Open plan living - where to start

[puzzledbubbles]

Moved in 2019 and have an area that is kitchen/dining/living.

The original footprint has been extended in the 60's and the original kitchen wall, window space and doorway to the living room remains in place.

We are thinking of taking this wall out to make a more square room and then will have a new kitchen installed.

We have a lot of options and a list of jobs that we think would need doing that makes your heart rate jump a few notches. A new flat roof, underfloor heating and potentially moving the stairs.

My main question is where do we start? I know we need to decide what we want as a first step - but how do we know what is possible and what building regs are etc etc?

Floor plan for anyone who has got this far 😂

Bedroom 1 is upstairs, it's a dormer bungalow just in case anyone wonders where it's gone :)

I would speak to an architect/ architectural technician, but you'll most likely need to engage a structural engineer as well. My understanding is almost all walls are removable, but in some cases you need to add steels.

We are taking a wall out of an existing extension and switching from a sloped roof to a flat roof, and we are using an architect and structural engineer.

Thanks @mobear, how did you find the architect and surveyor?

Is it just a google search and reviews etc?

Can you move the stairs to here? So they're in a better place downstairs?

We had a few recommended to us and met with two before deciding, but it was a bigger reno and we weren’t sure what we wanted to do. If you’re fairly certain what you want to do and only need it drawn up it may matter less who you use.

How about this? Keep the kitchen where it is so you don't have to move services. Move the stairs so they're not in the middle of the space. You could have the dining and living areas split vertically or move it around so the dining table is by the stairs and living space at the back of the house.

Do you need all three bedrooms? Totally open plan means you can never get away from noise, people and smells! If possible move the stairs and open up the back but use a bedroom as a little snug type area? Or at least have a sofa bed and make it a flexible space if it’s needed as a guest room?

Thanks all,

@PragmaticWench that is one of DH ideas to open the space and make it more square than rectangles

@FoofOfTheWalkingDead your floor plan is the one which makes most sense to us, it's just knowing we can take out the wall and what's involved in that which is the unknown to us

@mobear thanks :) we thought ours was complicated so if you are saying it's simple yours must have been immense!

@SandlakeRd at the moment we use the guest room a lot - non covid times it's got someone or other sleeping every 3rd weekend on average. We are semi open plan at the minute as the kitchen is almost completely open on one side and has a "window" with no glazing to the lounge area - it's only us 2 and DD (9) who has the upstairs so at the moment plenty of escape space

This was the view on an old listing, the kitchen is still the same so not I desperate need of changing but we would like to improve things and make them more our style

If there needs to be a supporting pillar you could incorporate it into an island. It could actually help break up the space. You've got a cracking amount of space to work with, even if the stairs remain as they are!