Some Interior Design Inspiration Needed

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Ian_Mac

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Sep 14, 2008
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Somerset
Morning all

As there seems to be a few design orientated/knowledgeable folk on here I thought I'd ask the question as we are struggling for inspiration.

Basically we recently viewed a house which we like apart from the kitchen being rather on the small side. The floor plan is shown below


028D1D47-106A-42CC-8F8F-8C5960048E8B-7126-00000A9C2C95731C_zps77b37184.jpg


What we are thinking of is replacing the existing conservatory with a larger conservatory/orangery which would span more or less the width of the house and encompass the French doors from the living room. Then, somehow expand the kitchen into this area to give a more open plan/spacious kitchen.

The current dimensions are: kitchen 4.3 x 2.4, conserv, 3.5 x 2.8, lounge 5.1 x 3.1m approx.

At the moment I'm personally struggling to visualise a potential floor layout so would like to throw this open to the board.

Any suggestions much appreciated.
 
I'd knock the kitchen and the dining room together to create a large family kitchen, and if you wanted separate dining space, that is what I'd put into the conservatory.
 
FWIW Why not just build an extension onto the kitchen. If you extend the kitchen into the conservatory you'll lose the "wall" where the sink currently is so you'll have even less work top space unless you heighten the conservatory walls but then it'll look odd. Furthermore a kitchen in a conservatory will make it in bearable hot. So if you're going for a major rejig I'd build an extension to what you want rather than "fitting" in what you can
 
Having quickly looked into things it appeared there's much less requirements for planning permission etc if you go for an orangery (mainly size restrictions I think).

We quite like the idea of having the light and airy feel of an orangery but with the benefits of a more substantial brick construction of say a conservatory.

Knocking the dining room through into the kitchen was mentioned but in our wisdom we thought it easier to go out the other way. We have no specific requirement for a separate dining room so it could have potential.
 
Having quickly looked into things it appeared there's much less requirements for planning permission etc if you go for an orangery (mainly size restrictions I think).
I think you will find that the less onerous building regs associated with an orangery / conservatory go out of the window once you extend a kitchen into it, these only apply if there is an exterior specification door between the orangery and the main living area. Of course it can be done but the additional cost of providing adequate insulation to a glass room soon escalates to the point that it is significantly more expensive than a conventional extention, if you have the money though I think it would be a great feature.
 
Knocking the dining room through into the kitchen was mentioned but in our wisdom we thought it easier to go out the other way. We have no specific requirement for a separate dining room so it could have potential.

On the basis that the interior walls are of non-loadbearing stud-type construction, this plan would be cheap, cause minimal disruption and reuse some existing materials.

View attachment 35502

Thoughts about rebuilding a conservatory/garden room would remain a separate optional issue.

Additional soundproofing of the WC would be high on my list of priorities!
 
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I have seen this done in a Potton showhouse at their centre in bedfordshire.
Cant find any glossy pictures and, as they update their show houses from time to time this layout may not still exist. Might be worth a call to them to see if they have any pictures on file.
You may have to pretend to be an interested buyer!
If I knew how to post an image I could include their floor plan!
 
Have modified our abode including major change to a room to become kitchen.
Original room was 4.40m wide x 2.60m deep plus 0.40m x 1.80m door recess.
Rear external wall removed & extension added increasing the total depth to 7.30m. Kitchen part of extension 4.70m wide


edit: will try to upload images soon

edit: links to images
View from under stairs
View from sink
View from sw corner
View from lounge corner
View from garden doors
Velux in sloping ceiling




I'll have to learn how to put the pictures in here rather than just post links:doh:
 
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Have modified our abode including major change to a room to become kitchen.
Original room was 4.40m wide x 2.60m deep plus 0.40m x 1.80m door recess.
Rear external wall removed & extension added increasing the total depth to 7.30m. Kitchen part of extension 4.70m wide


edit: will try to upload images soon

edit: links to images
View from under stairs
View from sink
View from sw corner
View from lounge corner
View from garden doors
Velux in sloping ceiling




I'll have to learn how to put the pictures in here rather than just post links:doh:

What you've done looks fantastic. The estate agent is trying to arrange us a second viewing for Saturday so at least we should be able to see more potential in the place.

With regard to posting pics I use Photobucket. Create a free account and upload pictures to their website in much the same way as Dropbox I presume. Then, when you view a pic it gives you the image tag
 
Here you go:

PICT0330.jpg

PICT0329.jpg

PICT0332.jpg

PICT0335.jpg

PICT0331.jpg

PICT0333.jpg


Window over sink was salvaged from old outhouse & was probably salvaged from elswhere before being used in the outhouse. It provides light into utility room behind, which has no outside walls.
 

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