Room layout advice, please offer anything that you can!

[Ferdinand]

27 minutes ago, Buildmeupbuttercup said:

I dont even understand what you mean but it sounds interesting, please can you elaborate? 

 

The back of my house faces North, so I get very little sun in my kitchen extension, as the sun goes E-S-W through the day.

[Buildmeupbuttercup]

 

The brown house. 

 

 

The living room currently, note fireplace

 

 

Current kitchen

 

 

 

 

 

Hope these help!

[Ferdinand]

So if a usual Google image, the back gets sun through the day.

[Mr Punter]

I suggest just extend the living room.  Straighten the wall in the kitchen to increase the WC into a shower room.  Use the under-stairs cupboard to access part of the garage as a utility / coat room.

 

Like this:

 

[Buildmeupbuttercup]

5 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

So if a usual Google image, the back gets sun through the day.

Great question as hadnt thought about this

[Buildmeupbuttercup]

On 12/01/2021 at 18:11, Declan52 said:

Have the stairs turned at the bottom by a few steps which will push it back giving you enough room for a toilet and sink under the stairs. A door in the hallway to access the office. You can then make the utility room much bigger with the toilet under the stairs.

The wall between the utility and office can be moved to suit which room you want to be bigger.

 

Wow reading this again and we hadn't considered moving the stairs but might be a great option... thank you, instead of working around the stairs, move them!

[Ferdinand]

26 minutes ago, Buildmeupbuttercup said:

Great question as hadnt thought about this

 

This is why I say your most important point is to take your time.

 

Orientation to the sun is so fundamental, that it is absolutely the first thing that almost any architect thinks about.

 

F

 

[Buildmeupbuttercup]

11 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

This is why I say your most important point is to take your time.

 

Orientation to the sun is so fundamental, that it is absolutely the first thing that almost any architect thinks about.

 

F

 

I wish we had time.

 

I will have to settle for a lot of thinking and all the advice we can get....

 

[AliG]

OK, last try.

 

38 minutes ago, Buildmeupbuttercup said:

Wow reading this again and we hadn't considered moving the stairs but might be a great option... thank you, instead of working around the stairs, move them!

This is probably only possible if you are building an extension to the front.

 

I liked what @Mr Punter posted for the rear as much cheaper and easier to build. Also it gives windows both to the south and west which are the best directions.

 

But I thought I could do better with the garage area, so I came up with this, I don't think there is enough headroom under the stairs. The WC door becomes an arch into a new hallway. There is a shower room off this. There is then a utility area where you could put the washer and dryer into a cupboard and walk past them to the home office. Not ideal, but it is very hard to fit a utility room in downstairs without more extensive work (I would push for the upstairs laundry as this is where all the washing is anyway)

 

 

[AliG]

You could have a totally separate laundry doing this  but it gives you a long corridor and the laundry is only 1.25m wide. It would allow aside door if you wanted. I didn't perfectly scale the rooms but you get the idea.

Edited January 13, 2021 by AliG

[Mr Punter]

3 hours ago, AliG said:

I would push for the upstairs laundry as this is where all the washing is anyway

+1

[Ferdinand]

5 hours ago, Buildmeupbuttercup said:

I wish we had time.

 

I will have to settle for a lot of thinking and all the advice we can get....

 

 

Remember the time factors that you cannot shift..

 

Anything you need PP for will be unlikely to get started before say June - up to 12 weeks for PP plus designing first and then getting trades and builders lined up. Permitted Development stuff may be quicker, but you will still have to do building regs.

 

But both are dependent on lead times.

 

I think the garage conversion may need PP. Both front and back will need Building Regs I suspect.

 

The crunch may be builder availability. 

 

I think there is an argument for phasing it and starting the back first, and perhaps roosting in the existing dining room as the temporary office, whilst waiting for planning on the garage conversion.

 

F

[Ferdinand]

5 hours ago, AliG said:

OK, last try.

 

This is probably only possible if you are building an extension to the front.

 

I liked what @Mr Punter posted for the rear as much cheaper and easier to build. Also it gives windows both to the south and west which are the best directions.

 

But I thought I could do better with the garage area, so I came up with this, I don't think there is enough headroom under the stairs. The WC door becomes an arch into a new hallway. There is a shower room off this. There is then a utility area where you could put the washer and dryer into a cupboard and walk past them to the home office. Not ideal, but it is very hard to fit a utility room in downstairs without more extensive work (I would push for the upstairs laundry as this is where all the washing is anyway)

 

 

 

If your laundry is upstairs then you need drying arrangements upstairs too. You don't really want everything to be tumbler dependent. Otherwise you are carrying the wet washing downstairs and outside every time.

 

There are other variations we have not talked about yet.

 

One is to do the full width extension at 3m or 4m, and have the utility room in the corner of the kitchen back to back with the improved shower room. That would also give you mops, buckets, food etc out of sight. That gives you the option of keeping the garage, or turning it into a long office, or a storage area plus an office.

 

What I like about that is it puts your nonhabitable rooms in the area of the house with no natural light, and allows you to separate kitchen storage from workshop  type storage.

 

F

 

 

 

[Dave Jones]

i really detest the current fad for a massive open lounge and kitchen combined.

[George]

10 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

i really detest the current fad for a massive open lounge and kitchen combined.

 

You have a point about the lounge area, but open plan kitchen and dining area is a function of the changed role of women in society and how cooking is now a common social activity. No longer are meals prepared in another room out of sight and brought into the dining area, because the chef wants to be part of the hub.

 

I see it as a societal evolution rather than a fad. Certainly has been around a while.

[Dave Jones]

kitchen/diner = normal

 

kitchen\diner+lounge = yuck. What's next open plan toilets !

[AliG]

My parents wanted to downsize to an apartment with a separate lounge and kitchen/dining room. It is now almost impossible to find these in new developments.

 

It is certainly a matter of personal choice and I too do not like combining them all into one room whilst others do. I certainly prefer the l-shpaed design above to one large room as I like the spaces to be well defined within the room.

 

For new developments, however, it seems to be a matter of space efficiency/money. You eliminate a lot of hallway and walls and thus get more room space in a smaller building.

 

 

[ProDave]

We insisted on a separate lounge, and kitchen diner.

 

I do NOT want a lounge disturbed by the noise of a fridge / freezer, or a dishwasher, let alone the noise of a fan oven or cooker hood making a noise.

[Dave Jones]

21 minutes ago, AliG said:

My parents wanted to downsize to an apartment with a separate lounge and kitchen/dining room. It is now almost impossible to find these in new developments.

 

It is certainly a matter of personal choice and I too do not like combining them all into one room whilst others do. I certainly prefer the l-shpaed design above to one large room as I like the spaces to be well defined within the room.

 

For new developments, however, it seems to be a matter of space efficiency/money. You eliminate a lot of hallway and walls and thus get more room space in a smaller building.

 

 

 

because its cheaper for the developer and they sucker the customers into thinking they are getting more!

[Buildmeupbuttercup]

3 hours ago, George said:

 

You have a point about the lounge area, but open plan kitchen and dining area is a function of the changed role of women in society and how cooking is now a common social activity. No longer are meals prepared in another room out of sight and brought into the dining area, because the chef wants to be part of the hub.

 

I see it as a societal evolution rather than a fad. Certainly has been around a while.

 Thank you and I agree. It’s also about having space to make a hot drink and still relax with guests (when we’re allowed them!) My husband does most the cooking nowadays... So not just women ? 

[Buildmeupbuttercup]

3 hours ago, Dave Jones said:

kitchen/diner = normal

 

kitchen\diner+lounge = yuck. What's next open plan toilets !

Hahaha yep! Who knows ?

[Buildmeupbuttercup]

2 hours ago, AliG said:

My parents wanted to downsize to an apartment with a separate lounge and kitchen/dining room. It is now almost impossible to find these in new developments.

 

It is certainly a matter of personal choice and I too do not like combining them all into one room whilst others do. I certainly prefer the l-shpaed design above to one large room as I like the spaces to be well defined within the room.

 

For new developments, however, it seems to be a matter of space efficiency/money. You eliminate a lot of hallway and walls and thus get more room space in a smaller building.

 

 

It’s also great to be able to keep an eye on my young kids... I understand we won’t want it when they are older but for now it would be ideal. They can move to their toy room when they are older and want more space to watch their own stuff....

[Buildmeupbuttercup]

Thank you all for making me consider whether I really want a lounge dining space all in one. I think weighing it all up, I still do as I don’t like my kids being confined to another room while we spend so much time in the kitchen,  but good to be considering this again rather than taking it as a given I will! Thanks 

[Mr Punter]

I have a kitchen (with epic extractor) / dining with living area but with a separate living / TV room.  Agree that the all in one is not for me.

[Mr Punter]

6 minutes ago, Buildmeupbuttercup said:

I don’t like my kids

 

Yeah yeah we are all suffering in lockdown, but cut them some slack!