Rutter's House renovation

[Rutter]

Not sure if this will get much interest but its a good way for me to document the changes etc as they happen and to listen to constructive criticism of any plans we make. Don't get your hopes up for anything too exciting as its just a 70s 3 bed semi!

We moved in 2 weeks ago and plan to make a few changes to the house in order to make if better suit our needs.

This is the original floorplan


Here is my mspaint amended one to show the changes we intend to make.


The main work will be to knock through the wall between the kitchen and dining room, block up the back door to window height and replace with a larger window.


Create a partion wall between lounge and diner to create a separate room.


We will also be making changes to the central storage cupboard, this originally housed the warm air heating system but we intend to utilise the space by housing the kitchen fridge.

Upstairs there is not so much work, we just plan to take the fitted wardrobe from bedroom 2 and use it for a very large wardrobe in bedroom 1. To be where the mirrors are in the pic below:


New windows, french doors to replace the patio ones and a new composite front door are first on the list and should be ordered this week.

New boiler was never really planned until day 5 of living here when the electric shower exploded mid shower. The loft had 3 water tanks in various stages of decay so we decided to replace the aging system with a new combi boiler which we have had installed in the loft. a couple of pics of the state of the old system mid changes.




We went with an ideal Vogue boiler, i think its a 32kw so should be fine for the two of us.

Here is my temporary shower fix until I have time to fill the hole left by the old shower and patch in some tiles!


We are looking at new kitchen ideas currently, here are a couple of the proposed ideas




That gets us pretty much up to date for now, I hope to update this regularly as things progress, as before any suggestions or improvements are welcome. We are still getting quotes for the building work so fingers crossed we can get it done within a reasonable budget.

[singlecoil]

Rutter said:

We are looking at new kitchen ideas currently, here are a couple of the proposed ideas

That appears to the the same kitchen from two different angles? What make is it?



Looks like a very interesting and exciting project, keep us updated.

[illmonkey]

1. Subscribed.

2. that kitchen looks very impratical. Thin walk way between wall and the bar area, oven only acccessable from 1 side.

[hornetrider]

You appear to have moved the downstairs loo door to open into the kitchen. This is a tactical mistake.

Edit: just noticed it is a cupboard. Carry on. /coat.

Edited by hornetrider on Tuesday 24th February 13:32

[illmonkey]

hornetrider said:

You appear to have moved the downstairs loo door to open into the kitchen. This is a tactical mistake.

wrong topic? Downstairs loo?

Edit: Bwhahaha,

[singlecoil]

illmonkey said:

2. that kitchen looks very impratical. Thin walk way between wall and the bar area, oven only acccessable from 1 side.

Admittedly the gap between the end of the peninsula and the wall looks quite tight, but it's a very wide angle view so it might be better than it looks, be interesting to see an aerial view.

Tall unit, if there is to be one, that's about the only place it can go, so although the access is limited, it might be the lesser of the weevils.

[Rutter]

singlecoil said:

That appears to the the same kitchen from two different angles? What make is it?


Looks like a very interesting and exciting project, keep us updated.

You are indeed correct I misworded the OP, we have only had one design proposed so far, and that is from both angles. It is a company called Springhill, an irish company trying to break into the UK market apparently. colours wise etc its not what we are after merely a suggested layout.

illmonkey said:

1. Subscribed.

2. that kitchen looks very impratical. Thin walk way between wall and the bar area, oven only acccessable from 1 side.

We are still getting some ideas for the layout at the moment, its trying to squeeze as much into a relatively small space. Oven wise we were always going to go with a base level under the hob, but the planner suggested an eye level combi oven. good point about the narrow walkway tough, we need to check widths etc to make sure its practical.

hornetrider said:

You appear to have moved the downstairs loo door to open into the kitchen. This is a tactical mistake.

Edit: just noticed it is a cupboard. Carry on. /coat.

Edited by hornetrider on Tuesday 24th February 13:32

We had planned on putting a front porch on the house as the hallway is quite wide and could fit a cloakroom but with all the other costs it will have to wait for now, that and the fact that waste wise it would likely need a macerator as the soil pipe is at the back corner of the kitchen.

The cupboard is currently underused space so we feel it would make more sense to put a fridge in there to free up cupboard space in the kitchen as per the 2nd picture of the proposed layout.

[hornetrider]

Rutter said:

The cupboard is currently underused space so we feel it would make more sense to put a fridge in there to free up cupboard space in the kitchen as per the 2nd picture of the proposed layout.

I understand the reasoning, however where will you put your hoover? Ironing board/iron? Shoes and coats? Other 'stuff' that you need to put away etc? Will you be using one of the bedrooms for this type of stuff?

[Rutter]

hornetrider said:

I understand the reasoning, however where will you put your hoover? Ironing board/iron? Shoes and coats? Other 'stuff' that you need to put away etc? Will you be using one of the bedrooms for this type of stuff?

All good points. Hoover and smaller bits will go in the under the stairs cupboard. Coats etc there should be room in the hallway on a coat hook thing, maybe a shoe storage jobbie too. Ironing board could go in the airing cupboard upstairs, until yesterday this was full of hot water cylinder so i will build some shelves for towels and bedding but this could go in there, or potentially there could be storage next to the fridge in the kitchen as the cupboard is pretty big so could accommodate more than just a fridge.

The house we moved out of was a new build and had absolutely zero storage of any kind, even the airing cupboard was full of solar water tanks etc so cupboard wise we don't (currently...) have enough stuff to fill everything!

[Bluebarge]

I would think hard about creating space for a second loo, possibly under the stairs if there is sufficient room. One bathroom for 3 beds is a bit light these days, especially if those other bedroons are going to be used by guests or kids.

[furtive]

As you are opening up the current dining room to the kitche, have you considered swapping the two rooms around so the current diner becomes the kitchen? More scope for a better layout then as you haven't got a door opening into it, so you have 3 full walls to play with

[singlecoil]

I quite like having the oven in a tower, it's good from the user's point of view. In terms of space utilisation it uses up 600mm of worktop space and can feel a bit bulky, but it also means there's 600mm of under worktop space available for drawers or cupboards.

So on the whole I think the layout proposed is quite a good one, it just needs tweaking. Consideration needs to be given to the worktop material. If it's to be laminate (easily the least inexpensive option) then that will make if difficult or impossible to put a generous radius on the outboard corners of the peninsula. If you use wood or any other material that is homogeneous such as granite or Quartz then you can put a bit of overhang on the end and curve it.

I don't like the end panel of the peninsula going all the way to the ground like that. As well as creating difficult to clean floor areas it means no foot space for anyone standing at the end of the peninsula (as people tend to do).

Attention needs to be paid to the handing of the doors, one of the doors on the side of the peninsula facing the dining room opens the wrong way in the drawing.

I like to see plenty of drawers in kitchens, they are somewhat more expensive than plain cupboards but they make the space easy to use, we have all our pans and crockery in large drawers and are much easier to access than they would be in cupboards.

[anonymous-user]

Not sure i'd like the oven right next to the door, especially if you have kids. You wouldn't want them to come flying through the door while you're lifting a hot tray out of the oven.

Personally, i'd have a small range where the hob is, and have tall storage for mops etc where the oven currently is. Then put a loo in the understairs cupboard, which I would be thinking about, if there's room.

[Matt_N]

Interesting.

Your amended house is the same as ours except ours is the other way round, entrance hall on right, bathroom too.

We currently have a kitchen dinner as per your amended layout, I think this is the preferred choice amongst home owners these days so that's w use choice.

The kitchen is a toughy, we currently have a single door and double patio doors, we are over doored for the size of the house!

Our current thinking is to get the kitchen done and remove the double doors as we never use them and it will then lend itself to a better kitchen layout.

We currently have an island that juts out like that and tbh I find it a pain, the previous owners didn't think about storage and appliance layout very well.

This is a really rough mock up of the kind of layout we are thinking of, finish etc is just what the planner selected as default.



Ideally the sink would go under the window but all the plumbing is currently on that wall so I'm not sure how we'd get it across to there as we have concrete floors.

[alan-87]

Will watch this with interest as we are doing almost an identical project in our new gaff. Just waiting on quotes to come back for windows / doors and the internal wall removal then we can make a start!

[toohuge]

Interesting project OP.

Have you asked yourself how essential the 'formal' dining room really is?

Given the work that you are going through, I think that if you were to use the space that is allocated for dining room and the kitchen as one large kitchen diner, it will open up a lot more options for you and create a bigger impact on your home.

Just a thought.
Chris

[Rutter]

Bluebarge said:

I would think hard about creating space for a second loo, possibly under the stairs if there is sufficient room. One bathroom for 3 beds is a bit light these days, especially if those other bedroons are going to be used by guests or kids.

I do agree with you, we came from a 3 bed with family bathroom, ensuite to the main and a downstairs cloakroom so I know exactly where you are coming from. Under the stairs just wouldn't have the ceiling height and rerouting the gas and electric meters would be expensive. The only place we could really fit one would be in the hallway at the front with a possible porch extension but this would require a macerator which neither of us are keen on really.

furtive said:

As you are opening up the current dining room to the kitche, have you considered swapping the two rooms around so the current diner becomes the kitchen? More scope for a better layout then as you haven't got a door opening into it, so you have 3 full walls to play with

We did consider it at great length! I agree it would be a better use of space but rerouting the waste worked out prohibitively expensive due to the french doors etc and funds are tight enough for the work we are planning as it is.

[Rutter]

singlecoil said:

I quite like having the oven in a tower, it's good from the user's point of view. In terms of space utilisation it uses up 600mm of worktop space and can feel a bit bulky, but it also means there's 600mm of under worktop space available for drawers or cupboards.

So on the whole I think the layout proposed is quite a good one, it just needs tweaking. Consideration needs to be given to the worktop material. If it's to be laminate (easily the least inexpensive option) then that will make if difficult or impossible to put a generous radius on the outboard corners of the peninsula. If you use wood or any other material that is homogeneous such as granite or Quartz then you can put a bit of overhang on the end and curve it.

I don't like the end panel of the peninsula going all the way to the ground like that. As well as creating difficult to clean floor areas it means no foot space for anyone standing at the end of the peninsula (as people tend to do).

Attention needs to be paid to the handing of the doors, one of the doors on the side of the peninsula facing the dining room opens the wrong way in the drawing.

I like to see plenty of drawers in kitchens, they are somewhat more expensive than plain cupboards but they make the space easy to use, we have all our pans and crockery in large drawers and are much easier to access than they would be in cupboards.

Great suggestions, looking at your profile it would appear you probably know your stuff, if you wanted to come take a look and give your ideas it would be welcomed.

We had a kitchen consultation last night and will be going to a single oven as the pictured one with an additional combination oven was just too much for us to stretch to, so we will need to make room for our existing microwave.

I hadn't thought of the end panel and do agree with you, so will mention that to them. The walkway is at least 800mm so should be wide enough I feel.

Door wise the peninsula one you mention that opens the wrong way is actually the washing machine with a small cupboard to the right of it, it would appear the designer left off the handle for this...

Drawers wise we are going for a 600mm 3 stack below the hob and another 2 stack below the oven.

I hope to have the drawings and quotation back today so will put them up as I get them.

[BoRED S2upid]

You don't get many bricking up openings to create smaller rooms now it's all open plan. However I'm a big fan of separate living rooms and kitchen diners as if your like us the kitchen can get a bit messy nice to keep the kitchen smells away from the living room too.

[furtive]

BoRED S2upid said:

You don't get many bricking up openings to create smaller rooms now it's all open plan. However I'm a big fan of separate living rooms and kitchen diners as if your like us the kitchen can get a bit messy nice to keep the kitchen smells away from the living room too.

I would be tempted to put some french doors between the living room and the dining room though, rather than block it off comopletely