Our verandah is a blank canvas......what to do?
Liz Manchee
9 years ago
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ozemp
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoLiz Manchee
9 years agoRelated Discussions
1980`s house, should I keep verandahs or convert it onto living area?
Comments (42)Hi there Nick, looking at your photos you look like a modern hamptons family which is lovely, do you live in a warm climate. I did like the photo you posted of the open plan living and think that you are on the right track with interior colours I have marked out how I would like the first floor, I have moved the kitchen to the end wall to line up with BBQ outdoor kitchen, plumbing for this would have easy access via the garage below. The white tiles look lovely and hard wearing for the entrance foyer and Rumpus room, the stairs in timber due to the amount of traffic even continuing in up stairs foyer kitchen dining living, Carpet in bedrooms and downstairs theater. Kitchen in white but possibly Shaker style white doors these are very popular. Using existing sliding exterior doors if possible from kitchen.Dining to verandah, I think this ceiling would be best kept white to help reflect light back indoors, the tiles appear to be in good order but you might consider changing these along with new upstairs flooring Some where for a laundry shute would be handy, actually a Dumb Waiter so you could move the laundry with ease both up and down! The roof painted a soft colour, grey/white or off white, the verandah railing could be the same colour or you could do glass. The builder had a very different style of house to what I think you are wanting. Your photo...See MoreGarden blank canvas - what would you do with this space?
Comments (5)I totally agree with Fusion LD. There are so many opportunities with your great blank space, however you need to consider what you want to achieve from the garden. It looks quite detached from the house, so how do you draw people (you and your family, friends, etc) out into the garden? Will this space be your main outdoor entertaining / dining area? Do you have children or pets and need a more open activity area or can it be divided up into smaller spaces? It looks like it has really good northerly aspect, so do you want a vegetable garden / herb planters / fruit trees? If the second photo is the view from the main access to the garden, then that gives you a starting point for attracting people into the garden. A glimpse of a feature tree or ornament from this point could be all it takes to create that invitation. Use planting and the shape of a path to hide enough of the garden to create a sense of discovery. So many opportunities here for you! PS. I would move the hose to somewhere less conspicuous!...See MoreHow do I bring this house to life?
Comments (19)The house itself looks perfectly good to me and I don't think you have to do too much. It has a natural long hut look with the emphasis on the horizontal and nice big windows. The things throwing that look off are the verticals in the colour bond fence and the railings on the front porch. Perhaps the fence - could be set back further down the side wall and be a horizontal narrow slat timber fence with some nice plantings in front of it suggested above. The window frames are nice and big and could be picked out in a another colour. White perhaps if you leave the brick as is? Similarly blend the front porch into the horizontal. Rather than just curtains in your windows perhaps a layer of venetians or shutters which will allow light and air in but maintain your privacy? Visually they will add to the street appeal and the horizontal theme. [You can keep your curtains for night time warmth and insulation and open the house up during the day?] Leave the roof it's fine - I think apart from that it's all about the lovely plantings suggested? Cheers....See MoreCalling fresh eyes for our floor plan
Comments (18)@oklouise - that's ok, I've managed to redraw and tweak it a little as well! I think for us, we will actually not use the formal living as a formal living, but as an Office/Library. We work from home quite a lot, so we would need to look out at something, preferably a nice garden or the backyard. At the moment it will be looking out onto the side with 2-3m's of gardens, so that will be very nice :) We can create a nice courtyard area for where the formal living/study windows will look out to. The area that is marked as a study in your plan, maybe is not needed or used to create a larger ensuite and WIR. I quite like the rectangular kids zone, I can't see it fitting two sets of seating, but I can see one half of it having a drop zone where bags/jackets etc can be dumped as they enter the house. At the moment in our current house (which will be knocked down to build this), we don't have a dining space, but we have a huge deck which we entertain on a lot in summer, but in winter, we cannot entertain at all :( That is our biggest gripe! I am wondering if this problem can be solved with having a deck that can be closed off with stacker/bi-fold doors, because to be honest, if we can entertain outside in winter, we would much rather sit outside looking at the gardens then be inside! :) That also means we can shrink the footprint of the house, and thus have a larger backyard. @Paul - We actually did want a side entrance, but I couldn't think of how to work that in .... Wrap around porch would be amazing! @Ruth - The rooms will not be looking out onto a 20cm blank wall :) They will be looking out to 1m gap, thus will have a side garden. Ideally everyone is sitting together in the living zones together and not in their rooms :) Porch hardly counts as a living space! The formal living will double as an office/study, so I don't think that will count as a "living" space. Three living spaces does seem excessive, but there will be three generations of family in the household! I think as the family grows, we need to allow space for kids play areas to evolve to craft areas to evolve into studying areas then to relaxing areas as they start working. Also want some of these living areas to double up as guest sleeping areas for sleep overs and friends coming over :) Would love an internal courtyard for the master! Originally we were trying to get the master to have a view into the backyard with doors that go out to the backyard! I think taking into account what I've said earlier, I will try and do that by removing the formal dining area which we don't really need! I also wanted to have a rooftop garage, but I think that's probably too ambitious taking into account our budget. Everyone's comments have been great! Has given me lots of ideas of what can be changed/updated to improve the floor plan :) :)...See Moretessaway
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