What room goes where?? Who can help me please?

[SpidersAreShitheads]

As we have now - finally!! - got planning permission, I need to seriously plan out the downstairs space.

We're having a full width extension across the back of the house which will go out by about 15ft (making it 15ft x 25ft wide). (Apologies to those who work in metres, I have no idea what the metric is!)

We had multiple issues with the architect (VERY long story) but basically I'm not sure they've got the layout right. I've had a go at re-doing it.

What I need:

A decent sized kitchen/diner
A lounge
A study that's big enough to be a little snug/small reception
A shower room
Hallway

There's a fireplace between the current living room and dining room so I don't really want to knock that wall down but any of the other walls can go if needed.

Ideally the snug/study would have doors that open onto the living room so we can semi-join the spaces.

I have come up with a layout that I quite like but I'm not sure it's practical. From the living room we would have to walk all the way round the dining room and kitchen to get back to the front door. There's no point putting two doors in the study to cut through from the living room to the front door (as DP will be working in there pretty much every day in the week 8am to 6pm so it will be out of bounds).

I know it's not everyone's ideal, but I like open plan. The utility kitchen part is where I'd plan on putting the noisy stuff like washing machine and dishwasher.

I've seen some brilliant ideas on here. What does this layout look like (aside from the fact it looks like a 5yr old's scribble)?

Just for info, the door you can see on the left-hand side of the current kitchen leads directly into DM's annexe.

Attached is the current layout, with the size of the annexe shown in blue, and my stunningly drawn plans showing my ideas for a layout. I'd really appreciate any comments at all.

The shower and utility don’t need a window. That’s such a waste of space. Use bigger areas and don’t close off little rooms. Be creative with open space and it will look bigger.

I might turn your current kitchen into a lovely entrance hall by changing the window for a door with glazing and create a small utility in your current hall. The wall between snug and living area could be all glazed, maybe crittal style.

Move everything!, use the facilities of the old kitchen to make a really good shower/utility & storage. Enjoy the garden from kitchen and main lounge. If you change the access and really design the study it can be a convenient corridor for the annex.

Sorry chilijam I took so long with my diagram you got there first!

I do think with all that amazing space, that it would be a shame to have to walk through a utility to get to the open plan part.

I wonder if there was a way to share the shower room and utility - be cheaper to plumb them together actually anyway. Then perhaps make the shower room into a wee hall with a door at the end to enter the lounge? Then you could leave utility where it is (with added shower area)?

Just an idea.

But how lovely to be getting all that space. I too love a huge open plan area. have fun planning it all out.

I think I would go more like this, with the study / snug at the front and walking straight into your lovely living area.

Could you find a building firm who have a design service or a very experienced solo builder to talk through some ideas? We had plans from an architectural technician which were lovely but we ended up changing a few things. When the builder we eventually used came round to have a look, he pointed out that if we amended our kitchen plans slightly we could save money by keeping the gas and electric meters where they were. The original plan had them moving to the other side of the room which costs thousands. He also pointed out that extending our utility by 1ft would reduce the size of the steel beam we needed as it could be a supporting wall. He basically took our plans and pointed out any little changes we could make without putting pressure on us. He'd been a builder for 40 years so knew tweaks that save money without compromising on the overall layout and where it was worth spending more money for a small adjustment.

@Chewbecca
Id go with something like that. The idea I had was to use the existing lounge for a corridor with the shower along one side and the office opening up on the fireplace side. Utilizing both sides of the fireplace for storage and a desk. I realise it might cost more than your design due to water and waste costs. You don’t have the shower but it could go in the utility. This all depends on how big you need an office to be! A snug is a bit profligate in this house with everything else that’s needed. A built in office is far more efficient use of space.

Haven't read the full thread but could you put a single door from the hall to the study to give you a cut through to the living room and direct access to the study?

Just realised you said you wouldn't mind your study/snug to be a dark room once door is shut. I think while I can see that would work well for you, it would make the house hard to sell. I would either move that room to the front of the house, as pp suggested, or use glazed doors/glazed partition wall. You could always add curtains for privacy, but a windowless room other than a toilet/utility would be claustrophobic for most potential buyers.

Your layout looks great. I have a very similar layout with a huge extension on rear of house, the only difference I have is that study has door at each end. However, we don't WFH so the fact that everyone cuts through it doesn't matter so much to us.

Look up solid oak sliding doors or Pocket Doors for your study room. Can then open up as part of main reception If you want. .

they used them a lot On Make your House perfect (bbc)
saves space

my version is similar to chewbacca but I've tried to connect the lounge and study too.

So you have -

• small WC at bottom right, accessed from a corridor Utility room (U) that also connects to the annex, the kitchen and the study. Door from utility to study could be locked & never used if you prefer, but having it there gives more flexibility in future.
• the shower should be in the Utility room (forgot to draw that).
• Kitchen (K) top left and dinning room D
• Lounge L with pocket doors (red lines on wall) to the study (S). These pocket doors give your primary access to the study, or this could be a regular door if the fireplace is in the way. It can be open to be social or closed for work.
• Hall is now closed off at the 'study' end which gives space for a great big coat cupboard (HC) because storage is always good.

I think that might meet all your requirements ...

This option looks good! You could alternatively have access to the study through the hall (if you get rid of the cloak cupboard).

alternatively, if you keep access to the study off the lounge, you change the proposed wc off the utility into a big store cupboard and put a guest wc at the end of the hall