Potential floor plan changes (basic floor plans included!)

[ElRopo]

I've moved into a new house and have dreams of changing the floor plan to make the space more usable. As much as I'd love to whack a wraparound kitchen extension on the new place, we just don't have that sort of money available so I'm toying with how we might make changes without spending vast sums of money.

The current layout is comprised of a long, narrowish living room/dining room which leads into a conservatory (which is about 15 years old). The current kitchen is a very small galley.

I was toying with the idea of knocking through the kitchen into the dining area (yellow line) and putting up a partition wall (red line) to make a bigger kitchen/smaller living area. I don't think we can afford to knock the conservatory down to replace with a proper extension (but could maybe plan for this in the future) but could afford just now to have a lightweight tiled roof added to make it more usable and more energy efficient. I assume the external patio doors would need to remain between this room and the conservatory. I'm not sure what kitchen layout would be best if I did this as there would be lots of doors in the new room (door into kitchen, patio doors to garden, patio doors to conservatory).

Would anyone even remotely knowledgeable like to comment on these plans? Would knocking the kitchen through to the dining area give a a much better sized kitchen attached to a (with the addition of a tiled roof) more usable conservatory space? Would the living room be too small?

Any comments very much appreciated! I just want to get a feel for what might be beneficial (or not) before I approach anyone about making changes.

[dejectedharry]

Get rid of the doors leading out the kitchen and replace with a window. Then you can run units under the window. You've already got your door to outside through the conservatory so seems silly to have two.

Someone I know has just changed the layout of their house to what you're suggesting and it's looks amazing now.

[dejectedharry]

I'd maybe move the red line back and make the living room a rectangle and then install some tall floor to ceiling length cupboards in the space between where the red lines would be. If that makes sense.

[lalalonglegs]

The kitchen and the dining room would still be relatively small and I'm not convinced that conservatories really add anything to a space. I'd be looking at doing something with the garage, possibly extending it to the back of the house and using that area for a kitchen diner with the original kitchen used as a utility area. This of course depends on the garage being reasonably robustly built and you not being the 1% of the population that actually wants to use the garage to keep a car in.

[PragmaticWench]

Similar idea to a previous poster, I'd move the red line back to make the sitting room slightly smaller and have a walk-in larder in that space between the sitting room and dining room.

[PragmaticWench]

Excuse the awful picture but what about keeping half the garage for storage, half as a new utility (Orange area), and a small extension to create a new kitchen/diner (purple area) across the whole back of the house?

[Toothfairee]

Brilliant suggestions. I especially like the last one

[ElRopo]

What excellent suggestions!

I do really like the final idea using a bit of the garage. However, the back garage wall which would need to be moved back is, unfortunately, supporting a staircase directly above it so I fear that may become a massive job....

It’s certainly food for throught though and I’ll think carefully about what we can and can’t do (and maybe speak to an architectural technician...)

Hmm.

[StatisticallyChallenged]

I agree with moving the red line back to be in line with the bottom of the cupboard. I'd then create an L shaped kitchen against the red wall and the left hand wall of what is currently the dining room - as pp says you could have some tall units against the red wall and they wouldn't protrude in to your room so would make the space feel bigger. You'd then have plenty of space for a dining table in what is currently the kitchen in front of the patio doors.

As your dining area would now be on the right hand side (so you wouldn't need to worry about door positions) you could also install a door between the dining bit and the garage and use the back of the garage as a utility area which would make the kitchen more spacious if you didn't have to squeeze in washing machine/dryer etc.

I'd check your measurements btw - the garage is supposedly 15'5 whilst the livingroom is 15'9, yet the diagram shows the garage as quite a bit longer. Might just be a floorplan drawing error.

[ElRopo]

Statistically - I hadn't thought about that option! Another one to ponder. And yes, the measurements are a wee bit out - they are the home report drawings so not entirely accurate!

Taking on board the above suggestions I have it in my head to do something like the attached. Excuse the drawing - I have obviously missed my calling in life to be an architect

One slight fly in the ointment with this plan is that the wall that would need to be moved back (currently the back of the garage) seems to be the supporting wall for a staircase above it (see upper floor plan). But I suppose something (RSJ?) could be done to support that....

(oh for a small lottery win...!)

[ElRopo]

I should say that DH 'needs' his garage space and I need him to stay out from under my feet have space to work on whatever projects he wants to embark upon!

[dejectedharry]

You could also do it this way and not move the garage wall. The bit behind the garage could be used as a little seating area or play room.

Don't know if you have room for an island but that's what my black box is. And then table in the middle of both of these areas. I'd really recommend utilising that space between the current living room and dining room as storage space. It did wonders for the space in our kitchen stealing the alcove from our hallway and adopting it into the kitchen. The kitchen feels huge now.

If you're not wanting to spend too much currently messing around with stairs can be costly. So that's my only reasoning on not moving the garage wall. If it's not an issue go for it.

Also how do you access your back garden? we have no access down the side of our house only through the garage or through the house. If that's the case for you then think carefully before removing your door out the back of your garage. Our neighbours extended and blocked up the back door of their garage, and now they have to carry there lawnmower through the house to do the back garden, along with other stuff but the lawnmower is what she moans about the most .

[ElRopo]

Oooh, another good suggestion! I have visions of carrying a lawnmower through the house! What I have just realised is that our garage is lower than the rest of the house. So if we extended into the wee box area at the back of the garage, the floor of the 'new bit' would need to be raised. Any door from the new bit into the kitchen would need to feature steps down into the garage if that makes sense.

However, for some reason (that he can't articulate DH won't have a door from the garage into the house! So if we extend into the wee box area then we'll need to put a door into the garage from the side iyswim? Luckily we have access from the front of the house to the back on that side.

If we went without the door into the garage on your plan dejected then we could use that right hand area as a wee snug. It might be too snug though....

Loving the suggestions though!

Another question - would I need an architect (££) or be able to go directly to an architectural technician (£) for plans?

[FartlekFucker]

Architectural technician will probably do for you unless you want something very design led. We just got an extension designed by an AT and it's excellent.