Wow design without blowing budget

[Stonehouse]

Good design features which add WOW factor to the house does not necessarily mean an unlimited budget. 
 

 Design features I like so far are 

-glazed gable end

-picture windows with window seat

- Statement staircase

- south facing glazed end opening into garden

 

Already thinking 2 sets of sliding doors in a room can be swapped to one sliding and one fixed glazing for example

 

Interested to know thoughts on how people can achieve great design whilst still remaining an eye on costs

[Kelvin]

The wow of our house is the view across the valley to the hills beyond. What we did is widen the hallway as you walk in the front door, the inner hallway door is glazed into the kitchen which has a glazed door to the garden. Therefore when you walk in the first thing you see is an uninterrupted view straight through the full width of the house to the hills beyond. 
 

The other thing we’ve done is open up what would have the second bedroom upstairs. We’ve turned it into a sitting room. You come up the stairs and it’s open plan with a vaulted ceiling exposing the glulam ridge beam as a feature. 
 

Neither of these two things have cost us any money to do. Where we are spending a little bit of money, but not a huge amount is in some of the lighting for the open plan living area. We found a great lighting place called glow lighting in Ripon. 
 

https://www.glowlighting.co.uk

 

Hand made blown lights and spun metal lights. They are really beautifully made. We visited them last month and were completely sold on the look. 

[JohnMo]

Actually build it yourself - saves a fortune, only get jobs done, you can't or don't want to do yourself. Pay for labourer second pair of hands for six months, you will make good progress.

 

Shop around for everything.

 

Some of the features you mentioned will lead to massive overheating, so be careful for what you ask for.

 

But good design need not cost more, it just needs to be well thought through. Research, when you think you know enough you are only half way there. Do it right do it once. Don't change stuff as you go along stick rigidly to the design. 

 

We spent a year fine tuning the design, then built the house in year, spent the last 2 years getting the heating system to perform how I want it to. Then installed a heat pump - like I should have at the start. But you learn all the time.

 

Don't add bells and whistles because they sound good, if they don't add real value to you, they don't add value, they are not required. For us home automation fell into the category, wanted it at the start, but started seeing systems we looked at, stop being supported, thought a light switch will do just fine, if it breaks anywhere will have a replacement.

[Kelvin]

The glazed gable end is a dear feature. We visited a house that had one. Full gable was glazed with a large overhang. It was very nice but the 3G glass cost a fortune as did the steelwork holding it all up and also seemed to be a massive cold bridge as far as I could see. What they also had, which was also very dear, was a glass corridor that joined both bits of the building together. Did all look nice though. 

[nod]

We didn’t vault any ceilings on our first But have vaulted three this time round and if your keen diyers like myself and my wife They don’t cost a fortune We have also self fitted three sets of sliders a days work including glazing 

[TonyT]

We have 3m high floor to ceiling heights throughout which I like, I’ve been in large new builds with the standard 2.4m and I think if it was that. It bigger it would have more Wow.

[ProDave]

We have vaulted ceilings upstairs and a mezanine in the largest bedroom that goes over the smallest bedroom adjacent to it.

 

My top tip for that if building room in roof, is do not use attic trusses, but design the roof as a cut roof supported on ridge beams.  Then you end up with an uninterupted space to do as you please, leave it open to the ridge, or fit a ceiling, whatever you want.

 

It you want a full gable wall of glass, first look at curtain / blind options.  Then you will end up like most with nothing.  Not what you want if that is your master bedroom overlooked by other houses.

 

We did a token to the gable window thing in our sun room,but as 2 halves with a post in the middle to support the ridge beam.  Save the expense of a steel frame and only detracts slightly from the full glass look.

[Andehh]

Bathroom alcoves with lights inside, adds a real nice feature to bathrooms and can be done cheaply if designed in! 

 

Higher and wider doorways for main rooms. 

 

 

[Stonehouse]

20 hours ago, Kelvin said:

The wow of our house is the view across the valley to the hills beyond. What we did is widen the hallway as you walk in the front door, the inner hallway door is glazed into the kitchen which has a glazed door to the garden. Therefore when you walk in the first thing you see is an uninterrupted view straight through the full width of the house to the hills beyond. 
 

The other thing we’ve done is open up what would have the second bedroom upstairs. We’ve turned it into a sitting room. You come up the stairs and it’s open plan with a vaulted ceiling exposing the glulam ridge beam as a feature. 
 

Neither of these two things have cost us any money to do. Where we are spending a little bit of money, but not a huge amount is in some of the lighting for the open plan living area. We found a great lighting place called glow lighting in Ripon. 
 

https://www.glowlighting.co.uk

 

Hand made blown lights and spun metal lights. They are really beautifully made. We visited them last month and were completely sold on the look. 

Great idea.  We are also looking at an open view from hall way to uninterrupted country views. With double ceiling at the end.  Weighing up having full hallway or a room at the end like dining area

[Stonehouse]

12 hours ago, TonyT said:

We have 3m high floor to ceiling heights throughout which I like, I’ve been in large new builds with the standard 2.4m and I think if it was that. It bigger it would have more Wow.

Would love to have high ceiling with tall doors. But will likely be limited by conservation area and planning . Will try to push more than standard 2.4 though

[Stonehouse]

11 hours ago, ProDave said:

We have vaulted ceilings upstairs and a mezanine in the largest bedroom that goes over the smallest bedroom adjacent to it.

 

My top tip for that if building room in roof, is do not use attic trusses, but design the roof as a cut roof supported on ridge beams.  Then you end up with an uninterupted space to do as you please, leave it open to the ridge, or fit a ceiling, whatever you want.

 

It you want a full gable wall of glass, first look at curtain / blind options.  Then you will end up like most with nothing.  Not what you want if that is your master bedroom overlooked by other houses.

 

We did a token to the gable window thing in our sun room,but as 2 halves with a post in the middle to support the ridge beam.  Save the expense of a steel frame and only detracts slightly from the full glass look.

Good idea re Gable look  with middle support. I’ve seen pictures of this at presentation at home building show and looked good. 
 

wont be overlooked but need some kind of blinds to stop morning light 

Talking of blinds really like things to be sleek and concealed 

 

[Stonehouse]

11 hours ago, Andehh said:

Bathroom alcoves with lights inside, adds a real nice feature to bathrooms and can be done cheaply if designed in! 

 

Higher and wider doorways for main rooms. 

 

 

Agree alcoves , niches all look good and need to be thought of at design stage so they looked built in. 

[eandg]

+1 to a lot of the above. Going to 2.7m makes a big difference to 2.4m (and let's you use standard size plasterboard if not efficient use of CLS for studwork) and means bigger doors can be accommodated without looking oversized. Vaulted ceilings are great, particularly if you're happy doing a bit of DIY and not paying for them to be insulated/sheeted/painted etc. 

Slightly wider hallways and more generous staircases also add a lot without costing a lot. The biggest stock rooflights we could find were 1340*1400 and getting those worked out much cheaper than getting custom made of a similar size. Design all that in then work hard to shop about for materials and get recommendations for trades that you do use. 

[Alan Ambrose]

I think you can do great things with a staircase regarding width, slope etc without spending a fortune. A couple of the 'statement staircases' I've seen cost a fortune and then look naff.

[Fallowfields]

On 14/08/2023 at 23:17, Kelvin said:

The wow of our house is the view across the valley to the hills beyond. What we did is widen the hallway as you walk in the front door, the inner hallway door is glazed into the kitchen which has a glazed door to the garden. Therefore when you walk in the first thing you see is an uninterrupted view straight through the full width of the house to the hills beyond. 
 

The other thing we’ve done is open up what would have the second bedroom upstairs. We’ve turned it into a sitting room. You come up the stairs and it’s open plan with a vaulted ceiling exposing the glulam ridge beam as a feature. 
 

Neither of these two things have cost us any money to do. Where we are spending a little bit of money, but not a huge amount is in some of the lighting for the open plan living area. We found a great lighting place called glow lighting in Ripon. 
 

https://www.glowlighting.co.uk

 

Hand made blown lights and spun metal lights. They are really beautifully made. We visited them last month and were completely sold on the look. 

Would love to see some pics, Weve got some lovely views and looking for ideas to enjoy them

[Papillon]

Wow factors and design features are great, but how you get a good cohesive design is more important to me. 
I’ve seen a lot of designs that are just a mess of ‘features’ that are put together in just a blend of trash. 
 

like they will say ‘I want a secret library door’, and the door goes nowhere and eats space, I have a list of just terrible ideas I wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone with.

 

absolutely get on Pinterest and get a ‘mood board’ of things, but then you need a designer to make the best of each feature and make them work.
 

Please watch out on the 

Quote

south facing glazed end opening into garden

make sure it has shading, tricky in this day and age.

[Kelvin]

18 hours ago, Fallowfields said:

Would love to see some pics, Weve got some lovely views and looking for ideas to enjoy them

We’re still building. I’ll take a picture from the doorway to give you an idea but it doesn’t give the view justice. I also rendered our house in 3D to give us a rough idea of how it might look internally. 

[FuerteStu]

My top tip for wow factor.. 

 

Think of where your Windows look out to, and what's there you can make a feature of. 

 

It's wonderful when there's a nice seating area with an arbour, roses growing over the side, but if it can only be seen by standing in the garden, it's lost. 

 

I know someone who paid 50k for a kitchen redesign, but standing at the sink you look at the back of a range rover and 3 wheel bins. 

 

Any wow factor can be lost by not taking into consideration what you see beyond the gimmick

[Kelvin]

Doesn’t give the view justice. But when finished you’ll be able to see straight through from the hallway to the hills in the distance 

 

[ProDave]

Kitchen window was deliberately positioned for the view.

 

[SteamyTea]

21 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Kitchen window was deliberately positioned for the view.

If there was more snow, it would be like a blank sheet of paper.

[Crofter]

Lots of the ideas in this thread revolve around sight lines. For good reason. Lining up sight lines doesn't necessarily cost anything but can really change the feel of a place. It's one of the things that makes a bespoke design different to an off the shelf one.

 

My own build was done to a tight budget (about £20k for 50m², plus groundworks/services). Here's some of the decisions I made to keep the budget in check whilst retaining what I think is a pretty nice finish:

 

-My favourite tip is to avoid small windows. Consolidate all your glazing in to a few huge windows. Non opening if possible. You will get a much lower cost/m² with much better thermal properties. It's an absolute win-win.

I was really surprised by how cheap a huge non opening 3G window was.

 

-I'm also a big fan of bamboo flooring. I'm not up to date with prices but about five years ago it was half the price of decent oak, and much sturdier.

 

-you don't need solid oak skirtings and door linings. I went with MDF which was a fraction of the cost and also much easier to fit. Need to screw the skirting to the wall, or messed up amitre? Just fill and paint afterwards.

 

- larch and corrugated steel make very cost effective finishing materials, quick and easy to work with.

 

- it's not necessary to spend big money on kitchens and bathrooms. I've seen people spend more on a kitchen tap than my whole bathroom cost. I went secondhand for all my kitchen appliances, but bought good brand names (Bosch and Siemens). They've outlasted the cheap brand new stuff I bought in my other house.

[Dave Jones]

20 hours ago, ProDave said:

Kitchen window was deliberately positioned for the view.

 

 

cracking telegraph pole that!

 

 

[SteamyTea]

6 hours ago, Dave Jones said:

cracking telegraph pole that

Very popular in the rurals.

In places along the Penzance to Helston road it looks like a cat's cradle.

One of the local MPs hates wind turbines, but notice they have one on the family farm.

[Fallowfields]

On 09/09/2023 at 15:31, Kelvin said:

Doesn’t give the view justice. But when finished you’ll be able to see straight through from the hallway to the hills in the distance 

 

I like this, I can imagine it with walls finished. The unfinished doorway is already making me want to walk through and look at the view, so def a winner when all done.