Garage conversion/first floor extension - what would you do?

3 years ago

Hi all

My husband and I are in the process of moving to a newhome, which we want to convert/extend. We have two young children and this needs to be a suitable family home for the next 10-15 years. I've got some ideas for what I want to do, but I'm really interested to get other people's opinions!

I've attached a photo of the current floor plan. What we want to work towards is a home with:

Combined kitchen/diner
Family room/play space plus separate 'grown ups' space
Large utility room
Downstairs loo and upstairs bathroom, plus master en suite if there's room
Study/workspace (this is very important as I work from home)
Three good sized bedrooms
Easy access into the garden so we can move freely between the two when the weather is nice
Any clever space creating/saving/storage hacks very welcome

Ideally we want to be clever with the layout but if we can keep some of the existing structure, we should - we don't have a massive budget for this project.

Let me know what you think!

Comment

Related Discussions
Make my room more family friendly
Q
Comments (42)
Hi Janis Unfortunately I am not in the Boston area - I live in Ireland! Yes there are red items in 3 of the main rooms, the kitchen, sitting room and tv room (library) - although we have pared those back now and it's not as overwhelming. thanks for all your help everyone, i really feel like it's made a big difference and am excited to finish the tv room and then refresh the play room. do you think I should move the piano to the sitting room? and would the jazz painting work in the tv room? speak later, thanks!
...See More
Any suggestions for our ground floor layout?
Q
Comments (14)
Jen, are you sure everything is in proportion? I'm asking, because that store seems to be just a bit wider than a door (so about 1 m) which is fine, but doesn't give much space to manoeuvre inside it. Also, a bit too many doors in a small space, but I'm afraid I can't offer you a remedy for that. You have two wide, massive windows and a door in between, I think that will give plenty of light. Personally, I'd just add skylights or a glass roof. Or a long strip of glass all along What you don't seem to have is ventilation windows. Trust me, you're going to want one in the utility, or at least a good fan. Transom style windows could work too if you can open them. I really wish you'd see an architect... there are lots of different, small things that a professional can spot from miles away that you wouldn't even consider. As I said, I regret we didn't; our house is great, but it could've been even better!
...See More
Room layout - ideas?
Q
Comments (25)
Take out sofa, use beanbags and those blow up seats for their friends. Coloured rugs for tumbling and crawling on. Supersoft teddy bear blankets so they can curl up. Add in one of those soft blanket boxes for toy storage and so you have somewhere soft to perch when you are with them. Paper half way up the wall in the wall paper that kids can draw on, so they can decorate in whatever colour they like and you won't mind. A childs lift up desk, bookcase and some crazy lamps in weird colours. Then close the door, collapse on the sofa that you have moved, breathe a sigh of relief and thank your lucky stars that you have another room for the kids to go to. (Grab wine and pretend they aren't yours for half an hour! ;-) )
...See More
Is my kitchen design working?
Q
Comments (32)
Lovely, much better than the 3D plan. V glad you kept your patterned floor tiles, I really like them. It's all come together very attractively. The only thing I'd change and this is just because I'm a colour freak is the pendants - I'd probably have made those red and orange or something. But congrats really, it looks great.
...See More

Garage conversion/first floor extension - what would you do?

Comment

Related Discussions

COMPANY

EXPLORE HOUZZ

CONNECT WITH US