can I ask for your opinion on our extension ideas?

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

We are trying to create some storage and a kitchen diner in quite a small house with a very awkwardly shaped garden! A couple of builders who have come to have a look have all suggested a floor plan similar to this....

But it's difficult to envisage and I'm not sure the space is the big kitchen diner I was coveting!

Any advice or suggestions?

Once we've decided what we want we're going to get architects drawings.

[incywinci]

Keep dining room as it is and change it to living room.

Make the living room in second plan into playroom but open it up so you can see in whilst you are cooking

[incywinci]

Is there a possibility of moving the stair case?

[TheCrumpettyTree]

Can I just totally recommend getting an outside wall socket when you have your extension built. Makes mowing the lawn so easy.

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

We were trying to get a ballpark price from a drawing to see if it was feasible before paying architect fees....

From that drawing we've had two people come and give rough quotes which are fine, so now we're happy to go ahead... I was just worried someone would tell is it was tens of thousands of pounds more than we thought and we would have wasted the 2k or so on the initial stuff.

[Cel982]

Lots of good ideas here, but also: if you're planning to get an architect involved anyway, why aren't you consulting them at this stage? A good architect will have lots of ideas about how to make the best use of small/awkward spaces, much more than a builder is likely to. You don't have to have a definite plan before consulting them.

[littlemissneela]

I would not have the playroom off the kitchen. I would have the whole back as my kitchen diner. In the area where you have double doors off to the right, I would have a single door and make that area a utility room with loo and shower if you have room/funds. It also means you have air flow in the loo, whereas under the stairs you don't (I have a thing about toilets and bathrooms not having fresh air).
I would then have the playroom at the front, next to the living room, either accessed through where you would have had your loo, or off the living room.
You can still have your garage storage bit as it is

[TheCrumpettyTree]

Don't have a separate play room, at that age you'll want to see what the DC are up to without having to always sit in their with them. Have a big family space which includes the kitchen.

[puffylovett]

Ahh that makes sense then!

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

You would see the garden from the kitchen, the majority of our garden is at the side...

[CodyKing]

That's a long walk round with shopping - also too far from the living room - you could end up being tucked out of the way

Rather see the garden from the kitchen -

[NapQueen]

Put the loo inside the utility - so bring the utility/kitchen wall another foot or two into the kitchen. Door into that. Small w.c inside that with a door. Remainder of space for white goods.

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

You could put a door in the utility to make the toilet a separate room. Like a kind of ensuite utility.

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

Can the loo be in the utility room if it's off the kitchen? This might be entirely wrong but my mum said something about needing two doors between toilet and kitchen?

[NapQueen]

Can you put the playroom part in the bottom right before the utility? Could put a loo in there too for the kids. Then all across the back and a little down on the right side is the kitchen diner.

[whois]

You wouldnt have to bring it through the house just leave it out there.
But then you would need two, one for each section. Sounds good tho!

[united4ever]

About the lawnmower. Bit pricey but what about a robotic lawn mower? Went to sweden last month and they are so popular there and the gardens looked great. Great thing is they blitz the grass cuttings to tiny mulch and dispose it evenly on your garden to feed the grass. You just leave them out in the garden. Think they are solar powered. Cheapest i saw was 500 in the sale. You wouldnt have to bring it through the house just leave it out there.

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

I agree that the kitchen diner across the back of the house with the playroom round the corner is a better solution than having the kitchen round the corner. You could even save money by leaving the kitchen in the middle as presumably there'd be less need to move plumbing etc.

[puffylovett]

I would just do what Attia said, and swap the kitchen and playroom. Then your kitchen diner would be across the back of the house. Ok so I know you would have to walk through he playroom to get to the utility room, but surely that's only an issue if you want the dishwasher in there

[sparechange]

Why not put the loo in the utility room and then regain the WC space for the kitchen?

[Artistic]

You can do artificial grass with/without shock pads in the kids garden (if you make it separate) & won't have to do any lawn mowing there. Does that help?

[Aftershock15]

Could you make the adult garden all terrace with just raised beds / pots in. I suppose it depends how big it is, and when it gets the sun etc, but a nice peaceful area to chill out of an evening or eat family meals would be lovely. While your children are so small I guess you still want to be out watching them while they play, but believe me, they don't have to get much bigger before you crave somewhere quiet to sit away from the water pistols / football / nerf guns and general mayhem!

[DollyBarton]

Gosh I'd remove the wall between kitchen and dining room. Then add a utility, playroom and garage in that order along the side.

[OliviaBenson]

Garage space is just weird. Would you get permission to extend out over the building line at the front?

I'm not sure about the shape of the kitchen diner- I can't envisage how it would be laid out.

Have you had an architect around to look at it? You'll probably need lots of rsj's and possibly pillars to support the upper floors.

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

The kids are young, 2 & 5...

The garage storage is because we have to have a garage front as its a halls adjoining house... But literally just big enough for the bins?

[AppleAndBlackberry]

I don't think I like the shape of the kitchen diner. It might be better if the top right wall was at an angle parallel to the garden boundary, or maybe turn the current kitchen and dining room into a kitchen diner and use the side extension for playroom, wc, utility space.