Home Extension Thread 2019

[4yearsnosleep]

Time to start another extension thread. 2019 for lots of newcomers and hopefully lots of finishers too!

We're Day 5 of builders on site and have a roof framed. V excited about the big velux

We're at the slightly more fun part of our extension which involves picking flooring, lights etc. Does anyone have any recommendations for where to get lights from? We have a large open plan downstairs now, so we need two living room lights, a light above the dining table, and 3 lights for the kitchen island. Ideally I'd like them to all be the same range / design, but for the living room ones to be different. Does that make sense at all? I've looked on Dunelm and B&Q, but what I want is a website that organises by range / design.

Also really ready for all the dust to be gone in the house. All I've done is cough.

TheFatberg depends on the style but I like the look (and price!) of some of the ones at iconic

www.iconiclights.co.uk/

I also really like the ones at Jim Lawrence but they are probably out of budget.

Wow everyone seems to be progressing quickly now, looking forward to seeing lots of new pictures of building works and kitchens.

We ended up buying lights from John Lewis and Laura Ashley. But I was also looking at Next who seem to be the only company I could find who had different style lights in the same range - so you could get wall mounted, flush and pendant that all look the same. We ended up get different lights but all in brushed chrome.

Wayfair also have a very very extensive range.

Also seen lots of nice ones on wayfair. I quite like these for above the island

Congrats wheredoes! Wish our planning dept would get a move on!

Lots of exciting things happening now. That mini induction is pretty good value!

Made have lots of lovely lights but not all of them are adjustable. I think we'll skip the big dining table one and have 3 small pendants at bfast bar. Just can't choose!

@worrisomeheart iconic lights is v good value! Thanks for link.

I'm going to have a look at Iconic lights but in the meantime I like this simple pendant from Next. Three over island, one low over table - chosen because of the clever suggestion a page or two back to get a table light on a chain so that it can be hooked up higher if the table is moved for parties.

@WhereDoesThisToiletGo Ha ha, that was me - and we did exactly that this weekend for son's birthday - not a single bumped head!!

Oh that’s a lovely one wheredoes! We were considering these for a while but my goodness that price.

www.johnlewis.com/belid-felix-rise-and-fall-ceiling-light-satin-nickel/p231748259?tmad=c&tmcampid=7&s_share=jlappios_Y29tLmFwcGxlLlVJS2l0LmFjdGl2aXR5Lk1lc3NhZ2U=

I do like the idea of the rise and fall light though so might look for a cheaper option.

Yeah, I saw some nice ones in John Lewis but when you want 3 over the island, £295 each is a bit much

Congrats wheredoes! Wish our planning dept would get a move on!
Mine states "a decision within 8 weeks or less"
It was exactly 8 weeks, not a day earlier

LOL! Target met I guess. Mine had a target date which was last week. Not a peep. No idea why they bothered with that date now.

wheredoes exactly. I couldn’t justify the price for a feature I wasn’t sure I would actually use (the up and down bit).

Had the windows man around today and the flooring guy is coming on Tues to quote. I feel like we’ve gone hyper speed all of a sudden.

I have found a web site called homelightsdirect.co.uk that seems reasonable. I think I might have found our lights but so restrictive when like others have said you need 3 the total gets a bit scary.

homelightsdirect.co.uk/collections/indoor-pendant-lighting/products/maz1001led-mazzola-led-copper-geometric-vintage-metal-pendant-light?variant=22723448799313

You can get some very nice triple pendants but they really only work if your island is quite compact.

Kitchen designer and I had a fun discussion on island size.
Much as I liked his first draft, his island the size of Greenland left no room for a dining table.
We shrank it down to Newfoundland but finally settled on Madagascar

:D @WhereDoesThisToiletGo! I found graph paper to be very useful when thinking about clearance. DIYKitchens are so right to send out a pack with some in each sample door!

That's the problem I've been finding with the triple pendants. They would look too centred on the bbar. I want 3 evenly spaced. Hoping when I go to kitchen designer on wed he will have some advice on sizes and spacing.

When we added an island to our existing kitchen 12 years ago, I upended 4 crisp boxes over the kitchen chairs and moved them about to replicate potential island size to check we were OK about walking round it.
On paper, ours is a tad too large but we've never found it so in real life.

Thanks everyone, I'll be looking at those links and the places people suggested tonight.

We have our bifolds in now but after a bit of a mishap, we have no water tonight. Builder has promised it will be sorted tomorrow.

Are the bifolds as good as you imagined @TheFatberg? Hopefully water sorted asap.

soakedat3 yes they're brilliant. Shame out garden is a tip currently, but hopefully not for much longer.

Oooo, I've got the tweaked plans and CAD render images for kitchen.
I'm afraid that our kitchen is such a weird shape that it is rather distinctive so im not going to post them here, but I'm pretty happy with them.
I'm dithering about the two 150 base pull outs on either side of the hob.
Are they useful /essential /waste of space? If you've got one, what do keep in them?

We had the 150 base pull outs beside hob in previous kitchen and are putting them in again. They held all our cooking spices on one side and oils and sauces on the other. V v useful!

Thanks @soakedat3. All the pictures show oils sauces and spices in them. I use a lot of different ones so they wouldn't all fit but oilve oil, lea & perrins, or soy sauce covers half my recipes!
They aren't quite close enough to sink for tea towels etc but I think i might put a holder for those under the sink.
The fact that you want them in new kitchen is a good endorsement.

There's a surprising amount of space left in the cupboard concealing the extractor so salt and pepper will live up there.

The best thing about the CAD images was the view from kitchen looking into new extension with the existing walls removed.
Made me see what a difference it will make

The 150 pull outs hold a surprisingly large amount. We also use a lot of different oils and lots of sauces too as dh is addicted to buying every bottle that mentions the words hot and chilies . The pull out makes them all easy to reach and see what's there. Currently our oils live on worktop and look messy. Our sauces live in a cupboard and expire as I can't see the back bottles.

In our old house we put in an under oven drawer in the kick board. I highly recommend it if you would like space for tea towels. I used it for baking trays. So, so handy!

Are you going for swish drawers under the sink or normal cupboards wheredoes?

You'll need to pin the cad on the wall to get you through the dust and mess as a reminder of the goal.