House plans - final decision?

last year

Hello,
After a long discussions and planning, we are nearly ready to finalise our plans for the renovations.
Could anyone with good common sense and maybe experience just tell me if these plans makes sense in terms of layout please?!
The front of the house is really sunny in winter, I wasn’t sure if the guest room in in the right place. But we do like the snug room to be “around the corner” further from the kitchen/dinning area.
I would appreciate any recommendations! 🙏

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Comments (20)

Jonathan
last year
I think this a great plan….. if it were my house I would make some tweaks.

I would make the hallway a fraction wider to make it feel grander….. alternatively you could turn the stairs from front to back - the space under the stairs could make the initial entry appear wider.

Personally I think the utility/boiler cupboard/ cloakroom could be better.

I think the kitchen island is too small to house the cooktop- I think you should delete the side window to have somewhere else for the hob.

You might conclude that the snug will be used less in its current position than if you swapped it with downstairs bedroom.

In the Ensuite I think you could have a bigger shower if you swapped it’s position with the WC.

I would probably make the office bigger- I think it will then read like a potential bedroom and therefore add to your resale value.

I think you should look again at the size of bedrooms 2 and 3 because they are too close in proportion to the master bedroom- this causes problems on resale because buyers don’t see the main bedroom as the most special bedroom.

But if you pressed ahead with this plan with no changes I’m sure you would be very happy. These are just things I would do.
Jonathan
last year
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I hadn't spotted it was mahogany tbh when I first looked! I probably wouldn't go for a light wood with the mahogany, perhaps something medium in tone rather than mahogany just to balance out with the rest of the room? You could of course go for a different material for the console and add wood for accessories. For the bookcases I might actually paint them in the ŵall colour or the White otherwise they might overpower that area and the fire? Another option is to paint the actual fire surround. If you decided on blue for an accent colour for example you could paint it an Inky blue. It's quite hard to say without knowing what/if you'll bring colour to the rest of the room as you could end up with a living area dark in tone and everything else very light. The bookcases will also visually widen the living space so you may find you also need side tables for the sofa to balance it (or a chair angled in front of the bookcase if it fits) but perhaps see how it looks first before making any decisions! Art or mirror over the fire would work but I think art for colour/pattern.
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Bambi T
last year
Nice - I’d be tempted to make a doorway in the utility room leading to the little bathroom rather than having it right by the front door, personally? Just a thought….
Bambi T
last year
… I quite like the downstairs guest room location, off a hallway is nicer I think.?Think you might need a bigger coats/shoes area, would be tempted to rejig that bit too - maybe coats storage where the bathroom is? I like the wider hallway too, does seem more proportional 👍
PRO
Create Perfect
last year
I agree - regarding the experience I have worked in interior design for 10 years, working on full new home designs and renovations and I think the layout works really well and is a good use of the space.

Obviously, there are other ways of doing it and weeks that can be made - but I wouldn't say it because the placement of the rooms or areas are wrong. I like the guest bedroom where it is and don't think you would gain anything from moving it to the back of the house or switching it with the snug.

I love the flow both downstairs and upstairs. I love that all rooms and hallways actually have a decent (realistic) amount of storage and the bathrooms are well thought out, getting a shower room in the ensuites because that's the space available and then a family "bath" room.

As a few people have said, although I know it wasn't your original concern, I think that the left bottom, entry area (utility room, mud room and WC can't be better planned including a more grand porch - to match the feel and space available in the home in general.

I would look at a few things - you could have a utility room accessed from the kitchen side (maybe a hidden door like this) if that's something you need.

Solihul Full Renovation · More Info

The space left could then be a WC and mud room-type storage space.

I also prefer as someone said above, that the WC be accessed from within the room itself rather than the hallway.

Maybe this is something your architect or interior designer can look at in a little more detail if the rest is correct :)

I hope it helps and wish you the best of luck.

Gina
vaivadr
Original Author
last year
Thank you for your comments, much appreciated.
We also think that the hallway might be a little too narrow. Utility room is very important for us, thinking how could we use the corner to have big enough utility plus guest toilet. Maybe we should make the guest too a little smaller?
The side window in the kitchen opens a beautiful view to the fields (no houses) and summer sunsets. Any other idea if a kitchen 5m length can still have decent size island?
PRO
Create Perfect
last year
At 5m the island would be 1800mm - that is this size, for reference.

Do you mean maybe you should make the guest bedroom a little smaller?
vaivadr
Original Author
last year
It will only be for occasional guests, by making it smaller, we could get more space in the dining/living area. Just to push the middle wall a little and keep it en-suite.
I am not very keen to have guest WC in the utility as the utility never looks presentable 😅 Plus we have to fit boiler there, washing machine, drier, maybe extra fridge, ironing etc.
vaivadr
Original Author
last year
By making the entrance a little wider, we would have smaller utility, but where to put the guest WC?
PRO
Create Perfect
last year
And how often is the snug used?

You could do two bathrooms back to back - one accessed from the hallway and one from the bedroom and move the access to the bedroom into the snug??

I would usually obviously look at it in much more depth :) and after a detailed briefing which tells us a lot about what is needed from the space :)

I do prefer the larger kitchen dining back area - with the larger hallway - and reducing the less used bedroom and making the snug more of a snug ...than a separate living room.
Bambi T
last year
Can the boiler or washing machine go in a kitchen cupboard instead if you need room for a WC? Trying to think of things you can trasfer to the kitchen.... or can you push the ktichen wall back a bit to create more utility space? Or maybe create some WC space in the guest room somehow? Just some ideas!
vaivadr
Original Author
last year
Snug will be used to get away from noise in the kitchen, mainly a TV room. I have always dreamed of a larger kitchen where we spend a lot of time everyday. We do a lot of washing/drying/ironing so utility/mud room is essential. I had suggestions to make the guest room bathroom as jack and Jill one, but haven’t figured out where the door could be.
Milly Moo
last year
This is why this site is so useful- what great feedback/advice- if I ever get to a full reno this is exactly the fab input that makes a difference
vaivadr
Original Author
last year
Yes, I agree @Milly Moo, people are so great at giving useful advice here. Last time we renovated one house we actually used the layout that someone suggested here on Houzz comments and it was perfect!
Jonathan
last year
If the goal is to have a larger utility why not get rid of the cloakroom and make the guest Ensuite accessible? Also I think the guest room could still read as an impressive room at 4m X 3m so the Ensuite and storage could be made better
Jonathan
last year
If you are dreaming of a big kitchen I would get rid of one of the windows to allow more wall space for tall cabinets.

And if your utility room needs to serve several functions why not move some of the functions elsewhere?….. for instance having enough fridge space in the kitchen so you don’t need an overflow fridge in the utility. Or an upstairs ironing space near the bedrooms?
Jonathan
last year
With room names
Jonathan
last year
Ps- is it very costly to build the upstairs over the middle of the rooms below (yellow line). If so would it be more cost effective to build some of the upstairs over the outside wall (red line)
Jonathan
last year
With pics
vaivadr
Original Author
last year
A great idea not to have a separate guest restroom and have only one near the guest room 👍🏻 This will allow us to have good size utility area and even push the wall a little to make the entrance wider. Thank you so much for the ideas, definitely implementing!

House plans - final decision?

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