We have just purchased what we hope to be our last house. It is a very big plot and we are looking to knock down and get planning for a very large house over 4 floors. (12,000 sq ft). We know what we want internally however our issue lies with the external look and feel. My wife wants classic new build, with pillar entrance, sash box windows with stone cills or surroundings (Surrey Commuter belt!). I like contempory white, modern, square, glass walls, feature cladded walls with balconies (Beverly Hills!) Our compromise is classic at the front contempory at the rear. We need help! Hopeful designjunction will help offer solutions so we can move forward.

I agree with Hugh re supervision plus by the time the extension is built your son will be nearing an age where he understands a little more. You may also want him in there to cook with you soon. I'm sure the kitchen can be designed from a safety aspect too if that's the only thing holding you back. I think the advantage of using OnePlan is that Karen can look at the whole house spatially etc and you're not tied to a particular kitchen company (I'm not on commission!). Click on her profile for reviews etc. I second Hugh's comments re karndean too! I like the heringbone parquet! If you did want to hire an interior designer (designers tend to be qualified in planning too I think as opposed to an interior decorator although many of those could be qualified by experience) then you could find you save as much as you spend. Some of them will offer you their trade discount which if doing the whole house could add up to an awful lot. They may also make you save from any mistakes and I've made a few of those! I'd go on houzz and search for pros and look at their reviews and previous work. I think you need to meet people yourself though as it's important to have a good working relationship and make sure they understand you

We are doing the same. weve done our build in 2 phases so weve just conpleted the single storey rear extension and about to start building the double storey in April. Although we are making our front box room bigger by taking it out over the new attached garage to make hopefully 4 double bedrooms. the room will only be 2.38m wide and around 4.3m long with a 90cm space for a shower, toilet and sink. hoping it works and the above from man about the house gives me hope it will as i plan to do something similar with a small area at the back literally for the bed and some bedside tables then a small walk through wardrobe area and then a thin ensuite. will decide where to put stud walls once the shell and floor in built so i can determine the space needed.

To continue discussion I’ve tweaked Jonathons plan. Keep the downstairs new extension part J suggested but make a downstairs bed and ensuite plus separate wc where old dining kitchen is. Why I’ve suggested this is because then the new extension can be part single storey with some structural roof glazing and part two storey to enable a more fitting main bed and ensuite. If this was mine since I value outside space more than average I wouldn’t want to dominate the outside more than absolutely necessary and I’d like some roof glazing in the extension. Only having part of the new extension two storey might also allow part of the ground floor to be a storey and a half high. And the architects might be able to be creative and interesting in how the extension looks externally. Anyhow just a few thoughts. So drawing below is just to show downstairs bedroom change.