I want a downstairs loo - need advice on remodelling our downstairs

[remodel]

So we have a Victorian terraced house - two bathrooms upstairs and nothing downstairs. We want a downstairs loo the only logical place for a cloakroom is under the stairs - but it's a tiny area - it already has a gas boiler in it which will need to be moved - there's a bathroom above so I don't think the waste issue is the problem.
I wanted to borrow space from the hall beside the stairs, that goes into the kitchen (we don't use this hall much as we access the kitchen through the living room (no changes are needed here). This will impact the hall but also the stairs - so the bannister will need to be redesigned.

So I know what I want but how and who to make it look pretty? It will take someone with a good design eye to consider what we need to make it look more like it has always been there.

Do we get an architect, an interior designer or a bathroom designer to help?
I know it's going to be expensive but saving money on the design won't get me what I want.

A floor plan would be helpful….

I am not able to advise but interested in the answer to this question Do we get an architect, an interior designer or a bathroom designer to help? as we are also hoping to fit in a cloakroom in a small space but do not know where to start with what is possible in the space.

Apologies for the scribbly plan - not sure it helps. I know my plan is doable - I just need someone to help make it look nice.

Sorry I'll try again

This is better - ground floo - the staircase is on the right hall side - not floating in the middle as pictured.

How wide is the hallway between the entrance to the living spaces and the kitchen door. Would it be an option to block that off and have a cloaks area (hooks and shelf to one side) leading to a WC. Would there be enough room for a wall hung slimline basin or perhaps one of those toilet/basin combos where the hand washing water drains into the cistern to be used for flushing.
But I think you'd need at least 7ft of hallway for this and it could leave your staircase feeling rather 'blocked in'.

We had a plumber who came round to quote and he said the space is big enough - but the staircase looking odd is my main concern - hence needing someone with good ideas to make it look pretty - or tell me it will work functionally but look awful.

Dimensions:
Hallway Width 75cm, into the under stairs 155cm
Hallway length 230cm

I wouldn't want my staircase blocked in like that.
If you were able to have even a couple of feet of bannisters before the blocking in began, that would be preferable.
How wide is the kitchen? Any chance of keeping the kitchen/hall doorway and building a small room behind that? if that's odd then maybe two small rooms, the one on the external wall to open into the kitchen and become a utility? makes the kitchen smaller but if your washer, dryer, dishwasher etc are out of the way, and all cleaners etc are in the utility, that might work.

By external I mean in the back corner abutting both back external and side external/party wall.

I shaved 1m off a large downstairs bathroom and had it open into the hall, with the door centrally placed along its 2.5m length. Washer stack to one side of the door, dishwasher to the other with cupboards above. Works really well.

I'd happily get rid of the dining room for a utility - but I think that would be a plumbing nightmare and the costs would be enormous. The size of the kitchen is the best thing about the house, so taking anything off it would be a big no. I mean you spend so little time on a staircase, compared to a kitchen so the trade off doesn't work. Maybe a glass wall? I'm edging towards an interior designer to try and figure this out.

Wrong pic. Rilliant.

<~ to myself!

@SlightlyJaded I reported your post - asking Mumsnet to delete it just incase it was outing.

That's for your idea but I wouldn't consider eating into the kitchen, it was the reason we bought the house.

Can youdo this and block off the other doors ...

So you have door for loo next to stairs

@Spectre8 the stairs are on the wall - that plan by the estate agents was wrong. I want the loo under the stairs/ and steal the hall but it needs careful design not to look like an ugly carbuncle - I just wondered which profession would help you remodel the inside of your home.

Hi OP, we did very similar in our 1930s house. Took down the wall between living and dining room and then stole the previous access hallway to make the WC.

AS PP has said, you want to leave as much of the bannister as you can - ideally a metre but even 75cm will help you preserve some slight 'openness' in the staircase.

We have 3 upright posts from the original bannisters and from that point on the rail is recessed into the wall, a bit like this: www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/713468765940010624/

There is only room for a compact loo and very tiny 6in deep, 12in wide wall basin. But it's a very nice little guest loo and I'm very happy with it.

We had a chartered surveyor friend draw up plans for the builders. I decorated it myself with advice on dimensions from the plumber who was going to install the room.

The only thing I would say is that we did have to dig a trench for waste, so before you worry about anything else, the number one question you need to answer for feasibility is - where is the sewage going? Get a builder/plumber or surveyor over ASAP to work that out with you.

That determines if it can be done or not, far more so than the width of the hallway.

Good luck!

@WoolyMammoth55 - we have a loo directly upstairs - so the waste will hopefully be the easy bit - a plumber has confirmed it's doable. That's for the stair case pics - done right we could using lighting a glass to make it feel less enclosed.

a radical plan, but if you can turn the bottom half of the stairs around to go into the living room (which would function as an inner hall), then you'd have space for a loo and possibly a stacked washer-dryer in the remaining bit of hall.

Do we get an architect, an interior designer or a bathroom designer to help?

There is an interior design app for PC that could help planning this probably, but an adivice from a qualified worker would be useful, too

Architect? I would say if you are moving walls. I used home tales who were really helpful - I did do an extension, but they gave me free advice in the beginning which helped me figure out what I need
www.hometales.co.uk