Help with new layout

[Diamondjoan]

Hi all, looking for some thoughts on layout - we will be renovating a small bungalow soon and trying to figure out what works. Initial thoughts were to knock wall between kitchen and living room to make a large open kitchen/dining room, but there is a fireplace on either side of the wall so probably not easy. Second idea is to knock bedroom 2, 3 and kitchen into one space. Bathroom is tiny so this would allow us an additional 7 or 8 feet of hall space to use as bathroom space. Bedroom 1 and living room would then be used as two bedrooms. The plan would be to add an extension at the rear in a few years so would need to keep that in mind. I’m just crap at visualising what looks good and likely to miss some basic and important things so looking for help to make sense of this! Thanks!

Hi all, thanks very much for all your feedback. To answer some questions;
The current size is about 1,100 sq ft. The plot is quite large, rear garden about 100 feet long so room to extend.
we can’t go up as the loft is not full heigh (it would < 6ft but we may do a cheap conversion to make it into an office and wardrobe space). And the neighbours’ extensions are all one story so I guess planning wouldn’t allow 2 stories.
it is detached and there is an entrance from the rear that we could make the main entrance.
The reason we are doing this now is that there are grants available to renovate old houses (this house is not in the UK so is a move for us) and to improve energy efficiency so approx. £75k can be claimed as a grant and we can put approx £50k to it ourselves so we are limited in what we can do now. We only beed 2 beds and would prefer to have larger living space rather than the 2 small bedrooms which will be idle most of the time. We can’t wait to renovate as it’s not currently comfortably liveable and by the time we can afford the extension works the grants will likely be gone.

The extension would be around 1,000 sq feet. Say 2 bedrooms (not that we need them but I think to sell in future it would need to be a “family home”) with bathrooms and additional living space. This is where my crap imagination/visualisation gets me! As people have said how would the extension fit in with the renovated kitchen/living room in the middle of the house. Would I be just wasting money and have to rip out the kitchen again when building the extension!!

I think you need a blank canvas. Just adding 100% on really doesn’t make sense unless you replan the whole interior. It would be wholly unbalanced.

I have a friend who is a well known architect (in the profession - not on tv). Her bungalow has two wings. So it is , in effect L shaped. After the entrance area, on the right is an office, and cloakroom and coat storage opposite.. Then there’s a door to the bedroom wing on the left.

Going into the living wing you have the kitchen, the dining area and the lounge. The lounge is double height. There’s a fireplace in the lounge. Lots of built in storage.

Id never ever do a half baked loft conversion. I think the L shape around a courtyard with opening bifolds is classy. So look at your layout and think L. Then plan two wings. One for living and one for sleeping.

This isn’t her bungalow but it’s similar. Where the planting is on the left of the front door, they have cloakroom, laundry and coat storage. Then the bedroom wing as shown. Living area is identical. The central section for closkroom etc is shifted left as I’ve described.

Here it is.

Thanks @TizerorFizz that looks lovely

I would knock through only the 2 back bedrooms to make a new master, and add an ensuite into that space next to the existing bathroom. Make the existing bathroom a shower room for best use of space. I hate sleeping at the front, passing cars wake me up.
if you are thinking of extending, then that's likely to be at the back off the kitchen, so making one huge room at this point might limit your options when it comes to an extension. You kind of need to know what you want to do further down the line, so you can avoid causing problems by removing walls you might need later.

Also, the L shaped layout is excellent, having lived in an L shaped home before, would definitely do that if it was affordable.

Op you’re turning a reasonable sized, balanced three bed into a two bed with large living space. Unless it’s ridiculously cheap to begin with you’ll never make any money from it. I know that it’s a home and money isn’t always a consideration but before you do the work I really think you need to consider what you want from the house in the long term - you haven’t mentioned utility room, en-suites, study, spare bedroom etc. is there room for a roof extension - two bedrooms up there would possible mean no need to extend downstairs? Is there a garage you could extend into? I think you need to be a bit more long term and think about what do you do in your home to make sure there’s a zone for everything.

"The plan would be to add an extension at the rear in a few years so would need to keep that in mind."

Frankly, I would say start from what you want the house to look like with the extension and then work backwards from there.

There is absolutely no point doing work now and then having to compromise on your final design with the extension.

Concentrate first on what you want the house to look like with the extension.

[EDIT]

Just saw your latest post:

"Would I be just wasting money and have to rip out the kitchen again when building the extension!!"

That is definitely something to worry about unless you start with the finished design first.

I still dont understand how many. Edition you actually need?

" say 2 Bedrooms not that we actually need them"

Why don't you list clearly what you need and want

Edit:
I still don't understand how many bedroom you need

I would plan your future extension with the kitchen remaining in the current location so absorb the bedroom next to it into it but have the units run along the internal wall so you can push it out into the garden then add an island or similar.