Our Home Extension Plans Part Two; Floor Plans.

Hello everyone! Sorry for the later post this week, I’ve been busy pulling together some visuals for the blog in the hope of being a bit ahead (or hopefully maybe just ‘on’) schedule. Unlike the rest of the house, where I’ve had a chance to draw stuff up, then get started on the work ahead of blogging it, this extension will all be done in real-time (eek!) so you may have to bear with me for updates. For now, it’s all a thought process and organization before finding a builder… but I’ll try to keep it interesting. Today I’m updating y’all on the new floor plans.

If you didn’t see the first post in this series, catch up here.

Original Floor Plans

Those of you who have followed the blog from the start will have seen the original floor plan for the house (read about it here) and will have read about the two old extensions that are attached to the back. One contains the kitchen, whilst the other houses the original bathroom.

I had originally thought that these were much later additions, but after a little bit of research, I discovered that they were both added only a couple of years after the house was built.

As it stands just now, the layout, though serviceable, isn’t exactly ideal for our preferences. The dining room (that’s the room in the middle) is essentially just a corridor to the kitchen. Well, in truth, it’s more like a junk room/workshop, that leads to the kitchen. The kitchen itself is tiny, and doesn’t really work for two people. This leads to the garden, which is a total sun-trap, but at the moment is very much separate from the house. Then there’s the bathroom…

The Planner’s Floor Plans

After many months of discussion and back and forth between the architect, planning and ourselves, these are the finalized plans.

Are we happy? Yes. Are they ideal? No. And here’s why.

In an ideal world, our extension would come out about a metre further to 4 metres, and the shower room would only be a small WC. We knew that anything bigger would eat into the space that we both wanted. However, due to planning regulations, we could only extend out to 3 metres. We also had to include a downstairs shower room, to take into consideration any future residents who may need disabled access. Bye bye lovely room proportions.

To say we were a bit pissed off to start with was an understatement. We wanted to make the most of the larger dining space and have HUGE doors that open on to the garden. I also wanted the third bedroom/my studio, to be a bit more of a significant space, and less of a squashed-in afterthought. Unfortunately, the planning kept coming back with their requirements, so compromises had to be made.

The Pretty Floor Plans

As they say, when the Planning Authority gives you lemons, make lemonade. Realising that we aren’t total idiots, we decided to roll with it and make the space work. After all, the downstairs shower room will come in handy for guests, and the awkward space that is created in the dining room, would be the perfect opportunity to squeeze in a small laundry area.

I’ve made things a bit prettier and easier to visualize…including the updated living room, hall and stairs.

How We Plan To Use The Space

We’ve decided to move the kitchen in to the body of the house, as we feel that the garden would be better used as an extension to a more relaxed room. We are by no means formal diners, so the idea of a comfortable, laid-back dining room, opening on to a courtyard-style space, appeals to us both. This also allows for a huge kitchen.

Brian used to be a chef, so it appealed to him to have a large, open kitchen, in which to cook. I hate cooking, but love to eat, so it was important for me to encourage him to do this. Win, win.

The spare room/studio space, will be adaptable, but for the majority of the time it will be my art studio/office space. Although this room is small, it should be flooded with light. The entire end wall should pretty much be glass, opening on to the garden. A large Velux window will also open the space up, making this the perfect room for ‘rating’ in. And if I need to pee, I won’t need to leg it upstairs. Bonus!

We plan on creating a wet room style shower room, in order to maximize space. This may be a room that gets put on hold for a while….coz, well… money. Also, the under-stairs cupboard will be transformed into our glorious shoe cupboard. We both own a lot of shoes, so it makes sense to do this.

Although this wasn’t our ideal floor plan for the house, it should actually work really well for our needs. Also, we have some plans that should make it look fan-bloody-tastic.

Enjoy the rest of your week!