Help with open plan configuration!

[Hevasparkle]

Anyone with an interest in this type of thing offer some perspective? Or if you just want a distraction from real problems!

we have 1930s semi which is open plan on the ground floor bar the living room. The door between the kitchen and the hall was removed in renovation, creating a lovely spacious area that borrows light from the hall (back SE facing so can feel dark).
problem is there’s a loo under the stairs that opens right out into the back lounge area and I’d like to make this more private, by adding a stud wall and a door (as shown in red on floor plan) to close of the loo. It would also separate the kitchen from the hall and make it easier to heat the back area of the house which is where we mostly spend our time. Might help with noise too (can’t really have friends over/watch tv in back if the DC are in bed)

BUT - it would be make the back very dark. Would possibly ruin the open plan, spacious feel we have now and make the back lounge area feel more “separate” than the kitchen diner due to extending the wall, which is currently nice and open with a beam across.

question is - is it worth it? Would you prefer to keep the spacious, light feel but put up with the less than private loo, heat escaping upstairs and travelling noise? OR, are there any other suggestions for the toilet “problem”?

It's a bit alternative, but have you considered a big thick curtain? Floor to ceiling. Can be pulled all the way back for the open plan feel and then closed when you want to for warmth and to deaden sound.
Alternatively, add the wall and door but make them glass instead of a normal wall.

id definitely separate off the loo. Maybe put a glass door in to retain the light. Look up crittal internal doors.

I'd put double glazed doors where I've indicated in blue

I'd do a pocket door- you could install a glass one if you wish. Also I thought you have to have a fire door to kitchen to satisfy building regulations?

Glazed doors, or see through bookcases….https://www.wayfair.co.uk/furniture/pdp/williston-forge-alieyah-bookcase-u100185423.html?piid=1647311627. To create a divide and put plants on them.

A glazed door is the obvious answer.

Glazed door with satin glass (opaque). You don’t need a door on the kitchen for regs provided you have the correct heat and smoke alarms.

I agree entirely with your plan, OP.

Light problems can be resolved with lighting solutions. I have a south-facing kitchen-diner, which becomes almost uninhabitable at the height of summer. I put a gazebo up outside the French windows and use that instead of the diner. Of course, this being the UK, summers swing between blazing sunshine and overcast greyness. On grey days the gazebo makes the kitchen look like an internal room with no natural light.

The solution is an LED skylight ceiling panel with a dimmer switch. I can match exactly the outside light level and make it feel like there is no gazebo obstructing the sunlight. The room can seem sunny all year long if I want.

Ooh that sounds interesting - tell me more!

Glazed doors would be ideal in this situation OP.

I have an earlier version of this. Mine is operated by a simple dimmer switch on the wall.

Thanks all! Would absolutely have a glass door, it would be a must. It’s more the idea of the stud wall that would also need to go up along what is currently an open space between the back lounge and hall that would need to be at least 1.5m wide and ceiling height, that would create the light loss. We did consider a glass wall and door, but the chat GPT mock up just looked silly and obviously not intended to be there.

I will definitely look into these LED sky lights had never heard of them 😄

Thanks, the shape is slightly to awkward for the doors to be at that angle but youve given me a good idea there hadn’t thought of double doors 🙂

Which part of the wc doors slide?
Can you come straight down from the lounge/livingroom wall to hit the middle of the wc?

It’s just one normal door that opens out, the door is the sticking out bit on floor plan. If we followed the lounge wall (which would look much neater) then the wc door is in the back of the house which we want to avoid. No option to move the wc door as it’s under the stairs