Second bedroom to Ground Floor flat

2 months ago

Hello,

We owe a one bedroom victorian terrace conversion flat with a sizeable garden in London and have a child, so desperately need a second bedroom. The market around doesn't seem to offer much for our budget, so extending seems like a good option for us.

We have found an approved planning permission from previous owners with fairly detailed drawings for the extension. The first picture shows the footprint of the proposed extension being build over current kitchen, the second picture shows the new layout. While this plan seems a fairly sensible one, - we wouIdn't need to move the bathroom and hopefully wouldn't need to move the drains (in the location of the proposed courtyard/Japanese garden). However, I can't seem to think that having a bedroom opening up directly to the dining area might be very unpractical. Are there any better ways to solve this puzzle sensibly?

Just to add - our bathroom has a very low ceiling as it seems that the bathroom upstairs is lower than the rest of the flat too, hence it might be awkward to have it as something else.

Featured Answer

rinked

2 months ago

last modified: 2 months ago

An idea: Extend +/- 6.7m (1.8m further than neighbour; one fencing panel) and leave 1.15 on the side (imagine a swing between these walls) to allow for a bedroom window. Front room stays bedroom, but i moved the doorway, the old one becomes a hallway cupboard. Used part of the rear room to make a hallway, which leads towards a split level open living, with kitchen first and then two steps down into the lounge, opening up to the garden. The kitchen units on the left are rotated, for books/boardgames and so on. Bathroom window could be closed up or replaced for top light (above the fridge). If you were to keep the manhole, install a hatch flush with the floor, perhaps cover up with a waterproof kitchen rug. A rectangular roof light in the center of the kitchen (not in drawing) provides some light into the corridor. Hope this may inspire you.

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Comments (8)

rinked
2 months ago
What's the width of the plot? (and other measurements would be nice)
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Gintare Kriauceliunaite
Original Author
2 months ago
The width is ca 6 meters. Current living room is ca 3.5x4m. The proposed bedroom would probably be ca 2.5x2.7 (if so...)
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yes, as much as i could really figure out some of the dimensions, which are not mentioned on the plan and taking into consideration inaccuracy of the estate agent plans. all need to be triple checked, but it looks more or less possible. the bedroom are quite small, but with a clever layout can work nice double berooms. bathroom either 1600mm bath or a large shower. the worrying part is how far the waste pipe and what is a big black square in the kitchen and is it possible to remove it> the programme is not letting me to export the dimensions visible in one go (i need to work on that), so posting in two pieces. i am sorry :) the things are not accurate, but are as close and as logical as i indestood.
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Great ideas - all will work but I agree with Jon R - you need to live in it to get a feel for it. I did start to sketch out what you could do - but marina has done a great job of that already 😍. Have you seen the programme ’My House Made Perfect ‘ (I think that’s what it is called) some eye opening and practical designs on there. Simple solution is to move the kitchen into an L shape backing onto the front bedroom wall and creating a good space for dining or lounging area in front of the patio doors. As per my quick edit of your plan - (blue : kitchen , yellow : walls , red : storage units housing TV) Note in this if possible I would move the wall back on the bedroom just a couple feet, which would make the world of difference , lining up the storage cupboard under the stairs. You have high ceilings this gives you a sense of space - make the most of this but putting in floor to ceiling window/ patio - something like the crittal range look amazing. Your investment money is a lot but with real feature items won’t go far. But those items could be the difference between WOW and practical, it’s already practical and my gut is to spend more on the WOW 😍.
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hi Jamie For side return extension if that is your plan be ready with about 70k+VAT budget and another 10k in total for client supplied items. that means you still have another 36k£ to spend on your project. as i haven seen your windows on a front i can just guess but i would say with 1 external door and 5 windows assume about 5k+VAT incl installation. bathroom refurb can cost you around 5k+VAT and refurbish of the whole ground floor about 15k+VAT incl new door liners couple of studwalls new plastering new skirtings and architreves etc. for flooring and other stuff allocate about 8k+VAT and for profession fees another 4k+VAT. i would say in total a bit tight but you can have all your list to be done. just be sure you get more quotes in as builders are charging nowadays from a-z depends on there availability and flexibility. have a good luck.
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PRO
Black and Milk | Interior Design | London
2 months ago
Optimising space whilst maintaining practicality is crucial, especially with the addition of a child. Given your concerns about the bedroom opening directly into the dining area, a sensible alteration would be to introduce a partition or sliding door, offering the flexibility to separate or combine the spaces as needed. This solution preserves the open-plan feel whilst providing privacy when required. Alternatively, reconfiguring the layout to place the bedroom in a more secluded part of the extension, possibly where the proposed courtyard/garden is located, could enhance the functionality and flow of your home. This might involve adjusting the location of windows and doors, but it could provide a more practical and private living arrangement.
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siobhanmcgee90
2 months ago
The only other option I see is to create the second bedroom where the current living room is but take sufficient to create a small hallway. This may be more future proofed but means you will have a smaller sitting area in the extension unless you further extend this area as the garden appears sufficiently large. I do like the Japanese garden and this would mean you can keep the bathroom as is.
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Gintare Kriauceliunaite
Original Author
2 months ago
Thank you both for the replies. I appreciate that this is not an easy task - and I've definitely been spending way too much time thinking about it :)

I did consider the idea of the second bedroom where the current living room is, but the problem I see is where to put the window for this - if it's next to the fireplace, we would need to knock down the existing kitchen and create a second courtyard?.. If the window would be next to the proposed Japanese garden, there would be even more corridors zig zagging around the house, eating into the size of the rooms.

From what I've seen in similar extensions, the courtyard is normally on the opposite side from the entrance, then it all falls more or less smoothly. We were trying to avoid that as there are two existing manholes already.. Unless, of course, we would need to move these along a bit.. or extend considerably more into the garden.
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katlucy
2 months ago
Running with siobhan’s idea of the second bedroom being part of your current living room with a hallway beside the bathroom…. I wonder if you investigate having a glass roof between the main structure and the extension across to the courtyard… ie half your current kitchen could be given over to this new bedroom for a wardrobe and desk/dressing table providing the light needed. You could then excavate the other half of the kitchen and have a sunken living area instead of the sunken dining area in the plan and the proposed 2nd bedroom becomes a compact kitchen, (i am assuming you have a utility under the stairs at the front?) perhaps you could expand the planning application to include a central dining conservatory? then a studio pod in the garden for a study and a partition across the front bedroom for any future children or a playroom and youve cracked ut for the next 20 years:)

Also, im wondering if you could build the levels up instead and then have steps down to the dining conservatory….
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katlucy
2 months ago
Excuse the scruffy drawing, im hoping the measurements are guessed correctly…
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Second bedroom to Ground Floor flat

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Second bedroom to Ground Floor flat

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Comments (8)

rinked

Gintare KriauceliunaiteOriginal Author

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Gintare Kriauceliunaite
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