Feedback on house plans

[Kelvin]

Our open plan living room, dining room, and kitchen is almost identical to your plan in layout and size. What we did is made the island quite big at 1.2m deep by 3m long and fitted it with deep drawers so there are no cupboards at all in it. We also put the dishwasher, sink and hob on it. I think many would say not to do this but it actually works really well. That then allowed us to remove the cupboards/sink at the end and we made a feature of that wall (where your window is) and we moved the island up a bit. This gave us more space and took £7k of cost out of the kitchen.
 

We had the same concern as you about seeing the back of the sofa. The sofa we moved in with was a huge L shaped thing that dominated the living area a bit. However we sold that in the summer and replaced it with a new sofa I think what they call a matching snuggle chair. They are on legs so takes away some of that back of the sofa look. We tried a console table behind the sofa but it becomes very easy to make a big space look crammed in. 
 

I also used some planning software to 3D render the room as I found it really hard to visualise such a big open space. That really helped. 

[-rick-]

41 minutes ago, Gballam said:

The dining table isn’t drawn in the right place - it will be moved towards the kitchen slightly and therefore there will be a bit of circulation space on entering the main room. We will have a behind the sofa sideboard to create a bit of room divide/conceal the back of the sofa 

 

And that is the sort of layout I was thinking about.

 

16 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

We had the same concern as you about seeing the back of the sofa. The sofa we moved in with was a huge L shaped thing that dominated the living area a bit. However we sold that in the summer and replaced it with a new sofa I think what they call a matching snuggle chair. They are on legs so takes away some of that back of the sofa look.

 

I've seen designers recommend this approach and it does look nice. In this case maybe a couple of chairs replacing the sofa backing the dining table. But some sort of room divider appeals more to me.

 

16 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

We tried a console table behind the sofa but it becomes very easy to make a big space look crammed in.

 

Do you have any before/after photos? If you don't mind sharing.

[Kelvin]

I do with the two different sofa’s but not with console table. I’ll post up when I’m back home. 
 

The other advantage with them being on legs is the robot hoover fits underneath to clean the dog hair. Before that all got trapped underneath it. 

Edited October 27 by Kelvin

[Gballam]

@Kelvin Many thanks for your helpful input. I’d be really interested to see the pics - and of your kitchen if you don’t mind sharing. Even with online 3D models, it’s hard to fully imagine the space 

[Bramco]

1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

Our open plan living room, dining room, and kitchen is almost identical to your plan in layout and size. What we did is made the island quite big at 1.2m deep by 3m long and fitted it with deep drawers so there are no cupboards at all in it. We also put the dishwasher, sink and hob on it. I think many would say not to do this but it actually works really well.

 

We have a very similar layout - but the island is only 950 wide by just under 3m which gives room at the back of the cupboards to put the bar stools under. There's also an overhang at one end for a couple of stools. So a row of 2x600 units with drawers, then an 800 unit with the downdraft induction hob and one 400 at the end.  Personally I'd keep the dishwasher with the sink on the end wall. We have 2x600 full height units, one with two ovens, then 4 600 base units with top units and then a full height with the fridge freezer.

 

Can't remember the full cost but I DIY'ed it and all the units and appliances came from IKEA except for the hot water tap. Don't think it cost us anywhere near £7k all in.

 

59 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

The other advantage with them being on legs is the robot hoover fits underneath t

+1 for that.  Make to sure measure any sofas to make sure you can extend to a robot vacuum.

 

I could send photos of ours if you are interested.

[Kelvin]

[Kelvin]

[Kelvin]

We have found open plan living has taken a while to adjust to. Neither of us are particularly tidy although I’m  tidier than my other half who has a tendency to use every flat surface as a shelf. 

[-rick-]

2 hours ago, Kelvin said:

 

Nice. Those sofas are a definite improvement and nice idea with the recliner/window combo.

 

That large fixed window with side door is an arrangement I'm thinking about. How do you find it? Seems like it could have been mirrored at the kitchen end but see you went for a slider + french doors. What were your reasons behind that?

[Kelvin]

1 minute ago, -rick- said:

 

Nice. Those sofas are a definite improvement and nice idea with the recliner/window combo.

 

That large fixed window with side door is an arrangement I'm thinking about. How do you find it? Seems like it could have been mirrored at the kitchen end but see you went for a slider + french doors. What were your reasons behind that?

They are tilt and turn windows. We never use them as doors. We have them in all the downstairs rooms as they are a means of escape in case of fire. That particular one is great for getting the heat out as we have a Velux above the stairs and the heat is quite quickly funnelled out. 
 

Long story short. The slider should have been longer but we wanted it 3G and because it’s so big it’s also laminated. Consequently it’s heavy. The timber kit company also supplied and fitted the windows but refused to take responsibility for installing that window due to the weight (they had apparently a few examples of significant problems with them in other builds) . We finally agreed on a size they would fit and that we were happy with. Unfortunately it meant that the tilt and turn window that should have been there was going to be over 1m wide. As it’s inward opening it meant moving the island back into the room a bit to stop the window fouling the island or hinged the other side block the stairs if it was open. Also because it’s not technically a door the threshold isn’t flush so you’d be stepping over the frame or in reality tripping over it. Hence fitting the double outward opening French doors. We use that door all the time so the tilt and turn wouldn’t have worked. 

[Gballam]

Thanks so much for sharing those pictures, so helpful to see. Agree - sofas are much better as they are now

[Gus Potter]

On 27/10/2025 at 15:16, Kelvin said:

We have found open plan living has taken a while to adjust to

Your house and interior design looks stunning. I admire the skill and hard work you have put into this.

[Gus Potter]

On 26/10/2025 at 21:11, ETC said:

I’m not that keen on the massing or the elevations especially the front door and the window above the door.

This is a good point, I also think the house is a little unbalanced on elevation, too late to turn back now though. 

 

But for all and maybe @ETC can explain in more detail what "massing" means. To me the basic explanation is about the proportions of the building and over use of some material that lok "too massive.. i.e big!). The front elevation looks "top heavy" The roof and wall cladding dominates the lower ground floor. Architects and nearly all SE Engineers are not at communicating in lay persons terms!

 

Take the rear south east elevation.. much more pleasing to the eye. Here the two floors of glazing demonstrate the upper and lower floors, the roof looks more balanced, doesn't dominate. 

 

Now I know @Gballam you may not see it the way I and @ETC see it. But think this through, you can do your own research on massing and proportion. The tough love is... we can see this as designers and are saying.. the front elevation could be better, imagine when you come to sell at some point and how that may impact on the offers you get. 

 

How could you fix it? Well look to see what you can change easily.  The massing on the front elevation comes (partly) from the continuity of the first floor wall cladding vertical line with the roof cladding profile. That makes it "top heavy" Try and change that so it looks more like the rear elevation.

 

Just experiment to see if I and @ETC have a valid point. 

 

 

 

 

[Gballam]

@Gus Potter Many thanks for explaining this - I had assumed massing meant it’s all in one block, rather than the materials. Due to the slightly uphill, wooded and curved approach of the track leading to the house, the roof will hardly visible on approach. We included the half wall of metal cladding to break up the front facade which otherwise we thought was too blocky. We also thought a darker colour at the bottom (such as Metal Green Cedral Click) and then a lighter roof zinc-coloured steel roof would also help. We’ve played round with lots of variations and materials and are struggling to know what looks the best -  if you/anyone has any suggestions on improving the front facade then we’d welcome them! 

[Bonner]

I agree the entrance elevation looks a bit odd. 

14 minutes ago, Gballam said:

which otherwise we thought was too blocky

Do you have a drawing of this arrangement? I think it would look better with the same cladding to ground and first floor. Also the same width, don’t know why the first floor is the same width as the roof?

[Gballam]

Yes I’m not sure why the first floor looks to be wider than ground - it will be ever so slightly due to the metal cladding but not as it looks here. We thought running the metal cladding down around the front door projection would help the two sections mesh together better. It’s the same as the roof - not the orange Corten. 

 

Here are the other versions from the architect…

[garrymartin]

2 minutes ago, Gballam said:

Yes I’m not sure why the first floor looks to be wider than ground - it will be ever so slightly due to the metal cladding but not as it looks here. We thought running the metal cladding down around the front door projection would help the two sections mesh together better. It’s the same as the roof - not the orange Corten. 

 

Here are the other versions from the architect…

 

Great designs by the way. Based on your first design posted, I would have suggested losing the window to the plant room (needed?) and widening the vertical entrance and glazing to balance things out a little on that elevation. Interesting to see that in these designs, there is no plant room window, and in the first alternate, the vertical entrance glazing is widened... 😉

[Gballam]

@garrymartin Thanks Garry for your thoughts. Keen to keep the plant room window as we’re going to have laundry drying space in there so will be in and out frequently.

 

Good point that widening the little projection (and door/glazing) would add more balance

[Bonner]

I think it looks better with different wall cladding to the roofing material but that’s just my personal preference. The slate roof will look absolutely fine and will be much cheaper than zinc.

[DownSouth]

@Kelvin I can’t get over that view! I would never leave that sofa, it looks beautiful.

[Kelvin]

2 hours ago, DownSouth said:

@Kelvin I can’t get over that view! I would never leave that sofa, it looks beautiful.

We are incredibly lucky. We overlook the Strathmore Valley with the Sidlaw Hills in the distance. Because we are quite a way up the North side of the valley we are often above the clouds. It can be quite ethereal at times.