma with floor plan / renovation / design ideas - Please help
Comments (15)Hi Dalida! Yes, your flat needs a renovation, specially in the bathroom and kitchen. The wooden floor looks nice. Before starting the redising, it will be necessary you make a 'wishlist'. I would recommend a bigger kitchen . Have you considered having only 1 bigger bathroom? How many peple wil be living in the flat? How many bedrooms do you need? Is the kitchen entrance as nice as the main one ? Would you consider turning the kitchen entrance onto de main entrance to the flat? Then you'd be able to enter to the kitchen space ( it can be an attractive open-plan design - look at this one we fitted in a small apartment) Imagine that where the mirror is, is where your window is. If you turn this entrance onto the 'main one', you'll be able to have a big bedroom on the other side of the flat ( where the main entrance). You can keep the entrance and use it, but not for guest ( not nice to have visitors entering through your bedroom). As you can see there're a lot of options to discuss. I would recommend you to contact a profesional that helps you with the process, because if you meet him/her you can design together a really nice flat. Which style do you prefer? Would it be posible to change the position of the gas boiler? How much storage space do you need? For the new bathroom I would recomend to have storage space, and a large mirror will help to make the space feel bigger. As you can see, there're a lot of questions and lots of decissitions to take. Don't hesitate contacting a profesional to help you in the process it will sabe you money and headaches! We're based in South of Spain, so we're not close to help you with the renovation, but I hope my comments help you! Good luck with the renovation, Sara Leiva Architect @ Mirasur Proyectos SL PS- My recomnendation is not to divide the flat into 2 smaller ones - it will be much more expensive, messy, and you'll have 2 non- attractive tiny flats...See MoreOpen plan or semi open plan? Floor plan / furniture layout help please
Comments (5)Hi all, Thank you for your comments; I appreciate them! Natasha - the units you have suggested are very much what I had in mind. We will have a shaker kitchen and the media unit would also be shaker style and would have 4-6 cupboards with the TV in the middle with book shelves either side. Part of the reason we kept a partial wall was to make the space more usable. I can’t envision how the fully open plan room will be able to meet all our needs, but I am open to ideas! I feel that open plan would be more impressive, but potentially less usable. With regards to the doors. I do plan to reverse the doors both into the kitchen and family room part, but couldn’t work out how to do it on the app I used for the floor plan. It is a 1920s house and we have the original doors which we are planning to keep. We are also keeping a lot of floor space as when the table is not extended, we still have young children with lots of Lego and trains etc. I plan for these to be hidden in the cupboards at bedtime. J - we haven’t installed the kitchen but we have ordered it and paid a big deposit. Some of the units are bespoke/irregular sizes and I don’t think we would be willing to change this. I have attached a photo of our rendered kitchen plan. Thanks again for your comments. It is good to have other people’s opinions and ideas....See More
PRODevyra Atelier
3 months agoi like your current layout if you want to keep the room as guest bedroom on the back and it has many storage you can directly access in the enterance area for big things like bike, hiking stuff, etc,
if you cooking asian cuisine which has many chili the smell can be strong enough to travel entire house I grew up with that, so the idea of pocket door is could be useful as the kitchen could be cluttered on big holiday preparation.
I agree with Jonathan you could add window on the kitchen side as it will let more light and better air circulation, the door on the reception room should be faced the opposite, it should opened to right-side so it doesn't cover person that sit on the sofa when you walk in
I would change the sink and stove position on the current kitchen and make small island so the breakfast table not situated awkwardly in the corner
Jonathan
3 months agoManish Patel
3 months agoHello all, thank you for your comments. We do not have a basement I’m attaching the layout of the first floor which helps to add further context. You’ll see that behind the stairs on the first floor we have a linen / utility room which will house the washer and dryer.
Jonathan - I do think your suggestion about all the doors in the downstairs hallway is a valid one although with your new layout the only issue to access the kitchen you have to traipse through the living room and dining room and also the current layout has access to the pantry from the kitchen and side access to bins and garden etc whereas with your layout that would be eliminated.
Devyra - we would’ve also liked an island but didn’t have the suggested 1 metre clearance at top and bottom hence went for a peninsular instead but we could make games room smaller to add more space to kitchen and fit an island.
rinked
3 months agoManish Patel
3 months agoThank you Rinked. Please see current floor plan below.
I would consider swapping the position of the kitchen and kids playroom so that the kitchen would be alongside the top corner of the floor layout but the only limiting factor is how we then access the pantry which is behind the staircase.
- PRO
Devyra Atelier
3 months ago Manish Patel
3 months agopauldrowan
3 months agoManish Patel
3 months agopauldrowan
3 months agorinked
3 months agoManish Patel
3 months agoJonathan
3 months agoJonathan
3 months agoManish Patel
3 months agoJonathan
3 months agoRough sizing as requested- tbh I couldn’t see all of your plans measurements so I have done my best with the estate agents sizing.
And thankyou for the offer of a drink - perhaps you could make a donation to a charity instead- given it is so cold at the moment Crisis would be a good one to support.
rinked
3 months agoMore inspiration, perhaps. ;) Without a playroom though, the kids have decent sized rooms and likely want to play near you in an open space, until they want more privacy. Hence an empty corner in the top right.
Please consider a concept designer consult to tweak the drawings made by an architect and improve traffic, function, personal needs/wants, etcetera.
Oh and imagine a nice rooflight in the upstairs landing, its size will make up for the closed off walk up. I imagine your home has lovely character, hopefully full of periodic features.
I tried to keep as many existing walls as possible, see overlay below. And some beams will be involved, my best guess is the orange lines, but i'm not an engineer. There's a 5 meter span between bootroom and fireplace wall, that has the former exterior wall above it.
Best of luck with the makeover, it is rather massive!
Manish Patel
3 months agorinked
3 months agoManish Patel
3 months agorinked
3 months agolast modified: 3 months agoBecause i enjoy playing with floorplans (and add a bit of quirk), here's another:
First floor: Staircase in the 1m extension. Master bedroom with two +/- 2 meter wardrobes, shower and toilet tucked away, wide vanity with drawers. Laundry+linen room next to the stairs, if possible with a rooflight (there's no attic, is there?). Two equal new bedrooms and an existing one. Shared bathroom (incl. guests). The landing is 130-140cm wide and could also use a rooflight.Ground floor: Larger front reception room. Hallway much the same, staircase and wc on the side. Office slightly larger (1 square = 1 meter). Bootroom on the right with side entrance. Great room fireplace wall kept intact, line of sight from front door all the way towards the full glass back. First lounge area, then kitchen and dining. Play corner with large storage units that make all toys disappear in a blink. And then the kitchen, 3m peninsula with tall fridge and oven unit, but also a nifty corner right behind it (partially under the stairs) with extra storage and your coffee maker, toaster, shelves (all the things you don't necessarily want on your countertop, but end up there anyway).
Manish Patel
3 months agoManish Patel
3 months agoManish Patel
3 months agoHi all, here’s an early spec of the new layout.
Things I like - my home office is slightly longer and likely a more comfortable space to work in.
The stairs are on the left hand side which enables the pantry on the right hand side to become larger and combine with the utility room from upstairs (allowing one of the upstairs bedrooms to become an en suite)
Access to kitchen utility is from kitchen
What I don’t like: our layout to the rear of the property is somewhat impeded by a post in the middle of the room (shown where current kitchen cabinets end) which was meant to be junction of kitchen and playroom and serves to hold up a beam. Removing this post would open up floor but need a larger beam and additional cost of £5k+ which I’m trying to avoid.
Sofa layout just seems out of place/too big and placement of media wall dictated by the post and trying to run media wall behind kitchen cabinet. That side of the room also seems to have lot of wasted space.
What I’d like to refine: a kitchen layout in same location that incorporates an island /peninsula.
Sofa to placed nearer to the patio doors facing out to the right hand side of the property (garden is south west facing)
A casual dining area near the orleo window on right and more formal dining area towards bottom left hand side of the room.
Any tips welcome!
rinked
3 months agopauldrowan
3 months agoJonathan
3 months ago
Jonathan