Ugly house re-design

[the_r_sole]

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Edited September 26, 2019 by the_r_sole

[Lift span]

That’s a fair point. I’ve modified the stairs. Is the lower left step what you’re talking about?

 

 

 

[Mr Punter]

The bit I have highlighted needs to be part of the landing.

[Lift span]

Ah... now I get you:

 

1.  Landings must be provided at the top and bottom of every staircase. 
2.  The landing distance in front of the top and bottom step must be at least the width of the staircase.

 

 

Thanks. Will need to change that then.

[Lift span]

Anyone had experience of installing stone cladding?

 

I’m considering something like the picture below by these people:

 

https://www.norstone.co.uk/

 

 

 

Only downside I can see so far is that the outer skin of blockwork would have to be dense aggregate blocks to support the weight as they are around 60-70kg/m2.

[AliG]

For some reason I wasn't getting notifications on the thread.

 

The new outside is a massive improvement on where you started, good job. FWIW I would keep the door the same colour as the windows and add colour through plants etc. A different coloured door is very unusual nowadays.

 

Now the interior, my OCD is going crazy. There must be a better way of designing the stairs.

 

I had to keep going back and forward between the section and plans. So it seems that the reason to go down four steps and then back up two to the kitchen is partly that if you only went down two steps from the front door to be level with the kitchen, then you would not have 2m head height below the upstairs lounge floor. I was going to suggest other changes but you cannot do anything if you cannot solve this issue.

 

Having looked at it long and hard, I think that part of the issue is that the front door is not level with the kitchen. It looks like it was initially, but then two steps up to the front door seem to have made it into the final approved plans,  I also don't see how this meets level access requirements and also I am not sure how WC accessibility would be seen, but arguably it is no worse than before.

 

Anyway if you bring the front door down to level with the kitchen then things get a lot simpler. At the moment you have four levels in the house and a fifth for the front door.

 

If you move it down two steps then you can come in and have a stair on the left up to the main lounge.

 

You have a stair down to the family room past the kitchen entrance. Bedroom 4 is accessed off the family room to avoid the diagonal step.

 

You put the stair from the main lounge up to the bedrooms back where the stair down to the kitchen is currently. This way I think you can fix the head height problem , although it may need to go a little further back where the cupboard is outside one of the back bedrooms (or just a void on the plan, not sure what it is)so that you step down outside the kitchen before head height becomes an issue.

 

 

[Lift span]

Well AliG you’ve come up with something I’d completely missed!  Reversing the stairs down to the kitchen from the living room to now go up instead.

 

Is this what you mean (arrows on stairs go up).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Lift span

[Lift span]

 

Here is the view from the front door looking in. 

 

We want light to come from the front of the house to the back and this new configuration would block that. However, glass risers and a window style opening to the right may solve that?

 

 

 

 

More views:

 

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Lift span

[Big Jimbo]

Great thread. Interesting read. Wish i could use a computer, but unfortunately, i am usless with tech.

[Lift span]

Jimbo, I recommend Architouch 3D for initial designs. Really easy to use on an ipad.  

 

The later designs are in Sketchup. Not sure if I can post the Sketchup file on here, but there is a free 3D viewer on the ipad which is brilliant.

[Ferdinand]

Looks good, Great to see ideas still flowing about the inside.

 

On that grey door, I knew my new header image would come in useful.

 

Don't be the grey man !

 

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Ferdinand

[AliG]

7 hours ago, Lift span said:

Well AliG you’ve come up with something I’d completely missed!  Reversing the stairs down to the kitchen from the living room to now go up instead.

 

Is this what you mean (arrows on stairs go up).

 

 

Yes, I think this solves the head height issue as you can move the landing past the entrance to the kitchen.

 

The upper floor picture looks correct, not sure what you have done with the levels on the lower floor, are you thinking of having the door level with the kitchen then going down from the kitchen to the playroom under the stairs that go up to the bedrooms? That would work well I think and gets you down to just three sets of stairs.

 

Realistically you won't get a lot of light from the front door to the playroom either way, there isn't that much glass and it is quite far away, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

Is there something stopping you putting a long narrow window at head height in the spare room facing south?

 

Then you could split the space with a north south wall rather than east west, you could have the small room with one north facing window next to the kitchen and the large room being dual aspect running front to back. Even without an extra window at the front, this room would have west facing windows now, although I don't know how much sun you expect them to get. TBF this may not be there best se of space as you would need a small extra hall, depends how much you want extra light.

 

With an infinite budget I would be tempted to make that whole area a new kitchen/family room/dining room with windows all round.

Edited July 9, 2019 by AliG

[Lift span]

Quote

15 hours ago, AliG said:

The upper floor picture looks correct, not sure what you have done with the levels on the lower floor, are you thinking of having the door level with the kitchen then going down from the kitchen to the playroom under the stairs that go up to the bedrooms? That would work well I think and gets you down to just three sets of stairs.

 

Yes, go down from the kitchen to the playroom under the stairs to the bedroom. There are a few structural issues to overcome but all possible I think.

 

We thought about putting a long window in the spare room facing south but it would change the whole look at the front. It’s a nice idea to split the rooms as well but, having lived there a few years we like the room layout the way it is.

 

One extra piece of information. Some time in the future I’d like to put a loft conversion in. With your idea I think loft steps would work well up from the +2 level as shown below.

 

 

 

[Lift span]

Well, things have moved on and the front extension is almost built but I need to finalise the windows.

 

What do people prefer?

 

Option A:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or Option B:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by Lift span

[Bitpipe]

I prefer A - B is more symmetrical  but has a wiff of prison bars

[Ferdinand]

I prefer B.

 

A is less symmetrical but has a whiff (northern whiff with an h) of Private Walker giving a guilty glance left watching for the coppers, whilst handing over pilfered silk stockings made from Douglas Bader’s stolen parachute. 

 

So ... choose A and you advertising to the world your views on the theft of silk stockings.

 

?

Edited October 6, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Lift span]

Ferdinand...that’s weird ... I was having exactly the same thoughts! ?

 

Just for you, how is this:

 

[Bitpipe]

One other suggestion - our house is also white render but rather than Anthracite Grey (RAL 7016) which is practically black, we chose Basalt Grey (7012) for windows, rainwater and soffit / fascia. It  is a bit softer and more bluey grey than black grey, looks less harsh and blends well with slate etc.

 

 

[Dreadnaught]

How about the full shifty …

 

[Ferdinand]

53 minutes ago, Lift span said:

Ferdinand...that’s weird ... I was having exactly the same thoughts! ?

 

Just for you, how is this:

 

 

 

I think you want either symmetry with each half of the facade, or both asymmetrical so as to balance each other.

 

Needs to look Ok overall, and you are best placed to judge that.

 

I would go for both symmetrical within themselves, which says either the Wormwood Scrubs option or something balanced in a different way.

 

Doing what @Dreadnaught says to the door could actually help, but that also depends on alignment inside.

 

Do what we did at the start of the thread .. grab a screenshot, monochrome and edge detect, and draw some pictures to get a view.

Edited October 6, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Adrian Walker]

At a quick glance, the front elevation looks like to two designs in one. Symmetry for the sake of it is not always good in house design IMHO.

[Lift span]

Thanks for the replies. It all helps!

 

I like the basalt grey Bitpipe.  However, I’d like a subtle silver/grey render (probably paint actually!)  rather than a pure white so that might offset the anthracite a bit.

 

Dreadnaught, the internal config probably wouldn’t work with the shifted door. But, see below for the window.

 

Ferdinand, you made me use up half an hour of my life looking at kids toys from my childhood! Time well spent actually!

 

How about this though:

 

Edited October 6, 2019 by Lift span

[Lift span]

Next for me is to build the box bay window (which has got bigger). But, what should I cover it in?

 

I was thinking aquapanel then render and painted. That way I could change the colour any time.

 

But, then I thought aluminium pressings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or cladding of some sort:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any thoughts?

[Mr Punter]

We did some in dark coloured aluminium, but anthra zinc would look similar..

 

[Lift span]

 Nice!

 

Where did you get the aluminium from if you don’t mind me asking?