Interior designer or someone else to make sense of tricky flat?

[ScribblingPixie]

Our one-bed garden flat in London started life as storage rooms & garage so has oddly shaped rooms, cupboards and spaces with supporting bits of wall sticking out. It just doesn't work like other people's flats do and whatever we do (after years of trying!) it still looks like we're squatting in makeshift spaces. We just don't have the 'vision'. Who would sort this out for us? No walls would be coming down so I'm assuming not an architect? I'm thinking that if I combine the kitchen/living room to make it a two-bed it would increase the value by about £30,000 or maybe £40,000 so that's the max I want to spend. No idea what this sort of thing costs mind you! Can anyone advise on what profession to approach & what the cost might be? Any input welcome as feeling clueless & a bit down about it.

Floor plan please!

There are a couple of online services now giving you time with an interior designer to plan your space - I've not used them, but The Expert looks good, some of my favourite interior designers are on there and for about £300 you could have a really excellent designer start you off on your plan.

Really? That sounds good. I'm measuring now & will put up a floor plan.

Hope this plan has uploaded. The garden is north-facing so the whole back is dark and we tend to cling to the windows. We never use the table and chairs in the living room or the desk.

It's a mid-century building so very plain, no features. Where the bits of supporting walls are there are also beam shapes lower than the rest of the ceiling so there's no coherent rooms. But our big doors onto the patio are nice & we've got a big display bed behind it so that's all good.

I’d move your kitchen to the main sitting area and turn that area into your main living space.

Turn the kitchen into a bedroom (knock out half the cupboards or access them from inside the flat) and put an ensuite against the wall that overlooks yard.

We had brilliant service from https://www.oneplan-design.co.uk aka Karen One Plan on Hourz and Pinterest

I just couldn't work out what to do about how all the bits of our ground floor ought to join up. Karen came up with several ideas of which one was standout perfect. Very different to how I had imagined it all happening - which was why I got stuck in the first place.

I’d do what Pegasus suggests, probably without the en suite bit though.

But your existing bedroom could also just about make two rooms if you needed it to, which would leave your existing kitchen as ‘snug’ or tv room and nice big kitchen/living area at the back.

Suggestion below - creating new partitions to create a 2nd bedroom and moving kitchen into living space. No knocking down of walls anywhere. Creating cupboards / clever hidden working from home space to hide the structural nibs.

Oh wow, thank you. All different opinions. We are walking around talking all of these through at the moment.

I wouldn’t do a kitchen island in the lounge as there wouldn’t be anywhere to eat dinner/host guests etc. Unless you have a massive space they just take up too much room. Having a proper dining table gives you more flexible options and you can use as a desk, fold away etc.

Definitely no island.

I’m an island fan - I have a huge one and love it but don’t have one over a dining table. A table is so much more flexible I a smaller space.

Oh I came onto suggest Karen at OnePlan too.

Thanks to both of you who've suggested Karen. Everyone's ideas are rolling around in my head. I would like something like an island, something that draws you to it and can be used in various ways. I'm scouring Pinterest.
I'm pleased you've all said to move the kitchen - I've been prevaricating over that for several years but will go ahead now. Also very pleased with the idea of specialist lighting & making a little work area in the corridor. It's making a big difference looking at an actual plan and hearing other women's takes on it - thanks so much.

interesting plans.

if you need more work-from-home space, it looks like the area at the end of the original bedroom, close to the patio, is underused. you could put one chest of drawers across the room as a room divider, and then put a nice desk near the window to make better use of the space.

Do Kirstie and Phil's 'Love It or Leave It'.

Oh my god, I wish I could, that would be perfect, I'd love to be bossed about by someone with great taste and told what will work best. But I'm a total shrinking violet, I could never go on TV.

That's a really interesting idea, Parietel. Yes, it's totally underused. I actually work from the sofa which is an awful habit but I like to be near the window. I'll think about that.

You need building regs approval to move a kitchen. It’s quite an expensive option due to electrics having to be uprated and plumbing altered. Your 2 beds will be very small.

I'm team Move Kitchen. Moving kitchens is a pain but since it's going from one side of the bathroom to the other you should be OK with water and drainage. I'd also consider some kind of screen or partition across the long back bedroom to make an office or snug by the window.

I'll check with an estate agent but I'm hoping/thinking that turning it into a two-bed would mean the value would increase to cover the cost of moving the kitchen. The kitchen is just a 20 year old Magnet one which is really looking the worse for wear & the boiler's quite old too. That's what's making me think it's really time to get the flat really sorted. I need to spend money on a new kitchen whatever.

We do have some water running through the living room to a garden tap so I guess some of the work is already done.

I'd definitely swap kitchen over too. No, the 2nd bedroom wouldn't be huge, but it will serve it's purpose as either a child's bedroom/spare room or office space, which is obviously massively in favour currently.

If you want a kitchen island but more flexible then why not do what we did and get a butchers block on wheels. Bought it off a couple on etsy for a few hundred, customised to our specifications and colours. Has wheels locks and everything. its great, we wheel it around depending on need so if we need the space to e.g. bath the babies we move it to one side. It also means we can take it with us when we move.

if you did do charlies plan you could steel a bit of the corridor end of the master bed to make an eating nook extending the lounge/kitchen into a proper lounge/kitchen/dining room without the need to use the island for eating.

I wonder if you need a lighting designer as part of your plans. Your main issue is long rooms without enough light to move all the way through them. Whether you move the kitchen or not I think a lighting design could transform the feel and usability of the spaces you have.