Help designing floorplan of house

[Soir]

Hi all, hoping to move into this house soon. But kitchen is very thin and the garage won't be used. Plus there is not much money to play with...

so the plan is to covert the garage into a dining room and remove the back wall of garage to open up the kitchen (end up with large kitchen diner in an L shape - would you do the same?
bear in mind costs minimal ! (only problem I can see is that iy ou are in the converted dining room you will need to walk all the way around the house to open the front door as not enough room to put another doorway there)

(hopefully the picture will be detailed below)

[eps]

If you've got time, try and use Google Sketchup..

You could... convert the garage, do away with the internal part of the porch and then put a doorway in that space.. Of course it depends on room and glazing and so on.. You could put an external porch on the property, with a footprint of 3m2 (i.e. 1.5 by 2m).. or less of course! As long as it conforms to all the guidelines, planning policies and building control regulations..

What sort of plot is it on? How far is the boundary from the side of the property? How large is the driveway area and rear garden?

ETA : If it were me and I had the money I'd look to put a single storey extension on the back.. That's if it were me and if I had the money to do that.. Leaving the garage intact, or possibly nibbling a bit for a utility room..

Edited by eps on Tuesday 13th October 14:32

[monthefish]

Soir said:

Hi all, hoping to move into this house soon. But kitchen is very thin and the garage won't be used. Plus there is not much money to play with...

so the plan is to covert the garage into a dining room and remove the back wall of garage to open up the kitchen (end up with large kitchen diner in an L shape - would you do the same?

PH'er fail surely??

[HiRich]

Would there not be planning issues with permanently converting use of the garage?
Even then, I would have thought the garage adds value, and a window conversion would look unbalanced.


However (having just measured up my own kitchen), I would be tempted to retain the basic shape and keep the kitchen as a primarily functional unit:

• Lose what appears to be a cabinet/bar on the kitchen/garage wall - there's only space for units on one side
• Run units in an L - West & South walls of the kitchen. Avoid high cabinets here (all the shapes are wrong and light will be compromised) but consider shelves, rails
• Move major appliances (chest freezer, washing machine & tumble drier) into a planned space at the back of the garage. Cooler for the freezer, quieter for the washing machine, frees up space in the kitchen for funky items (big hob/oven, full size dishwasher & larder fridge, etc.) and lots of under-counter storage.

If you want an extractor, move the hob away from the window.

• Add a garage door far right of the kitchen/garage wall. Gives useful access garage-to-kitchen-to-garden (hose, garden tools). Also handy if you reverse park in the garage - make use of that angle.
• If you want a breakfast bar, how about a foldaway unit on the kitchen/garage wall? High cabinets (or even shallow, full height unit, could provide a decent storage area, whether pantry or electrical goods)

Even if you don't plan on using the garage, you've got potential for storage/scullery, a games room (be it snooker, cinema or Wii), workshop, shed, etc. Much easier to convert back at a later date.


Also:

• That toilet door has to go outwards (unless you like talking to your beloved as she cooks and you do your Constitutional). Spring load it if you want.
• Ditto the back door. Total waste of space.
• Agree about losing the porch.

[Soir]

Thanks for the replies. Not much room around the house and not enough money to build an external porch or extend the back of the house (cheapest way was going to remove the wall in between garage/kitchen)

I hadn't thought about retaining the garage, maybe moving the wall inwards a little in order to create a utility room?

May sound silly, but the wife has always wanted an island in the middle of the kitchen and we are going to use the front reception as a play room for the little one, hence the plan to use the garage as dining room and open up into the kitchen and be able to plant a god damn island in there too!

(monthefish - well spotted, no decent cars for me for a few years and nor the money to anyway so priority is house to enjoy!)

[Soir]

I will be replacing all windows doors, so I think you have suggested a good idea with removing the internal porch and putting a doorway to lead into the dinign room (garage) will just have no porch at all.

[HiRich]

If you really need an island, I think the most effective (function & cost) would be to swap all the rooms around.

• Make the Dining Room (on plan) your lounge area - too big for a small child.
• Move the kitchen to the Lounge - 12' square is getting close to a proper kitchen.
• Kitchen becomes kid's playroom & second TV room & "Daddy's messing about with stuff" room

Keep one eye on opening the (new) kitchen window out to a patio doors, now or in the future.

[Soir]

HiRich said:

If you really need an island, I think the most effective (function & cost) would be to swap all the rooms around.

• Make the Dining Room (on plan) your lounge area - too big for a small child.
• Move the kitchen to the Lounge - 12' square is getting close to a proper kitchen.
• Kitchen becomes kid's playroom & second TV room & "Daddy's messing about with stuff" room

Keep one eye on opening the (new) kitchen window out to a patio doors, now or in the future.

great ideas.. the more I think about it, we could just allocate one of the bedrooms upstairs to be a playroom.

As you say use dining room as lounge

then maybe remove wall between current lounge/kitchen and open it up as kitchen/diner? and put patio doors in dining room (currently lounge)

However, we liked idea of having lounge at back of house (nicer view)

[henrycrun]

In the past many owners have simply divided the garage in 2, reworked internally, kept the external appearance the same, and not informed the authorities.
Not sure how they get on when its time to sell.

[aberdeeneuan]

To take out a (load bearing) internal wall and part convert or full convert the garage you just need a building notice. You pay the council a couple of hundred quid, a bloke turns up and tells you what you need to do. I know as I've just done it!

One potential hidden cost is, depending on the inspector and what is already there, you may need to rip up the garage floor and relay with insulation under it. We had to do this, and replace two windows in the garage to double glazed ones to comply with the building regulations. If your garage floor is at a different layer already (i.e., lower than the existing kitchen) you'll be ok though as you can just lay the new floor on top.

You may also need to insulate the outside garage wall, again, depending on what is already there. We got away with lots of insulation on the single skin existing wall. They'll probably also make you fit fireboarding to the ceiling if there is a room above the garage.

It's a relatively easy job, though taking out walls get's very messy!

[HiRich]

Soir said:

As you say use dining room as lounge

then maybe remove wall between current lounge/kitchen and open it up as kitchen/diner? and put patio doors in dining room (currently lounge)

However, we liked idea of having lounge at back of house (nicer view)

Moving the (as plan) kitchen-hall door to lounge-kitchen may work well with space and leading you through the new kitchen every time. You could knock through but isn't that a structural wall (expensive)? Maybe bifold doors so you can close off the room?

What you may find is that the new kitchen becomes the main daytime living space. Cool (white) design with hard surfaces. Laptop on the counter, TV on the wall, and a nice daytime view out onto the garden. A friend has something similar with a very modern kitchen and you end up there rather than the lounge, with wine/tea on hand. The living room then becomes a haven for the evening - warm and comforting with thick carpet, big comfy sofas to snuggle down in. Two very different styles for different times of the day. Very effective now I think about it.

[dougc]

The kitchen is too big. Knock through the back of the garage into the useless bit of the kitchen and install a small machine shop.

Seal off bedrooms 4 and 5, get rid of the floor and install a post lift.

That should do it.

[Soir]

HiRich said:

Soir said:

As you say use dining room as lounge

then maybe remove wall between current lounge/kitchen and open it up as kitchen/diner? and put patio doors in dining room (currently lounge)

However, we liked idea of having lounge at back of house (nicer view)

Moving the (as plan) kitchen-hall door to lounge-kitchen may work well with space and leading you through the new kitchen every time. You could knock through but isn't that a structural wall (expensive)? Maybe bifold doors so you can close off the room?

What you may find is that the new kitchen becomes the main daytime living space. Cool (white) design with hard surfaces. Laptop on the counter, TV on the wall, and a nice daytime view out onto the garden. A friend has something similar with a very modern kitchen and you end up there rather than the lounge, with wine/tea on hand. The living room then becomes a haven for the evening - warm and comforting with thick carpet, big comfy sofas to snuggle down in. Two very different styles for different times of the day. Very effective now I think about it.

good idea