Our build thread, renovation and extension

Our build thread, renovation and extension

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Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Saturday 18th February 2012
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New pics: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.101513158...

Did a lot of tidying up today, cleared 3 rooms of carpets and a lot of plaster from the ceilings. Also finished off removing the pantry.







There will be a little sink embedded there for the ensuite for the front two bedrooms.

Onz

507 posts

205 months

Saturday 18th February 2012
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Looks like a great project - exactly the kind of project I'd love to give a go.

One query - are you have a toilet downstairs anywhere? For a house of the size its going to be it'd be useful to have a toilet downstairs?

All the best with it. biggrin


Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Saturday 18th February 2012
quotequote all
Yep, under the stairs labelled as cloaks.

I think we might alter the layout of the walk in wardrobe to have no door to the ensuite, with that having a door to the bedroom directly. I'm not sure it is big enough if each rail needs to be 650mm deep. That just gives a 700mm gap in between, is that enough?

Onz

507 posts

205 months

Saturday 18th February 2012
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Muncher said:
Yep, under the stairs labelled as cloaks.
Ah, that makes sense - when I saw it I had in my mind it was a cupboard for coats/shoes etc.!

Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Monday 20th February 2012
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Upstairs we are thinking that the main bathroom and the walk in wardrobe are too small. It seems standard wardrobes are 600-650mm deep which may not give us enough room in there.

So we have been toying with the idea of going with what we originally thought of, 5 bedrooms but one of the normal sized bedrooms adjacent to the master with an extra door and kitted out as a wardrobe. I think for the foreseeable future 3 "spare" bedrooms would be more than enough and we would probably benefit more from the larger bathrooms and possibly a slightly larger upstairs landing, which I guess would save the hassle of moving the stairs.

Like this:



Thoughts?

Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Monday 20th February 2012
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Revised ground floor with a big open plan kitchen at the back. Thoughts?


uk66fastback

16,429 posts

270 months

Monday 20th February 2012
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Now I could just see across the far back wall of the kitchen/diner one of those dark grey metal folding door/window jobbies that fold about six times - think of all the light that wold let in - beautiful in the summer. I like the kitchen at the back ... much better.

Onz

507 posts

205 months

Monday 20th February 2012
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I definitely prefer the revised layout, especially the new downstairs layout - looks much better, a much more 'social' layout smile

Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Tuesday 21st February 2012
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Some slightly neater diagrams.




Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2012
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Tweaked for windows, architect is just about to start the final planning permission drawings. Any obvious errors I have made in those drawings?




King Herald

23,501 posts

215 months

Wednesday 22nd February 2012
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Minor detail, but having the lounge next to the kitchen rather than the dining room?

Bedrooms look good, my wife would be jealous of the walk-in. We built one, but it is too small to be practical.

Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Thursday 23rd February 2012
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The dining room will probably only be used a handful of times a year and it is not far to carry food. The lounge then gets more light an I can chat to the missus as she cooks my dinner while I watch the football smile

We have decided to make the downstairs WC a bit smaller so it cuts into that space less.

GTO-3R

7,451 posts

212 months

Thursday 23rd February 2012
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Looks great, only thing from me would be not to turn the corner in the kitchen and have a straight worktop run down the outside wall and have a longer slimmer island. Much more modern and would look better smile

Also, why do you have a door going from the landing in to your walk in wardrobe?

Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Thursday 23rd February 2012
quotequote all
My girlfriend wants a slimmer island, I'll tell her she has some support tongue out

The walk in wardrobe has a door to the landing because it's being built as a bedroom. If it needs to be used as a bedroom, or the house sold it can be sold as a 5 bedroom because the wardrobes could be moved out into the master bedroom. It only means locking the door between the two or boarding the doorway back up.

In a few areas we are trying to design in as much flexibility as possible.

We're going to proceed on the basis that it is open plan, but the kitchen and lounge could be separated like this (the bifolding doors need to be altered slightly on that plan).


cjs

10,675 posts

250 months

Thursday 23rd February 2012
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The GF is looking so much better with the kitchen in the back. Do you really want an island in the middle of the kitchen? Won't a nice table and chairs be more usable and more comfortable?

Upstairs. The two smaller rooms on the right. If you don't currently need all the bedrooms then why not make these one big room, with the option to put up a stud wall in the future. Design the electrics and heating to suit. My suit you current needs better.

Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Thursday 23rd February 2012
quotequote all
cjs said:
The GF is looking so much better with the kitchen in the back. Do you really want an island in the middle of the kitchen? Won't a nice table and chairs be more usable and more comfortable?

Upstairs. The two smaller rooms on the right. If you don't currently need all the bedrooms then why not make these one big room, with the option to put up a stud wall in the future. Design the electrics and heating to suit. My suit you current needs better.
I like the idea of the island, you can cook and watch the TV and people can sit around you. Both the kitchens I've had at my parents houses have had islands and they work really well. There is a big amount of space in there to fill plus I can have storage underneath it which cuts down on the acres of wall units.

That's a point, but I don't think we would gain anything from that as we won't be using all that space anyway. The bedroom room closest to the back, without an ensuite I want to use as an office. For resale as well we have been told it is much better to have the 5 rather 4 albeit larger ones. At the moment we could have 2 sproglets, decent bedrooms for them and still retain the office and walk in wardrobe. If one of them really wanted a bigger room them we could knock through relatively easy but I think that is so far down the line as to be irrelevant.

Edited by Muncher on Thursday 23 February 14:01

TDV6

1,021 posts

189 months

Thursday 23rd February 2012
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The only thing that I would change slightly is the shape of the island.

As it stands on the drawing, when sitting eating/chatting at the island you or your guests will be facing inwards towards the corner of the kitchen, with their backs to the lounge and to the bi-fold doors/garden.

Would it be worth removing the extra depth from the left hand side and extending it towards the doors (if it will fit). Something like...


Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Thursday 23rd February 2012
quotequote all
Good point thanks tonker, hadn't thought of curtains!

We have since come up with what I think is a much better design. The big problem was the area behind the stairs was protruding into the lounge making part of it far too narrow and preventing the proper positioning of sofas. So, the WC is moved into the utility and the aim is to lose as much as possible of the walls behind the stairs and provide an entrance to the lounge directly from the hall. This may mean a whole new staircase to help minimise its impact on the lounge. The wall down one side of the stairs will also come out to allow it to be opened up with a banister and spindles on one side, rather than a wall either side as it is at present.

The lounge and kitchen are divided by bifolding doors/partitions which I am yet to decide on, so the entire space can be opened up at times. This is also useful as it provides a change between wood and tile flooring at that point.


Muncher

Original Poster:

12,219 posts

248 months

Thursday 23rd February 2012
quotequote all
The feeling was that it's better to lose it there than from the lounge where it was crippling it. We will have under stair storage opposite the utlity and we will stack the washing machine and dryer so there is still enough room for a sink and a beer fridge.

hornetrider

63,161 posts

204 months

Friday 24th February 2012
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Looks a great project! My thruppence... smile

Is that a load bearing wall separating lounge area and dining? If not I would move that rearward and make that front room larger, and use it as the lounge. Then I would have a slightly less formal dining area open to the kitchen, with a sofa/tv/family area all open plan. Oh, and bin the idea of the folding doors.