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Design Dilemma
angelk02

help with new home

angelk02
4 years ago

We have just bought a new home, moving for schools so not our dream home but hopefully has potential.
I’d love ideas on how we could remodel ground floor and improve outside. I would love a peninsula ( I have a huge island just now), we will convert garage and replace windows. Prefer wm not in kitchen. It’s currently in alcove in downstairs toilet but not keen on this. First ever post! Much appreciated!

Featured Answer
  • arc3d
    4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Entrance to bathroom:


    Front entrance and laundry room:


    Bathroom with skylight above:


    Original Exterior:


    Front with render:


    Front with brick slips:


    Skylights:


    Comments (20)

    • PRO
      OnePlan
      4 years ago

      Hi Angelk02, welcome to Houzz and congrats on your house purchase !

      It’s a good size property - but the height difference between garage and rest of house is something to look at in greater detail - also perhaps the entrance from outside - as that front courtyard area is going to be a lovely sunny spot ... so I might suggest having a raised area to the front, to the end of current garage, with steps at that end ... this would allow a long large window to capture the southern sunshine into that garage room but also allow you to add some seating in that courtyard area too .

      Re kitchen ... it’s really lends itself to more of a galley set up, due to the size of the room...

      Just as a matter of interest - has anyone else in the local area extended to the front ?

    • angelk02
      Original Author
      4 years ago

      Hello one plan, thanks for responding. Our garage was extended so is about 2 metres longer than others. Someone has added a porch which I liked but it’s in line with their garage so doing this to ours might be a bit odd. Someone else has continued the sloping roof to the end of the garage but it hard to imagine what they have gained by doing this.

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    • User
      4 years ago

      bumping up

    • PRO
      OnePlan
      4 years ago

      Good idea Sarah - there seems to be a lot of weird one liner posts on old threads yesterday !

      Angelk02, might be an idea to look at local design and build companies locally to you - as they can look at the logistics of accessing height difference onsite - it’s going to be a tad tricky to give you full ideas remotely ... it might be that you have a small wedge of roofline with Velux’s in to allow head height to access former garage from inside the house ?

    • angelk02
      Original Author
      4 years ago

      Thanks again. I’ll have a look at some planning applications for garage conversions and walk around area (when I can again!). I like the idea of velux!

    • arc3d
      4 years ago

      Hi Angel,


      Congratulations on the new house. (I will try to keep this short as I keep breaking the submit button!)


      This is my suggestion for a new layout for your home.


      The biggest change I would make is to move the front door to where the garage is now. This will give you a generous sized entrance with plenty of space to hang coats and store shoes/ school sports equipment. I would line the walls with floor to ceiling cupboards, half of which would contain your laundry room. I would install a sky light in the roof to bring in plenty of natural light.


      The stairs to the front of the property would now become internal and pass through the garage and into the main part of the house. This would be made possible by rearranging the bathroom so that it appears vertical on the plans instead of horizontal. I would add a shower to complete the bathroom. I would use a sliding door to make best use of this entrance area. In this design I've put the toilet under the skylight, but the shower could also go here. The sight lines don't allow neighbours to overlook the skylight.


      I would also have a skylight over the kitchen. The three skylights together with the large doors at the rear would fill the house with natural light.


      I would remove the remainder of the downstairs walls, shifting the kitchen across towards what was the vestibule. This new open space would allow for a peninsular or island with bar stool seating. What was the original front door would be combined with the original kitchen window to create one long horizontal window.


      By contrast the other kitchen window to the side of the property would be extended vertically to the ground. The patio door and window in the living room would also be combined to create a large opening to let in plenty of natural light and connect the indoors with the outdoors.


      In terms of layout, the area in front of the stairs could now accommodate a family size dining table and the lounge would be by the large doors at the rear of the plan. The remaining area would become a home office / study.


      I would open up the stairs and use minimal structure for railings. This would allow great sight lines but still provide some division between the areas.


      Externally, I would take out the small pitched roof above the kitchen and after extending the height of the wall, install sky lights over both the kitchen and the bathroom. I would use this renovation opportunity to consider improving the thermal efficiency of the house. I would add some contrast to the walls by cladding the kitchen section in wood. If the the whole house is insulated externally then I would consider brick slips as the final cladding otherwise just rendered and painted white.


      I have used critical doors in my design, but bi fold doors would work just as well. Outside I would create a large patio for outdoor seating and dining.



      Original floor plan:






      New floor plan:






      (Sorry I had to split the post as it got too long.)


    • arc3d
      4 years ago

      Visuals:



      Kitchen with skylight above:



      Entrance to living space:



      Dining area:



      Lounge:



      Lounge:



      Outdoor seating and dining:




    • PRO
      OnePlan
      4 years ago

      Wow !!

    • PRO
      OnePlan
      4 years ago

      Some small issues that might arise with gas hob in this particular placement - but change it to induction and that issue goes away ! Nice work Arc3D

    • arc3d
      4 years ago

      Thank you Oneplan!

    • Carolina
      4 years ago

      I like a lot of what arc3d did, but I have some practical points, mainly: removing all internal walls and doors will have an effect on heat distribution in the house. Warm air rises and will disappear through the stairwell to the upstairs. There's also a noise factor to take into account. You'll need plenty of soft furnishings to absorb noise. Also, no door between front door and the rest of the house will have an effect on the internal climate. Cold coming in, heat going out when the door is opened. And I don't like the direct access to the loo from the kitchen. If you can avoid that, I would avoid it. And I would want a laundry room, not a cupboard in full view of the front door. There's clean and dirty laundry that will have to live somewhere before it goes into the machine and after it's taken out before it's folded away. And when you're busy doing laundry and there's someone at the front door... hmm... not sure whether I'd like that they'd have full view of whatever is in my laundry baskets.

      So, yeah... those are the small practical issues that I have with this particular design.

    • arc3d
      4 years ago
      last modified: 4 years ago

      Hi Carolina,

      Thanks for your feedback. My suggestion is just a design concept. The hope is it's used to help people visualise the possibilities and help inspire them.

      And just to address some of your practical points. Heat distribution is not a problem at all in a well insulated house. The front door and entrance area is a lower level than the main living area so would trap the cold air coming into the house. You could also simply add a door at the entrance to the living area. The toilet itself is over 3 metres away from the kitchen island. With the large skylight and an extractor fan you would have more fresh air coming in from the bathroom than anything else. The laundry room has doors. You would just close them.

    • Jules Mc
      4 years ago

      Love what you've both done here, very impressive.

      Just to echo what Carolina has raised, my only concern is the washer dryer in the front entrance area. Even though there are doors to conceal the appliances I still wouldn't want them in the front hallway. Also, as someone who prefers to line dry when I can, I'd then have to carry the wet washing through the house to the back garden. Just a thought for the actual owners!

      Well done - love your vision.

    • Carolina
      4 years ago

      Oh, don't misunderstand me, I do like the open plan concept and totally agree that moving the front door to the garage could be a good idea. And the images are brilliant

    • Jules Mc
      4 years ago

      Ah no Carolina. It was clear to me you really liked it too. I also think it's useful seeing people consider and discuss things like energy efficiency and other practicalities when going open plan because they're not always the first thing I think of.

    • arc3d
      4 years ago

      Hi Carolina,


      Sorry my comment wasn't meant as a come back! I was just addressing the points you mentioned. Both views i.e. "to open plan or not to open plan" have been around for a while and I think the conclusion of the debate is that it really depends on how you use your home, what features are important to you and what sacrifices you're willing to make.


      I'm slowly helping my parents to go open plan. Initially they were not too keen but so far they are loving it. I built them a utility room to separate the noisy appliances. I removed the door between the kitchen and dining room and and the one from the kitchen to the hall. My mum thinks it great as she's always wiping down the doors and as she gets older they are getting harder for her to do. Next up removing the wall between the two rooms and then wall between the living room and the hall. This will make the whole downstairs very accessible for them as well as appliances such as robo vacs and so future proofed for them. So the pros are working out better than the cons for them, but as mentioned everyone uses their house in a different way.

    • Carolina
      4 years ago

      Oh, no problem :-) Actually, I've only ever lived in an open plan house in my adult life and wouldn't want it any other way. Live in a former industrial building now. Know from experience that noise and heating are a problem. To be fair, our house is not insulated to the max. And it's big. And there are lots of two story high spaces and open connections to the upstairs. Bye bye, warm air.

      Would definitely consider all those things in a next house, which will probably be open plan again. But with a door between hall and living space and no open stairs 😉

    • E D
      4 years ago

      Good to see such constructive and useful input from a 'new'(?) contributor.

      Seen some good things from you before, keep 'em coming. :-)

      Nice one @arc3d


    • angelk02
      Original Author
      4 years ago

      Thanks all so much for comments. I haven’t been on Houzz for a few days as I didn’t expect anymore comments. There’s some really great design and practical considerations so thanks! I also love that outside could be transformed!
      The visuals are amazing too :)

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