Interior floor plan ideas - first renovation
Hello everyone!
We've just bought our first home, and whilst it is perfectly functional, we are really excited to turn it into something it should have been but isn't.... The house is just over 10 years old and has always been a rental - as such, let's just say it wasn't built high-end and it's obvious the builder knew it was an investment property and the owners lived O/S....
It is also a bit of a strange layout. It's currently 5 bedrooms, with one bedroom on the ground floor. Ground has the garage, a weird shaped bit of space which we have no idea how to use, and a bedroom plus ensuite.
Upstairs has 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, quite a large lounge and a quite small kitchen with a dining room attached.
We'd like to turn it into a much more modern house, and that includes a new kitchen which I feel will have to be shifted to another room. I've thought about turning the old kitchen area into a inside/outside breakfast bar type feature. Thankfully the brother in-law is a plumber which will help out a lot, and fortunately there are also no load bearing walls apparently upstairs, which is a bonus!
With absolutely no house design skills or experience under my belt, I've made an attempt at a few design changes which I've attached (measurements might not be perfect, I've created this in FloorPlanner). We aren't leaning toward any particular design at the moment, as it all looks like lots of work and we want to do it right the first time, and work in stages (we will be doing as much as we can ourselves to save costs).
I've had some great ideas on the exterior provided by other members, and are looking to try to tie this altogether to then be able to find a starting point.
The house faces north, has great views off the deck to the east, and no views at all to the west (fence). We are certainly considering losing a bedroom or the office in order to expand upon the master bedroom or kitchen/bathroom designs - I feel that dropping back to 3 bedrooms though might be too much?
Below the new concept floor plans are some old photos prior to moving in of the kitchen, lounge, weird space, and dining.
We'd very much welcome your thoughts, suggestions or ideas if you have them!! Thank you.
Comments (20)
me me
6 years ago
siriuskey
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Renovation - New floor-plan for downstairs layout
Comments (2)An architect, a building designer or an interior designer (not an interior decorator) should be able to work with you to create a design you love and get the most out of your interior space. You (or your designer) will also likely need to consult with an engineer, or possibly a good builder, regards load bearing walls etc....See MoreRenovation Advice - Open plan ideas
Comments (5)First consider views/outlooks and then consider vistas from internal space and also from the deck and position the deck to capture that the best. Re your kitchen, I'd try and locate it on an internal wall to promote outwards/external connection which then would give you more flexibility/options as to where to move in and out of and how you can to the external areas - whether that be double doors or whatever.... Make sure you are clear about outdoor furniture size and how you want to use it and start with that and then adjust the size/proportion of the deck to how you see it best working.......those decisions will be yours/personal as to how far you go with that. I'd also try and avoid fixing an external BBQ set-up where you you have to walk around it - think about flow and movement when you position the elements and consider furniture positioning/orientation as equal importance as any built in elements...I think you're generally on the right track if you want to keep spend to a minimum........decks are not that cheap /m2 either, so try an plan it efficiently to the functional requirements of what you need.....good luck! :)...See MoreOpen Plan Renovation Ideas
Comments (8)I'm going to take a wild guess this was built in the 80's , and originally had carpet ( probably the same cream as the stairs ) in the lounge and probably the dining area . It seems like 2 or 3 people have had goes at doing 'stuff' , and it's now just a mix and clash of designs . The wall colours are 'old' ; the tiles are okay but colder than carpet ; the wood look whatever on the floor is just weird ; the carpet worked on the stairs so presumably was just left there ; the low wall IMO is a great feature , but that blue is dated . The wood on top is nice and warm . There are creams , there are beiges , there are yellows ; there are grey vertical blinds ; there are wooden horizontal blinds ; there are black round railings ; there are wooden railings ; there are thinner curved rails on the front door screen ; the fire is brown ; wooden railings a different brown ; sideboard different again ; coffee table a different brown ; the front door is a darker grey , the windows beside it lighter grey . SO . Paint every wall in one colour . NOT grey . It isn't a grey area haha . Maybe a warm English Cream . MAYBE white walls but only if you promise to add 2 or 3 large really colourful abstract pictures . The floor -- I'd opt for wood slats . Faux if you want , as long as they don't look plastic and shiny . Leave the stairs in the cream carpet , rip up the floor and foyer and dining tiles , do all the floors in the wood . Or re-carpet them again . But don't do polished concrete or engineered concrete or faux concrete or concrete effects . And tiles should only be in kitchens , wash-house and bathroom IMO . Stain everything wood a really rich brown brown . About the same shade as the wooden venetians . Possibly keep the venetians , change the grey blinds to wood , or at least dark brown cloth . I think the door surround is aluminium ? I'd actually be tempted to change it to actual stained brown wood , but possibly 'just' get it re-powdercoated a deeper brown . Paint or powder-coat the 'arch' front screen a rich dark brown too . Add the large abstract art , the TV wall mounted -- a lot warmer , a lot richer . Which leaves the front door -- replace with a nice solid wooden natural timber one ? Paint the existing one ? Charcoal paint , or bright red , bright yellow , bright orange , apricot may suit , purple probably not . Save it for last , see what you think as far as colour goes ....See MoreRenovation plans _ Help! Bathroom/Ensuite ideas
Comments (8)Wow Nicole, sorry you took my offer of assistance the wrong way. I responded as there had been no other responses to this original posting from 18th January, and your plans and the original question didn't show great clarity of thinking. I am glad that you have resolved your queries via another posting, drawn everything up yourself to a high standard so that your renovation will progress smoothly and efficiently with all of the appropriate technical documentation. Fortunately, with my six years contributing to the Houzz community and my 66 Houzz reviews, I know that not everybody thinks as you do. Best of luck with your renovation, Dr Retro...See More
kiwimills
6 years agogirlguides
6 years agoLee & Laura
6 years agoI guess it might be possible to put the laundry downstairs, however might be a lot of work re plumbing? The laundry currently has an external door which goes to the clothes line which is a bonus though.
Fortunately there is fairly easy access under the first floor western wet rooms.
I've included the original plan I got which isn't of the highest resolution unfortunately, but it's what I made the other design section from.
Thanks everyone for your great ideas. Keep them coming!
oklouise
6 years agocan't read the downstairs measurements and the upstairs measurements don't seem accurate but you said the internal walls are not load bearing so my initial suggestion would be to invest in a new internal staircase and remove all the angled internal walls to make better use of the available space...downstairs could have direct access from the garage to a small hall that would lead upstairs to the current dining area and allow the whole of downstairs to be used as a rumpus room with kitchenette and guest suite or a completely self contained granny flat and best arrangement for upstairs depends on accurate dimensions and my very rough floor plans are based on guestimates
Lee & Laura
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agoI started playing with your plan yesterday, but without clearer kitchen measurements I decided to wait until you could supply them before going any further, the floor plan is very hard to read, but it's interesting to see how it was planned. I hope you can follow my rough sketch with ideas.
My thoughts were to keep the kitchen in the same place with the outdoor servery etc, or make that the dining opening out to the deck and putting the kitchen in the family room which also opens to the deck.
The master would have a WIR behind the bed? and remodel the ensuite with extra storage.
keeping the laundry but moving the internal door across so that the washing machine bench etc can run along the full width of the laundry. ie: bot internal and external door are inline
This new internal laundry door could be a pocket or external slider as could the new door to the family room to access bed & bathrooms. I would re model the existing bathroom insitu keeping the toilet as a separate Powder room.
Add a door from the entrance into the bedroom wing. and change part of the walls giving better access into the kitchen living space.
Perhaps turning the internal stairs in the opposite direction to allow better use of the downstairs, granny flat, family visits, full time rental or Airbnb for extra income to cover Reno costs
You have a lovely big house and big houses cost lots to redo, I think my suggestions could help to reduce these costs. As per the roof it most likely isn't allowed to have a higher pitch due to building height regs. What height are your ceilings at, you could look at possibly racking the living family spaces, and adding stacker/sliding doors from the living out to a new front deck.
Details for bathroom & kitchen layouts can be offered once you decide on the floor plan and correct measurements are given cheers
Lee & Laura thanked siriuskeyLee & Laura
6 years agosiriuskey
6 years agoJust another rough idea, trying to maintain all 3 bedrooms and reusing existing plumbing for bathrooms and laundry.
If the space is big enough the dining table would have a lovely open out look with access to the alfresco deck cheers
Lee & Laura
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoThanks again everyone. These are the best plans I have, still a little hard to read.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zlrfdddp702e45v/2nd%20floor.png?dl=0
Above are a few quick renders of the stair location/direction being changed, and a random woman to use for perspective! Thanks Oklouise!
Siriuskey, is this (above) what you had in mind for the kitchen? Looks nice, not sure about cupboard space though? Laura really wanted a butlers pantry, but I don't think we have the space, but I was trying to have some sort of walk in pantry.
And this was the last version I had designed before getting your suggestions on here:
Not sure if this will work, but here is a link to the FloorPlanner project, if anyone wishes to tinker! https://plus.floorplanner.com/projects/53937748-our-houzz/viewer
kiwimills
6 years agoSo having slept on it...are you leaning towards a layout more than another ?the link to floorplanner kept dropping out so in case anyone else has that problem ( or its my device as I love floorplanner !) Here it is . I screenshot it before it dropped asking me to reload.
girlguides
6 years agooklouise
6 years agobased on approximate dimensions my suggestion retains the original bathroom and, laundry, enlarges the ens and adds biw from bed 2s and by rearranging the stairwell and angled internal walls the kitchen has been moved into the old dining room and enlarged old kitchen is the new dining area with direct access to the deck...changing the stairwell also allows for much better use of downstairs as a guest and rumpus room or completely self contained flat with optional basic laundry, kitchen and separate entry from the downstairs deck
siriuskey
6 years agooklouise
6 years agoLee & Laura
6 years ago
Sharyn