Extension/refurbishment woes - please hold my hand!

[Artyjools]

Hi all. We couldn't find what we wanted when we were buying, so we bought a wannabe house in a fabulous road. We now have to extend and mess about with its internal features - turning the staircase round, knocking walls down and generally having fun....

Getting planning permission was easy, but we are now having second thoughts about some issues and would be grateful for some opinions.

Firstly, we are going to end up with a large kitchen/family room - about 15ft 6ins x 22ft. The kitchen bit will take up one half of the long length and it will have a door to the side. On the other short side of the room, there will be double doors to another room which has a door onto the patio, and on the internal long length there will be double doors into the lounge, a door into the hallway and a door into the utility room. Our plans show patio doors from the family part of the room onto the patio, but we are thinking of leaving the current very deep window in place instead. The back of the house is north facing and the patio at the back is very narrow. We have our garden table and chairs on a patio to one side of the garden, which is easily reached from the kitchen's side door. Also, there is a radiator under the window and, due to doors and kitchen units, there are so few places to put radiators in the room. We don't think we would use the patio doors very often. Would not having them be a deal breaker for you?

Secondly, our plans show that a wall would be moved to increase the width of our hallway and reduce the size of our utility room / storage space. As the utility room is the laundry room, I spend a good deal of time in it and my gut feeling is to have the utility space rather than the hall space. This would be cheaper for us too.

I can feel my anxiety levels growing!! Does anyone have any thoughts please?

[frazzledrocks]

Didn't want to leave you unanswered but your post is a bit ramble and I can't really make out the first part of your question. You are asking about having patio doors versus not having them from the family room?

The second part of your question is clearer - I'd definitely have the utility space.

[icapturethecastle]

Am I right in thinking the patio doors are in a room adjacent to the kitchen/family room (not sure if understanding) - if that is the case I think you could do without them. If the patio doors are in the kitchen/family room they might be a good idea, we have and they are great to leave open in summer espeically when the dc are running in and out.

I would second utility space.

[Heswall]

Yes to utility space I cannot tell you how much i miss being able to shut the door on all the laundry and tell DC if you want a pair of knickers go and look in there shelf two. In this house they could be anywhere !

[CointreauVersial]

Underfloor heating will dispense with the radiator issue. I would say the patio doors would be nice to have and will add light to the room.

[Artyjools]

Hi all. Sorry for the rambling post & thank you for your responses.

The patio doors would be in the kitchen/family room. It seems most people would like the patio doors - in fact, everyone I have spoken to. I would prefer them too. I'm just worried about the lack of wall space.

Cointreau, we have ruled out underfloor heating as it would mean digging up the entire floor, which is concrete. In any event, it isn't just lack of a wall for a radiator, its lack of a wall to put anything up against. One possibility is to make the double doors smaller.

I think the larger utility room is a no brainer. Heswall, it really doesn't matter how big it is, I shall still find knickers & socks all over the house; the dog has a thing about them!!

[Artyjools]

I am having a bit of a meltdown about it all at the moment. I'm sure I shall be fine once decisions have been made.

[kilmuir]

I am with you, trying to prioritise refurbishing our house. Many children and dogs so proving difficult. YES to a large utility

[myron]

U-shaped kitchen and plinth heaters?

[myron]

.

[frazzledrocks]

We did exactly this last year so I know how you are feeling.

It's worth it in the end.

We ditched underfloor heating for the same reason and had amtico instead. It's lovely!

[careergirl]

I would expect the patio doors to be honest in a kitchen/dining/family room and would prefer that to a deep window.
I would also be happier with a good utility space - if the compromise to that was having a smaller hallway I could settle for that.
Don't worry you will get there!

[CointreauVersial]

Why do you need to dig up the floor for underfloor heating? The electrical variety just lays on the top of concrete, then you tile on the top. We have it in our bathroom; it's lovely.

[Artyjools]

Myron, I have never seen plinth heaters in real life, but that is something we'll have to look into. Cointreau, this will be a large space and electic underfloor heating is hellishly expensive to run, especially when it's sitting on a concrete floor.

DH seems to be digging his heels in about not having patio doors. To be fair, we are going to have to make some cutbacks to our original plans, but I'm not sure this is the right place to be cutting back........ As careergirl says, they will be expected (although we shall be here for the next 20 years so why worry!)

Frazzle - I'm glad you survived. I feel very frazzled at the moment and we haven't even started!