Hi,
I’ve seen some helpful comments here and I’m hoping to get some feedback on 2 proposed floorplans. We’re remodelling our bungalow and we’re happy with the plans for upstairs but still undecided for the ground floor.
We have a beautiful north facing garden and so we’re maximising glazing at the back for garden views and light. The current lounge/diner is a lovely double aspect space with good light levels and so we felt the best approach was to knock down one wall to create an L shaped kitchen diner. We need an office and would like a separate play room. We also want a room on the ground floor which we can use for guests as required- but we’d probably use it mainly as a second reception room (tv room/snug) with sofa bed. The utility room has to stay where it is- it’s too expensive to knock down and rebuild and we can’t really repurpose the space as it’s in a converted storage room with low ceilings (it’s perfectly fine for a utility). We’re getting rid of an old plastic conservatory and won’t be extending the ground floor at all- we shouldn’t need to hopefully.
The first plan we liked has a playroom in between the kitchen and utility- a minor compromise we thought and would work well for our young family now. I wonder if we end up regretting this later when the kids are older and want their own hang out space… having to walk through this room every time we need to do laundry, empty bins, etc. When we need to sell the house (hopefully not for a long while but you never know) would this put off any buyers?
We worked up an alternative plan which moves the kitchen diner into the corner, next to the utility. We can put a door straight to the side alley for access to bins, etc and this means we can remove one of the utility doors which gives the utility way more storage space. We also get a hallway cupboard with this plan which we’ll find very useful. I think we’d need to partition off the existing lounge with glazed doors to let light through on this plan. We would put the play room area next to the open plan kitchen diner so it’s one big family room. I wonder if we should leave the existing wall here so we can close off the play room to make it more cosy and separate when required. I’m not sure though… I like the 6m sliding doors the architect suggested- gives it a wow factor- would be a shame to put a wall in the way…
Which would you prefer? Any other ideas we may not have considered? We want to keep the tandem garage as it is- we find it very useful.
I’ve added photos of the 2 proposed floorplans and existing plan (sorry for the tippex and camera shots, I only have printouts). Some of the doors need updating- e.g we don’t want a pocket door on the office but probably will put one on the kitchen door near the WC.