House layout advice (with potential floor plans)
Discussion
I'm doing a house up from scratch and I'm am struggling with ideas for the layout.
I started of with this which was all doors and windows are fairly hard to do anything with. Original cooker was fitted behind the 'external' door.
I have removed the wall between the dining room and kitchen to open it up a bit but I am now struggling to decide where to place doors.
Current ideas are:
With the kitchen something like:
(ignoring the patio doors they don't exist at the moment, its another big window)
I like the openness with the doors out of the lounge into the kitchen dinner but don't like the fact the lounge becomes an extension of the hallway.
Or
and switching the dining / kitchen areas around so the sink would be under the other window.
I like the fact the hall way is the only passage but the lounge is tiny and I'm worried it will feel too boxed in without the option to open it up at the back.
I would also gain lounge wall space doing it this way.
The top external door only allows access to a lean to, garage and back garden. You can't get to the front of the house so the front door will always be used.
Total floor plan is about 36m2 so not a lot of space to play with!
All options are fine from a structural point of view and about the same amount of effort and there is a soil pipe down middle of that back wall, in between the windows, so easy to move the kitchen over to the other side of it.
Any opinions experiences or better ideas welcome!
I started of with this which was all doors and windows are fairly hard to do anything with. Original cooker was fitted behind the 'external' door.
I have removed the wall between the dining room and kitchen to open it up a bit but I am now struggling to decide where to place doors.
Current ideas are:
With the kitchen something like:
(ignoring the patio doors they don't exist at the moment, its another big window)
I like the openness with the doors out of the lounge into the kitchen dinner but don't like the fact the lounge becomes an extension of the hallway.
Or
and switching the dining / kitchen areas around so the sink would be under the other window.
I like the fact the hall way is the only passage but the lounge is tiny and I'm worried it will feel too boxed in without the option to open it up at the back.
I would also gain lounge wall space doing it this way.
The top external door only allows access to a lean to, garage and back garden. You can't get to the front of the house so the front door will always be used.
Total floor plan is about 36m2 so not a lot of space to play with!
All options are fine from a structural point of view and about the same amount of effort and there is a soil pipe down middle of that back wall, in between the windows, so easy to move the kitchen over to the other side of it.
Any opinions experiences or better ideas welcome!
Edited by bigdrew on Wednesday 28th September 23:21
Quickly looking at it - I'd go for the third plan with the kitchen on the left hand side - make sure you are able to run a flue externally for your cooker hood though. I would however block up the side door (if you can?) and then make the large window (in the dining side) into a set of bi-folds/French doors.
Edited by Woody3 on Thursday 29th September 00:24
that's pretty much the layout we've just decided on for out house. I think design two might work well but my question would be could you do without the side door as we've decided we don't need it and are getting it bricked up so we can have more kitchen units. We also thought about putting a door into the lounge as i felt it flowed better but that's further down the line. I'd also have the door into the kitchen from the hall way otherwise your always going to have the doors from the lounge into the kitcehn open which would defeat the objective of having them in there for opening if you want them open.
3rd option for me as well
I'd prefer to keep the hallway as I prefer not to have the front door open to a room / stairs in a room / inevitable clutter in the lounge. This also allows you more useful linear meters for furniture. 3m x 3.7m isn't a tiny lounge, it just needs to be thought through.
Change the hanging of the door into the living room so it swings left, covering the window when open, not blocking the room, that's an outdated design feature.
Similarly reverse the swing of the kitchen side door to create a small 'unused' corner between the opening of the hall -> kitchen and outside -> kitchen. Or block this up.
Think I'd be tempted to go for a U shaped kitchen on the left - with low level units mainly/only so it seems more open.
Bi-fold/French windows/normal window for the right kitchen opening... Depends on your preference and whether this is an investment or a home. Personally I would guess French windows would work best with the side door blocked.
I'd prefer to keep the hallway as I prefer not to have the front door open to a room / stairs in a room / inevitable clutter in the lounge. This also allows you more useful linear meters for furniture. 3m x 3.7m isn't a tiny lounge, it just needs to be thought through.
Change the hanging of the door into the living room so it swings left, covering the window when open, not blocking the room, that's an outdated design feature.
Similarly reverse the swing of the kitchen side door to create a small 'unused' corner between the opening of the hall -> kitchen and outside -> kitchen. Or block this up.
Think I'd be tempted to go for a U shaped kitchen on the left - with low level units mainly/only so it seems more open.
Bi-fold/French windows/normal window for the right kitchen opening... Depends on your preference and whether this is an investment or a home. Personally I would guess French windows would work best with the side door blocked.
Option 3!
Separate lounge with 2 decent sized walls for sofas, kitchen diner at the back of the house, kitchen on the left with the table near the 2 doors coming in/out of the kitchen. Hate lounges that basically become a pathway to other rooms, much better when they're a standalone room.
And you could open up the hall/lounge, but again I don't like this. I prefer a separate hall when entering a house, front door straight into the lounge is a bit council.
Think of day to day living. Dump all crap in the hall, have dinner in the kitchen/diner, again dump everything and retire to separate lounge area, with all the other crap behind a closed door. Sorted.
Separate lounge with 2 decent sized walls for sofas, kitchen diner at the back of the house, kitchen on the left with the table near the 2 doors coming in/out of the kitchen. Hate lounges that basically become a pathway to other rooms, much better when they're a standalone room.
And you could open up the hall/lounge, but again I don't like this. I prefer a separate hall when entering a house, front door straight into the lounge is a bit council.
Think of day to day living. Dump all crap in the hall, have dinner in the kitchen/diner, again dump everything and retire to separate lounge area, with all the other crap behind a closed door. Sorted.
It is probably more investment then home (although I will be living in it for a few years!)
The hall is a complete waste of space but that wall is holding the house up. I also wouldn't want an open plan hall/lounge.
I'm leaning more and more towards the second one with a U kitchen on the LHS.. It will be a shame to make it less open plan but I do gain a fair bit of wall space all round.
Long term plan would be to install patio doors but the problem is the garden is raised to the rest of the house.
Also the side back door goes into a strange lean to thing with a garage in front of it. Not sure what I'm going to do with this yet - but it means I can't block the side door up!
The hall is a complete waste of space but that wall is holding the house up. I also wouldn't want an open plan hall/lounge.
I'm leaning more and more towards the second one with a U kitchen on the LHS.. It will be a shame to make it less open plan but I do gain a fair bit of wall space all round.
Long term plan would be to install patio doors but the problem is the garden is raised to the rest of the house.
Also the side back door goes into a strange lean to thing with a garage in front of it. Not sure what I'm going to do with this yet - but it means I can't block the side door up!
Floor plans were done on https://www.floorplanner.com/
Kitchen was done on B and Q's software but you have to go into the store to get accsess to it. If you book an appointment they will show you how to use it / do it for you.
Yeah too small for a downstairs toilet I'd say.
Kitchen was done on B and Q's software but you have to go into the store to get accsess to it. If you book an appointment they will show you how to use it / do it for you.
Yeah too small for a downstairs toilet I'd say.
Two things for me. First, the big hall is not a waste of space. You've got somewhere to put coats and shoes and not fall over them. Put a nice bright light in there with some non-carpet flooring and it'll be a great space.
Second, I'm not sure of the construction, but if it's usable I would be looking to incorporate that space behind the garage into the overall design. Maybe put the kitchen in there and then have a large L-shaped open plan living room/ dining room. You could have folding internal doors separating the L if you wanted the option of dividing up the space.
Whatever you do, do not do the house and then think about the garage/garden room later. Come up with a design for the whole house right from the start.
Second, I'm not sure of the construction, but if it's usable I would be looking to incorporate that space behind the garage into the overall design. Maybe put the kitchen in there and then have a large L-shaped open plan living room/ dining room. You could have folding internal doors separating the L if you wanted the option of dividing up the space.
Whatever you do, do not do the house and then think about the garage/garden room later. Come up with a design for the whole house right from the start.
Did you consider changing the living room into a kitchen diner? I was wondering there's space to have the units along the front wall under the window and on the left wall, move the door from the hall nearer the front door and have a small table in that corner and then have a large living room at the back looking onto the back garden.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/full...
A bit like the layout of that house?
Yes I think it would be the best option. Unfortunately the front window in the living room is massive and is way to low to get units under.. I could make it smaller but it would stand out on the street. I'd also have fairly major drainage problems to overcome.
I'd sort of ruled it out because of the problems
A bit like the layout of that house?
Yes I think it would be the best option. Unfortunately the front window in the living room is massive and is way to low to get units under.. I could make it smaller but it would stand out on the street. I'd also have fairly major drainage problems to overcome.
I'd sort of ruled it out because of the problems
I like the 2nd one most but would lose the external door and have the kitchen u shaped with the cooker where the door is now if possible and a run of worktop where the cooker is. - will feel much bigger, use the bifolds for entrance to the garden and to flood light into lounge opposite - will make a big difference. You can then turn the lean to into a summer house/garden office and maximise the space in there as well.
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