Home Extensions 2017 - come along on the journey

[RedRobin1]

Hi just wondered if anyone has recently started or about to start a home extension. Haven’t seen a 2017 thread so starting one here.

Our two-storey extension is due to start on 1st March and we have just started packing boxes. The planning and research has been ongoing for 2-3 years. Had planning permission approved a few years back and completed all the research around what we would like in our new extended and how we would like to design it all - extending the kitchen / dining area downstairs to create an open plan living, dining and kitchen space and an extra bedroom upstairs.

Have two DCs under 4 and need help / advice / tips and general hand holding.

Is anyone else starting theirs soon?

So if you have strip lights, do you just change the LED strips? Do they just plug in like an ordinary lightbulb?

I think part of the problem is that I don't know what I want. And I am overthinking it and maybe dreaming of a solution that possibly doesn't even exist.

I do know that I want it to be totally sleek. I have spotlights plastered in elsewhere, and there is this horrible, slightly clunky rim to them that protrudes a couple of mm from the ceiling and I wonder if this will drive me mad?

The other thing is - and this may well be a really stupid question, so forgive me - that I don't know what difference it makes if you have a really high ceiling? Will light get a bit 'lost'?? I think I'll need to have plenty of lamps that are at a more human level, which begs the question what the function of the overhead light will be. If it's just a wash of warmth to add brightness should it be needed, I could put in a fake ceiling and then hide LED strips round the edges...

I'm basically just confused

How high are your ceilings?

Do you have a photo of what you'd ideally like?

TBH I have never had to change an led strip light and they've been up for years.

Take a look at the following lighting brands for inspiration:

Flos
Artemide
Astro
Original BTC

@whatashower
I think dh meant a strip of lighting. My laughing put him off discussing any further 😬 Especially as I said we could hang the Xmas lights up instead 😬

Re measurements - the builders have said they'll take into account the plasterboard etc but I don't trust them so will measure myself anyway. We only have one wall which this could be an issue - the rest is actually an island. (So we have one straight run of cabinets/worktop and an island). We are also having a utility room (which is currently our kitchen) so should be enough for space.

We are planning a quartz/recycled glass type Work top which will sort of be a leap of faith as few places actually have what we want on display.... I did like the idea of stainless steel but dh doesn't. Am wondering if we can put it in the utility instead

Wow a busy day on here!

DH spoke to Building Regs, who had already spoken to builder, who told him the crack in the bedroom had been there before he started & was nothing to do with the extension The lying fecker! 😡

DH said it most certainly was not! Building regs very unhappy re the brickwork & packing round the steel so he'll need to sort that out! Stud walls supposed to be going in today but surprise surprise they didn't! DH's money looking safe! I hope he doesn't give up though!

I love those spray painted steels, will show DH later, I've called s worktop meeting after seeing Whatashower's stainless steel ones!

Steels need to be painted with specialist fire retardant paint and certified for building regs. Simple process, the paint is supplied based on your steel type and area (you fill out form) and in our case the manufacturers Thermoguard provide certificate of supply. There is a fireproof undercoat and the top coat is supplied in your specified BS or RAL colour in either gloss or eggshell. We got ours from www.twistfix.co.uk who were very helpful and provided the request /specification form.
It is standard brush on, I should not have said spray paint (thats what we used on the interior frames to match the windows).

whatthefox - No, I don't! Part of the problem is that I feel like I know what I don't want, but not what I do! My ceilings in the house are standard height - 2.6m, but in the extension one room will be 1.5 height at 4m, with glazing that high at the end. The issue is that the standard height rooms are above this (the 4m room drops down) so if I put a pendant light of any kind in, it will interrupt the vista through the house, IYSWIM. So I know I need something sleek. I am using recessed spotlights elsewhere in the house, but somehow I don't feel right about using them in this space.

I am not sure I need anything massively bright - I will be making heavy use of focused task lighting (floor lamps, table lamps) to pool light where it's used, and avoid the house looking like the Blackpool illuminations.

Bricklaying starts here today! Actual bricks! Being put on top of each other . My builder has come up with a neat solution of using cheap bricks wherever they won't be seen and expensive lovely grey bricks where they will.

Oh and believe - I'm intrigued by your worktop! It sounds lovely.

Hmm. How about no lights guilty?

It's too high up for any light to be useful at ground level. Spots will just light the ceiling (and nightmare to change the bulbs) You don't want pendants in your sight line. Only a large skylight will give useful daylight. So, why put lights there at all? Plastered lights to wash some light onto the walls and leave ceiling alone perhaps?

whatthefox - Thanks for the advice about the spots. I feared that they might actually create very little but shadow at my height! I think you might be right about avoiding overhead lighting.

There will be some steps from the current floor level down to the new room, so I need to light these for safety reasons. I am wondering if there's a clever way of hiding some lights below the actual treads - I don't want to be able to see them when sitting in the room, though as I don't like the look of LED strings of bulbs when seen straight on. just want a wash of fairly soft light.

Apart from that, I need pools of ambient light. I could create these with lamps, though, and with concealed lighting in the built-in furniture, rather than using overheads.

There will be a long roof light in the ceiling for daylight. The really tall room is open to the kitchen (on a higher level) which will be well lit with recessed spots, so if I need more light for some reason, I can just leave the kitchen lights on.

Many ways to light stairs that would suit a contemporary home, including in tread lights, look here for ideas:

www.canal.eu.com/staircase-lighting-ideas-to-brighten-up-your-home/

It needs planning as early on as possible e.g. for in tread lights, this will need wiring in before the stairs go up. I have done this for a renovation project before. If you go for this remember to have switches both at top and bottom of stairs.

Sometimes I do hanker after a modern home, my own Georgian house has very traditional lighting!

whatthefox You are so knowledgeable about all this! I am so impressed!

Sometimes I really hanker after a Georgian home! Such a wonderful period for architecture - beautiful proportions. I spent a lot of time in my life studying the late C18/early C19, so it is close to my heart. It's a bit of a chestnut, I know, but I do think there's truth in the idea that classical and modernist architecture have more in common than Victorian and modernist architecture! I don't live in a modernist building, though (alas) - it's a bog standard late 20s semi. I'm trying to do a kind of hybrid rather than simply pretending that it's a 1950s Corbusier design!

That link is a super-helpful link, thank you! I will have a really good look at the options. It's only 3 steps down, and I'm hoping not to have handrails (if building regs will allow) so something like the rebated LED strips would be just right. I wanted to avoid seeing the lights, and this would absolutely achieve that!

I am lucky enough to have an electrician on board who is extremely good at communicating - he asks a whole ton of questions about what exactly I want, which I like. I will talk this through with him and hopefully we can set it up for first fix so it's easy to wire in later. (One of the reasons I'm stressing about lighting now, even though bricks have only started going down, is that I know I need to make the decisions so I'm ready for the next phase. I don't want to be running around like a headless chicken saying "Oh, just shove it in there" and hoping. I know I make choices I come to regret when I'm not organised and thoughtful about things.

I'm fucking done today. Done. Extensions and renovations can kiss my fat arse.

The end.

monkey [flowers}

Ah guilty you are a woman after my own heart! I too think classical and modern architecture have much in common. I've done a lot of renovations and my least favourite for sheer hassle factor is Victorian, the easiest is mid-century for the large rooms and windows very amenable to modernisation and I could buy for cheaper as most in the uk still can't see the potential

Your 20s home will look fantastic, especially with a double height room. Le corbusier style needs more space than we in the UK have really. I love my Georgian home but upkeep is very expensive. Every time anything needs done I have to write a cheque with at least five zeros Sigh.

I have had a lot of good ideas from hanging out on MN, so try to give back. I don't renovate any more, but I did enjoy it mostly and learned a lot.

My biggest tip is plan ahead. Any changes once you've started costs money. Your good electrician is worth his weight in gold! Don't forget to consider colour temperature of your lights: cool white or warm white looks very different and your paint colour will affect this too.

I have to go back to work now but will pop by later on. You'll find something perfect, I'm sure

@guilty100 we haven't decided definitely but the recycled glass is ticking the boxes. It's eco friendly and similar to quartz.

Oh Monkey, that's not good. Rant away if you need - we're all likely to feel/have felt like that during our projects

Monkey I am so sorry but your post made me laugh out loud. I swear it was in sympathy and in recognition of renovation rage though, absolutely not being mean. Sit down, have a big and (please do) expand your rant.

Monkey that doesn't sound good, do you need gin?

Got home today & plasterers van in drive- a day early!! Woop Woop I thought!

Of course I should have known better- they had popped in to see if we were ready for them to come tomorrow and of course we are not, or rather twatchops is not! 😡😡

Plasterboard isn't finished, they said it will be another couple of days so they'll ring twatchops & see when they can come back.....,,

Even with a £2k cash bonus on the table he can't deliver on time! Ha! Useless!

Whatashower Great minds

And I haven't posted any pictures for a while!

This is how we've been living for over a week!

This is my route from living room to 'kitchen' with a large dining room table which is normally in the section where the new kitchen is stored also bang in the middle of my sitting room! We can't swing a cat!

He doesn't give a flying fuck!

I'm just waiting until DH gets home, then I'm heading to the shop to buy fags and wine. I don't smoke but fuck it, I'm going to start a new hobby.

I'll offload to you all later if you don't mind a self indulgent rant littered with expletives.

Eek you both have my sympathies @monkeyfacegrace and @TeamRick! It can be so gut-wrenchingly disappointing when things deviate from plan!

At some point we'll all come through this unscathed, stronger and wiser for it. Thanks @Whatthefoxgoingon for the hand holding!!

I see some very technical conversations about lighting upthread. I know very little about it so am just going with the architect's recommendations. I do wonder whether we have the ceiling height for pendants - I always imagined I'd have a few above the island, but it may not be possible.