My 70's Bungalow Conversion Thread

[B17NNS]

If that layout works for you then really that is all that matters, you're the client after all. However, without wishing to be disrespectful, personally I think it is bad design and a fabulous opportunity missed. I find it hard to believe a competent architect had a hand in it. That said, that's just my opinion and my thoughts on the layout aside I wish you every success with the project and look forward to seeing updates.

[RoyalVilla]

KTF said:

For me I would change:

• Why is the 'downstairs' toilet next to the existing bathroom. Is it even needed? Guests will have to walk through the whole house to use it to the 'personal' bedroom area and its next door to the existing bathroom anyway?

The personal bedroom area will be after the downstairs toilet. We will move the door to separate it. We need a downstairs toilet - didn't want it to be the kids bathroom and thought this was the best place for it - agree about the walk though

KTF said:

• The second bedroom upstairs seems a funny shape and a bit of an 'afterthought' - maybe use that as the study and remove the study from downstairs?

It's a consequence of the best place for the stairs to go. We are thinking of putting a small ensuite in the odd shape - or it would become a large cupboard. We will also cheat some space from the eaves to make it bigger - should be a good size double

KTF said:

• All the bedrooms - barring the new master upstairs look small (mainly single bed size) for a house of that size - hard to tell without the dimensions though.

The largest downstairs bedroom is about 4.5 x 3.4m
Second largest is 2.7x3m
Smallest is a single and about 2.3x 3.4m
The big bedroom upsatirs including the ensuite is about 6.8 x 4.4m (though we can have the new purlin further out so this will prob be another metre wider

KTF said:

• I would add a door next to the proposed study to seal off the hallway area as well.

Yep, that's planned, though I notice it's not on the drawings

KTF said:

• Why is the kitchen an L shape? Whats going in the gap and preventing it from becoming a U shape?

Strangely, after spending time with kitchen designers, this is what works best. It allows you to open the fridge (furthest left tall unit) and gives more floor space making it feel more spacious. we have a slightly updated design I'll try to dig out

KTF said:

• The utility off the lounge is just odd.

This is what everyone says. My wife just wanted to make sure it had a door leading to the outside. Its a big space so provides good storage and keeps all the cleaning rubbish hidden away. One end could function as a boot room space (by the door) if needed and we can keep the dog in there when he's muddy.

The only downside is that its a bit of a trek to carry the washing.the builder reckons he can make it quite soundproof.

Being open minded - what are the real probs with having it there?

[RoyalVilla]

B17NNS said:

If that layout works for you then really that is all that matters, you're the client after all. However, without wishing to be disrespectful, personally I think it is bad design and a fabulous opportunity missed. I find it hard to believe a competent architect had a hand in it. That said, that's just my opinion and my thoughts on the layout aside I wish you every success with the project and look forward to seeing updates.

No worries, I really appreciate all the ideas and feedback. I'm not precious and it keeps me thinking!
If I'm honest, I'd probably slightly favour your option. the good thing is it would be a fairly inexpensive change for a new owner or even us. I wouldn't say it's completely off the table either as we are still not committed to that bit of the build.

Having had a large, open plan dining / kitchen / living space for the past 10 years my wife is reticent to go back and would prefer something a little more 'zoned' - though this maybe bucks convention a little - though the space will still feel very open - esp with the big bifolds in both rooms at the back

[saaby93]

RoyalVilla said:

Fairly early on we discounted opening the kitchen to the 'dayroom' side. This was because

• we didn't want to have to go through the more formal lounge to get to the kitchen diner space

This was probably the key decision point
If you take a walkway through the single toilet does that help?
A new cloakroom could appear as part of the hall somewhere

The room sizes are good, the new ones magic.
In some ways I like the cunning plan of the utility. It's away from the sleeping area above if the washing machines going all night. It's just a bit odd having to take the washing through there all the way through the other rooms to get it back up to the bedrooms

However we all want different things
I'd prefer a kitchen with a breakfast bar

[Busa mav]

B17NNS said:

If that layout works for you then really that is all that matters, you're the client after all. However, without wishing to be disrespectful, personally I think it is bad design and a fabulous opportunity missed. I find it hard to believe a competent architect had a hand in it..

That was my thought too .

Take the room names off of the spaces and have a fresh look , at the moment changes are easy , from here on, the eraser is a kango and lots of £££'s.

Ps OP. Tell yer architect friend to get his staircase arrows correct , it's quite confusing when they are incorrectly shown.

Have you seen an accurate section through the proposed first floor bedrooms ?

[RoyalVilla]

Busa mav said:

Ps OP. Tell yer architect friend to get his staircase arrows correct , it's quite confusing when they are incorrectly shown.

I know In fairness we haven't paid him (other than a few bottles of wine) and bunged one of his juniors some money to do the survey / drawings

Busa mav said:

Have you seen an accurate section through the proposed first floor bedrooms ?

This is reasonably to scale (my own drawing in PowerPoint!), though my builder is checking with the engineer and will give me accurate measurements (along with how much wider we can push the right wall out)
Everyone who's been in the loft says it's a really good space for conversion. We'll also use velux windows to add more space and light. In the master there will also be a really big window at one end.

[KTF]

RoyalVilla said:

The personal bedroom area will be after the downstairs toilet. We will move the door to separate it. We need a downstairs toilet - didn't want it to be the kids bathroom and thought this was the best place for it - agree about the walk though.

I can see the need for a downstairs toilet but having it next to the existing one seems a strange place to put it as its normally in a different part of the house to the existing bathroom. If you are going to have to walk all the way to the downstairs toilet which is next to the existing toilet then whats the point?

RoyalVilla said:

It's a consequence of the best place for the stairs to go. We are thinking of putting a small ensuite in the odd shape - or it would become a large cupboard. We will also cheat some space from the eaves to make it bigger - should be a good size double.

So you ave 2x ensuites upstairs instead now?

I think the problem in general with the layout is that you have built everything round the kitchen. Its now a room within a room and its dictating where you can put the stairs, where unusual positioning of the utility room, the restrictions on the bedrooms upstairs, the position of the downstairs toilet, etc.

Before the kitchen has access to the outside via the back door but this has gone now which is why I would shift the whole thing to the right hand side so its next to the utility area. The stairs and downstairs toiler could then be repositioned and the layout upstairs revisited.

RoyalVilla said:

This is what everyone says. My wife just wanted to make sure it had a door leading to the outside. Its a big space so provides good storage and keeps all the cleaning rubbish hidden away. One end could function as a boot room space (by the door) if needed and we can keep the dog in there when he's muddy.

As per my comment above, by building around the kitchen you have lost the traditional back door access to the garden and the utility looks like a bit of an afterthought thats been added on by putting up a partition wall in the lounge rather than integrating it a bit more.

RoyalVilla said:

I know smile In fairness we haven't paid him (other than a few bottles of wine) and bunged one of his juniors some money to do the survey / drawings

For a project this size, I think this was a mistake as he could have come up with many different ideas (assuming he is good). The person who did the drawings doesn't seem that hot tbh - arrows going the wrong way, missing doors, velux windows not shown upstairs, etc.

[RoyalVilla]

@KTF - all really good challenges and really helps me think through the decisions we've made

KTF said:

For a project this size, I think this was a mistake as he could have come up with many different ideas (assuming he is good). The person who did the drawings doesn't seem that hot tbh - arrows going the wrong way, missing doors, velux windows not shown upstairs, etc.

He's good and was very patient and did come up with a lot of options including the obvious open plan lounge / kitchen / diner space. In fairness we've tweaked around where we want doors and haven't decidied on position of veluxes yet.

KTF said:

I can see the need for a downstairs toilet but having it next to the existing one seems a strange place to put it as its normally in a different part of the house to the existing bathroom.

Pragmatically it's next to drain / services etc. It doesn't really matter that its next to another bathroom as that performs a different function, i.e. give the kids a self contained downstairs area (bedrooms and a bathroom) that we can shut off from the rest of the house. I can't think of anywhere else I'd prefer it as it would be too close to the communal living space. Don't want the toilet too close!

KTF said:

So you ave 2x ensuites upstairs instead now?

Ideally both bedrooms upstairs would have an ensuite as there is no communal bathroom upstairs(only thing poss preventing this immediately is budget).

The stairs need to be centrally placed and land towards the middle of the house due to the sloping roof. I wouldn't like the master any smaller and the other bedroom is going to be a good sized double.

KTF said:

I think the problem in general with the layout is that you have built everything round the kitchen

We originally weren't and this isn't what the architect thought also, but after going though all our requirements from a functional perspective, this is what we arrived at. Some of the requirements were like:

• Must be able to be able to watch tv in 2 different lounge areas and not be disturbed by kitchen
• Must have a large, square lounge
• Kitchen should be fairly open to dining space
• Kitchen, indoor dining space and outdoor dining space must flow
• Must be a utility with access to outside - ideally equidistant from front and back garden

Like I say, we used to have a large, open kitchen / lounge / diner (as well as another lounge) and wanted to solve all the problems this gave us whilst still keeping the space feeling open and light.

When pushed we couldn't think of any reason the utility had to be attached or near the kitchen or any reason the kitchen needed to have a separate access to outside. For me, the main downside of the utility is it should be a bit nearer to the centre of the house so you don't have to carry the washing so far

Here's a pic of a layout with a central kitchen (room within room) - obviously this is not exactly the same, is more open than ours along with being bigger and nicer, but it gives an idea of how the space is zoned and can work

[KTF]

RoyalVilla said:

@KTF - all really good challenges and really helps me think through the decisions we've made

Fair enough Everyones requirements are different so if you are still in favour of the plans after the 'advice' here then you should be happy when its finished. You have to live in the thing at the end of the day after all

From the picture I can see what you are aiming to achieve, I still wouldn't have a utility room off the lounge though