Home improvement/extension - which option would you go for?

gwynlas

Most people would consider knocking down wall between kitchen and dining area to create more space in kitchen possibly dividing off lounge for comfort Where are your current kitchen windows? Does your utility room block views to garden? I believe to get most for your money you should square off dining and utility room, create downstairs loo and utility at back of staircase and create master bedroom with en suite in the loft

Doozergirl

SadieO said:

FreeBear said:

SadieO said: I don't think our doors are anything special to be honest, I'm not sure if they're original or how to tell. 

Post a photo - We will soon let you know if they look right.

What do you reckon? 

Those are definitely not original doors. 

Having lived in the same house with the side extension, I really quite hated it.  Ours was 2.4m wide and not really wide enough for anything much, nor was the original dining room.   It always felt like we had the right amount of space, but with one more room than we really needed and less space than we wanted.  

I'd spend a long time really thinking about you want because at the moment it sounds like you don't know!  And when you think you do know, really plan the interior before you build and think about how you will genuinely live in it.  

I think a rear extension could work better.  It would have done for my family.  

Slinky

1930s doors look like this modern reproduction

SadieO

gwynlas said:

Most people would consider knocking down wall between kitchen and dining area to create more space in kitchen possibly dividing off lounge for comfort Where are your current kitchen windows? Does your utility room block views to garden? I believe to get most for your money you should square off dining and utility room, create downstairs loo and utility at back of staircase and create master bedroom with en suite in the loft

The wall between the kitchen and dining rooms contains, opening on the kitchen side, some fabulous floor to celling pantry cupboards that are original to the house, it would be a shame to knock them down. Plus I do like having a separate dining room. 

Kitchen window is over the sink so just looks out at the drive, not very exciting! And yes, the utility room is in between the kitchen and the garden. If we did go for the side extension we could put a new back door or at least a window at the garden end. 

I've thought about filling in the little square void in between the dining room and the edge of the utility room but I think it would breach the 45° rule for the house we're attached to (their shape mirrors ours so the two houses with the utility rooms make a U shape if that makes sense). Might be worth some further investigation though. 

Thanks for your thoughts! 

SadieO

Doozergirl said:
I'd spend a long time really thinking about you want because at the moment it sounds like you don't know!  And when you think you do know, really plan the interior before you build and think about how you will genuinely live in it.  

Thanks for your thoughts and sharing your experience. You're totally right, we definitely don't know what we want  Just doing a bit of pondering at the moment and trying to get a sense of what our options might be. 

Doozergirl

There is no 45 degree rule at ground floor level.   You can go out 6 metres! 

...and you can knock the ground floor into something unrecognisable for an awful lot less money than an extension, or have a more modest extension as a result of using imagination in the existing space.  

It only needs a designer with a modicum of experience of this sort of house, of which there must be a few million in this country

 

What does the dream kitchen look like?  

MikeJXE

I find it strange the first floor does not seem to fit on the ground floor 

SadieO

Doozergirl said:

What does the dream kitchen look like?  

Something like this I think, for the extension part of it. I'm imagining the sink could stay where it currently is and become an island. 

SadieO

MikeJXE said:

I find it strange the first floor does not seem to fit on the ground floor 

Hmm yes, I promise it does though! The measurements and scale on the floor plan must be a bit out. 

Doozergirl

SadieO said:

Doozergirl said:

What does the dream kitchen look like?  

Something like this I think, for the extension part of it. I'm imagining the sink could stay where it currently is and become an island. 

I can see that working! 

 

I'd be tempted to steal some space from the lounge for the dining room to square it all up.  Depends whether you like to entertain.  

Loo accessed from under the stairs and a utility to the right of the front door would work really well.  

Edit: needs a pantry!!