Where would you put one sqm of extra space?

[Ferdinand]

A weekend thought about design ideas.

 

Given an extra 1 sqm of space, where would you put it in your house for most benefit? Either the current house, or the previous house.

 

I am exploring opinions on which constraints are most beneficial to release very slightly.

 

I have three answers:

 

1 - To make a small hob a big hob with a bit of extra space at the side.

 

2 - Inside the shower, to make a shower cubicle into a walk-in shower.

 

3 - Into the staircase to change the angle from 42 degres to 37 degrees. 

 

The first two are spaces where we spend a lot of time in a small space, so the extra benefit is perceived often.

 

The third is again making something we use multiple times a day feel more relaxed.

 

Any other ideas?

 

Ferdinand

Edited August 24, 2019 by Ferdinand

[NSS]

The Plant Room. We ended up putting more in it than we originally anticipated so it's a bit cramped when you need to access/service anything. Can't swing a hedgehog never mind a cat!

[ragg987]

Kitchen storage. I thought I had catered for enough, but now bursting at the seams.

[daiking]

On my side of the bed so the wife couldn’t steal it.

[ProDave]

An extra cupboard for all that stuff that is not easy to accommodate in all the existing cupboards.

[ToughButterCup]

Efficient, well-organised storage is the quickest route to sanity.

[Jeremy Harris]

38 minutes ago, ProDave said:

An extra cupboard for all that stuff that is not easy to accommodate in all the existing cupboards.

 

 

The snag is that there is some sort of universal law that dictates that stuff expands to fill the volume available.  Add an extra cupboard and it will just end up full of stuff, so needing another extra cupboard, and so on, ad infinitum...

[ProDave]

3 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

 

 

The snag is that there is some sort of universal law that dictates that stuff expands to fill the volume available.  Add an extra cupboard and it will just end up full of stuff, so needing another extra cupboard, and so on, ad infinitum...

Which is why the older you get, the more sheds you have.

[epsilonGreedy]

3 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

I have three answers:

 

1 - To make a small hob a big hob with a bit of extra space at the side.

 

2 - Inside the shower, to make a shower cubicle into a walk-in shower.

 

3 - Into the staircase to change the angle from 42 degres to 37 degrees. 

 

 

My house is not built yet, even so based on previous experience I have wrestled with each of these design points in the new build (1500 sq ft).

 

(1) Our previous large farm house rental home had a generous cooker range built into a chimney alcove with about 300mm worktop each side of hob up to the the old chimney alcove walls. I cannot achieve the same in the new kitchen design and this feels like a loss. We have managed to incorporate an extra 100mm of worktop depth as a mini peninsular where the hob will be situated which is a feature I have lifted from my sister's high-end kitchen.

 

(2) An extra 1sqm would be useful in the ensuite bathroom and can in fact be achieved by halving the size of the linen cupboard though that change would rule out a HW tank and so mandate a combi boiler. Still debating that one.

 

(3) We struggled with the stairs design given a 5.45m depth in the main block of the house. I do not like bedroom doors that lead onto the landing precipitously close to the top step of the stairs and ended up with a 90 degree square turn at the lower end of the stairs and two further steps into the open plan living room, think we ended up with 1.3m of landing width either end of the stairs as a result.

 

I find shallow gradient stairs a problem, I am more likely to stumble on them because my feet are programmed to a regular step size.

Edited August 24, 2019 by epsilonGreedy

[epsilonGreedy]

I am getting strange looks from the regular building trades and the building control inspector in my quest for a cut garage roof. My motivation is to maximize attic storage space over the integral workshop room and office, I should get 3 m3 of easy access loft storage space as a result.

[Jeremy Harris]

10 minutes ago, epsilonGreedy said:

I am getting strange looks from the regular building trades and the building control inspector in my quest for a cut garage roof. My motivation is to maximize attic storage space over the integral workshop room and office, I should get 3 m3 of easy access loft storage space as a result.

 

 

We have a trussed garage roof that was designed to give a usable storage area.  The roof trusses are simple A frames, two rafters plus a deep combined ceiling joist and loft floor joist.  Not a massive amount of headroom up there, but adequate as a storage space.  I've carpeted the central area, so that it's a bit easier on the knees when crawling around up there.  I made a large loft hatch in the garage ceiling, fitted a loft ladder, plus an electric hoist, so getting stuff up and down is fairly easy.

[dnb]

If I didn't have a large shower, I would definitely want one. Both the current and new houses have large showers.

 

In the current house, the lounge/dining room isn't quite big enough to comfortably have a decent table and a decent sofa arrangement - one or other is compromised - so even a small amount of extra space here would transform the house.

The new house is significantly large (300m^2 floor area), but I am concerned now that the plant room will be overly full, so the extra space would be useful there.

[SteamyTea]

On the roof, would make the difference between 6 PV modules and 8 PV modules.

Edited August 24, 2019 by SteamyTea

[Hecateh]

Without having read this thread I was discussing similar with family last night.  Whee I would have my extra metre is on the dining alcove.  It currently looks fine - when not in use.  In order to use it properly, the seating in lounge has to be moved. Even an extra 3 - 400 mm in depth would have made the difference.  

[Pocster]

Extend the dungeon !

[SteamyTea]

21 minutes ago, pocster said:

Extend the dungeon !

Would that be to store the regalia or to get more people in.

Thankfully webcams are very small now and no need to carefully store, out of harms way, VHS tapes.

 

[Mr Punter]

I would like a bidet. I know they are not popular but it allows a good wash of the nether regions without needing to strip off and shower, and I am not sure I am ready for @JSHarris's shataff.

[SteamyTea]

3 hours ago, Mr Punter said:

allows a good wash of the nether regions

When I was young we lived in France and were looking for a house, some of them had bidets in the bathrooms.

I asked my older sister what they were for.

"Washing the babies in" she said.

To which the French Estate Agent relied, in perfect English.

'No, they are for washing the babies out'

Edited August 25, 2019 by SteamyTea

[Conor]

On 24/08/2019 at 16:12, daiking said:

On my side of the bed so the wife couldn’t steal it.

 

Super king all the way.

[Ferdinand]

Clearly, as ever, you all need to consort with Hermione.

 

"Detritus exeat. Statim." 

[puntloos]

How about a lift shaft (at least preparation for it)