Unconventional layout - need ideas!!

2 years ago

We are in the process of buying a house with a very large footprint but a slightly unconventional lay out. The house has a large “conservatory” extension with bi-fold doors across the whole back wall. It’s not really a conservatory but an extension which currently has a glass roofs (the rhs wall is solid).
The current owners use this space as a family room but we are thinking of moving the kitchen to have an open plan kitchen / diner in the extension. Plumbing / drainage shouldn’t be a problem. Then we are a little stuck as to what to do next.. with the existing kitchen or large but thin living or currently what’s used as an office.

Hoping there are some clever and creative people out there to help with some ideas which won’t cost the world!!

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Comments (6)

PRO
Nest Estimating Ltd
2 years ago
Hi Jamie, we recently provided a first time buyer with a budget cost estimate for similar works. The budget cost estimate provides a detailed breakdown of works and expenses as well as highlighting potential areas where you can save money. They were then able to determine whether they wanted to go ahead with the purchase of the property. If this is something of interest please send the plans and site photos to hello@nestestimating.co.uk and we can provide you with a quote
Rosy W
2 years ago
What a sumptuous house! I'm not a professional but I love playing around with floor plans... I can't see what the orientation is but I'd investigate squaring off the lounge by extending the utility room wall to the LH (external) wall and using the whole conservatory, back of lounge and utility area for a fab kitchen diner, relocating the utility to where the office is currently. It might also be handy to have a door into the garage from there, mightn't it. Then divide the current kitchen and move the office to either the front or back room that creates, depending. The front half of the lounge could be a snug or formal sitting room and the other half of the existing kitchen a playroom or TV room. I see the existing kitchen is the bigger space so depending on how you use your home, you could swap those ideas over. If the WC could be relocated to the utility area, imagine the grand entrance hall you could create...

Good luck!

Rosy
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Thank you both for taking the time to comment. Yes it would be better without the doors but unfortunately the doors have to stay. Patricia's U-shaped idea is promising. I could use the outer two thirds of the 'conservatory' area as a 'lounge' space and then place a dining table extending up into the rest of the kitchen area. I'm just unsure as to whether it will work as a unified space.
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PRO
PHASE 2 Photography
2 years ago
Hi - just a few thoughts on your plans - I’m not a professional but have carried out a few refurbishments - including large extensions and moving walls.
Firstly I would say that your ideas at the moment sound great having the main living space at the back overlooking the garden, but you appear to have lots of openings in that room leaving you very little clear wall space.
Also access to the main living space is a bit of wander through another room.
With this in mind my plan would be something like this.

Leave the garage as is - don’t think you need to use it you have a large living space footprint as it stands.

I’ve sketched on a copy of your plan my thoughts of what I would do.
- blue lines are new walls
- red squiggles - remove !
Moving the loo and utility opens up the hall giving direct access to new kitchen / living space and will really make a more impactful entrance adding practicality , flow and value! This should be feasible as you have an en-suite above.

Adding the walls to divide up existing lounge and kitchen also gives you more practical sensible sized spaces all adding value .

If you can’t afford structural work you could leave the wall running along the back with existing openings. But ideally if you could open it up a bit at least to give sight of the back room from the front door this would be amazing !

I hope this makes sense - good luck with what you end up doing, kind regards Clare
K G
2 years ago
Hi. I think I would be tempted to move the utility and downstairs loo into the current office (garage). You could stack your washer/dryer in order to create the two rooms. The utility would act as a corridor between the kitchen and WC.

Then, I would open up the back to create a large family kitchen space which is accessed from the hall (you could put a glazed door here if worrying about noise going upstairs).

I would also have a lounge/snug to the left (squaring the room off) and a more formal dining space to the right which is open to the family kitchen room. The family kitchen room could have a large island/breakfast bar and sofas over looking the garden. At the front, to the right, I would locate the office.

I have included a really bad drawn iPhone image to help which shows the layout of the proposals in the ground floor of the house. Sorry it’s so bad! But there are people on here who may be able to provide you with a better graphic now that I have planted the idea.
Jamie Donaldson
Original Author
2 years ago
Love these ideas! Hadn’t even thought about extending through the existing utility and shortening the living room to make it a more usable space! Only thing is how much that structural work would cost.. any ideas? Assume would need a steel joist installed and the what once was external wall knocked down.

Love the idea of moving the W/c to create a nice big hallway. Would need to think through how to use existing kitchen - like the idea of having office/sofa bed room at the front of the house but then not sure what would work best for us with upper room - being a utility/W/c or formal dining.

The garage is already divided by the current owners (just the floor plan wasn’t updated!) - we could look at removing their work but think might make sense to use as storage/pet/rear entrance/wet room. Could look at putting door in to the external part of the garage in but not a priority.

Next thought would be how to use the new open plan living area?? Water works and drainage on the right hand side where utility / kitchen used to be so would say makes sense to keep kitchen that side.
Rosy W
2 years ago
Hi Jamie, I've had a go at drawing my suggestions, this time with added detail about how you could use the kitchen/diner space. I'm afraid in my plan the water, etc, services would need to be extended over to the left. If it were me, I'd make the existing office work as the utility and downstairs loo to tuck these services out of the way (the loo near the garden would be helpful if you're gardeners or like having people round) and to not waste a good room! I would keep the back part of the existing kitchen as flexible as possible. Your needs may change and if not yours, whoever owns the house next will.

In terms of the structural side, I have left pillars from where the walls were. These can be incorporated and it may be nice to retain that feel of the former layout.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful.

Rosy

Unconventional layout - need ideas!!

Comments (6)

Nest Estimating Ltd

Rosy W

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K G

Jamie Donaldson
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Unconventional layout - need ideas!!

Comments (6)

Nest Estimating Ltd

Rosy W

Related Discussions

PHASE 2 Photography

K G

Jamie DonaldsonOriginal Author

Rosy W

COMPANY

EXPLORE HOUZZ

CONNECT WITH US

Jamie Donaldson
Original Author