Help with floor plans please!

last year

last modified: last year

Hi all,

We are at a loss with what to do with our floor plan. I am hoping someone with a bit more creativity than myself might be able to think of a solution.

We have a fair bit of living space to work with at our house, but a house layout that doesn't utilise it very well. The main objective of the renovations will be to improve the kitchen, but if we can change the house layout to better use the floor space and make it more functional, that would be great. Bonus points if we can fit a 4th bedroom in a logical location, but this isn't 100% essential if this is too much of a squeeze. Most of the places we can think to put one in (e.g the existing lounge or rumpus room) seem out of place when we draw it up.

To help your visualisation, we currently do all of our living/lounging in the rumpus room and almost nothing in the other living spaces. Right now they are mostly functioning and storage / void space. The "family" room on the house plan is essentially a walkway between the entry at the front door and the rumpus room. This is a real shame because this family room walk-way is fairly big (approx 4m x 4m), but with the current setup, it is hard to put anything there without blocking the doorway to the rumpus room. Perhaps re-orientating the other spaces might allow us to use that area more effectively?

We are planning on doing as much DIY as possible. While we want to keep costs down, there is no firm budget; rather the budget will dictate our timeline for completion. If we do spend a reasonable amount, then we would also want it to improve the overall value of the house by a reasonable amount, or else we will be unlikely to recoup what we spend on it when it comes time to sell it in the future.

The most likely / cheapest scenario I can see is removing the walls around the kitchen/dining/family spaces to make it open plan and putting the kitchen in the back left corner of that space. Not much design work will be needed if this is all we can achieve. Another option that would be amazing, but unsure of the cost and practicality behind it, would be moving the kitchen and dining to the rumpus room so that it can flow on to an outdoor dining space outside, and having the entire front space of the house as living, lounge, study etc with the kitchen removed. This space might be awkwardly large for that alone though...

I have included two photos - the first is the house plans with measurements, the second includes the rumpus room extension (roughly 40m2).

The house is built in the late 80's, asbestos free, on a concrete slab, truss roof, although the rumpus room is an extension therefore the walls leading onto it would be load-bearing.

Any ideas are welcome!

Featured Answer

PRO

The Design Mill

last year

Hi Ryan,

As you mention the biggest issue is that the current family room is basically an access way to the rumpus and also the bedrooms. This gives it the feeling of an unusable area. Whereas if you segregate the rear of the house for living and the front of the house for the study and/or bedrooms, the home becomes much more practical and flows.

I've attached a rough sketch for you to open up the rear areas and separate the front. This allows the 4th bedroom to be located in the current lounge but also links to the bedrooms and bathroom via the passageway. The occupant of his room will not feel they are walking through living areas to reach the bathroom.

A lovely set of glass doors can link the entry to the rear living area, the kitchen to the left and meals to the right. A feature breakfast bar could be designed in line with the glass doors (timber chunky top with waterfall edge and full-height fixed glass behind.

Just thoughts for you :). I look forward to hearing about your final outcome.

Best Regards

Julie

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Comments (13)

Ryan
Original Author
last year
Hi Julie,

Thanks so much for taking the time to sketch that up! I really love that it fully utilises the existing spaces so well.

I thought about putting a bedroom in that front room but hadn't thought of doing it via a hallway connecting the other bedrooms, what a great idea.

My one reservation about that design is I think I'd have to move the windows at the front of the house to account for the walls, which would change the facade of the house. Also not sure how I feel about a bedroom right next to the entry of the house; but don't think there will be much of a workaround to avoid this.

Nonetheless, this is the best idea I have seen that utilises all of our space effectively. I will definitely give it more consideration!

Thanks again!
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yes it is a bit of a quirky layout - but for that budget realistically you'll be limited to cosmetics/fit-out upgrades and minimal alterations - there's no way that budget will stretch to cover both renovation + an extension. Advise you seek professional advice in regards to options and likely costs involved one way or the other..., as off the bat, if we were approached with this general brief & budget, we'd be saying likely double or triple it to get it properly reconfigured....the tricky thing on these is where do you draw the line and whether or not it's actually worth doing anything unless you are able to achieve an overall result that makes sense. The issue is that the house zoning is all over the place and if you're going to do anything the whole thing needs to be pulled together to make more sense and function more practically with say main living, master area & secondary bedrooms/kids zones properly organised and positioned so as you correctly identify, you are not doing the "wierd" transition across certain spaces into another than doesn't make sense in terms of the overall residence. Whilst you may have a reasonable amount of existing space, by the time you get it working practically to your needs by trying to rejig within the existing perimeter, you'll be staggered as to what the costs will be. This is a classic example of what we deal with regularly, and more often than not these types of projects scopes will involve (a) increase of budget to achieve the scope and (b) a delicate and carefully though through solution that minimises work to existing and consolidates the spend as cost effectively as possible, which typically is achieved by some form of "clean" demo & extension solution......these days it is often proven false economy to rework within existing building perimeter unless it's confined to relatively cosmetic only upgrades.... Hope this helps & bests of luck Cheers PD :)
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One central/main properly appointed and positioned bathroom is better than 2x arguably compromised bathrooms. 2 toilets are important to achieve but you can get away with a single bathroom + a powder for the scale of this home, which practically is a 3 bedroom + study. To achieve a true 4 bedroom with a properly appointed master suite you're talking a complete overhaul or significant extension/renovation which is well beyond the budget. What you want to do is try and open up the back of the house more to connect to the rear area and if you take the opportunity to take over the current bathroom with kitchen/laundry/powder you'll end up with increased flexibility with the living areas (formal & casual) & more functionally zoned set-up that makes sense and keeps the bedrooms/bathrooms at the front and the living areas to the north/rear and minimising awkward bathroom runs across/through the living areas You re-renovate that bathroom at the back in it's current position you'll still spend similar money but not address the major issues. What you want to do with these projects is make changes/spend money to make big improvements to the way it works........bathroom refits in the same place when clearly it's the wrong place are an expensive renovation decision as whilst it may be slightly better and newer, it a "one dimensional" design move
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Kate
last year
Hi Julie. With a slab it will keep costs down if sink stays in place. My version is similar to Ryan’s. But I have kept the wall on left of entry. Entry to B4 would be off this entry. I think there is enough room to put an island in kitchen allowing circulation. I’ve added a door to backyard at left end of kitchen. The family becomes dining.
Kate
last year
Slight variation to give more storage and external door within existing window
PRO
Paul Di Stefano Design
last year
If you are going to do it, then "do it" if you get what I'm saying and make the most of the opportunity. Moving kitchens are relatively straight forward exercises as the plumbing is minimal (in comparison to bathrooms). If you're taking out walls and re-installing cabinetry it will cost much of a muchness one way or the other whichever way you plan it, so think about zoning, function and lifestyle benefits. I'd be looking at options of moving the kitchen / dining out to the back, potentially integrating the laundry as a butlers pantry/laundry set-up. existing kitchen/dining/ family becomes a main living space, with direct access to rear yard as well with potentially with some freestanding dividing elements to break up the generous space and create either some extra flexibility & function with storage or discrete study or sitting areas. The issue you have is the flow from the entry to the rear space and that would need to be carefully resolved with appropriate room layout and planning.
Ryan
Original Author
last year
Thanks for the ideas Kate! I think putting a door to outside from the dining space could be very useful.

Paul, I certainly hear your point and thanks for the input. If I could achieve a better space by moving Kitchen and Dining to the existing rumpus room then I am not against this at all. I suppose in this case I'd forgo the extra bedroom in order to maximise living space?
oklouise
last year
last modified: last year
my suggestion includes direct access to an enlarged alfresco from the new kitchen and dining room (with optional pantry and/or direct access from the garage to the kitchen ) and retains the original living room as a Multi Purpose space that can be used as a bed 4 and/or combined media, study or guest room
Ryan
Original Author
last year
Really like it oklouise, maximises MPR and dining space, and minimises modifications needed for walls and windows etc. Thanks for the suggestions guys
PRO
Kitchen and Home Sketch Designs
last year
Ryan, Following from OK Louise' excellent idea of the MP room by the entry, here is another idea for you to think about. I would extend from the pantry back wall so the MP room is narrower than the dining but up to you, your furniture and your preferences. This shown with dining table space you may prefer to better put to TV and couches then it may need to be a little more generous.

Colouring the walking areas: ie in front door, right behind the couch, right to bedrooms or left to kitchen, will show the area remaining for furniture etc. This plan has advantages for the laundry too. Blocking the outside door, may have already happened with rumpus addition, leaving the CSD from family room gives a return, length of benching and return for a neat very practical laundry. With or without exterior door. I am not sure of exact dimensions of rumpus room where I have placed kitchen but feel fairly confident it will fit somehow like this!

Go well!

Cheers Margot
PRO
Khadye Design & Construction
last year
Hi Ryan,

I am not sure where you are located but if you are in Brisbane or the surrounds, we can assist. We are Khadye Design and Construction. My husband is a builder and I'm an Interior Designer. We can help you with this entire process. Feel free to call me on 0411 439 768.

Thank you,

Michelle Khadye

Khadye Design and Construction

www.khadye.com.au
HU-247925473
last year
last modified: last year
My thoughts are you eliminate bedroom 3 entirely and turn 'rumpus' into bedrooms 3+4. You incorporate a WC/shower room next to laundry to serve bedrooms 3+4.

You have a corridor from entrance to bedroom 1 to entrance to old rumpus.

In my diagram I incorporate a small office next to bedroom one, designed to have linen storage accessible from hallway.

You extend the kitchen area across to the corridor described above, increasing prep space and size of pantry.

You are left with a 'new space' between the front door and the kitchen wall which you can decide what to do with. Playroom? TV room? Something else?

This requires a small extension to plumbing from laundry room to accommodate new WC/shower. Whether that fits your constraints I do not know, but it gives you something to think about anyway.

Regards

Rhys
Maun Collins
last year
My Suggestion is a little different. I would begin by getting rid of the the pantry and wall/door from the entry to the family room. this gives you a big open space incorporating the kitchen and family room. then, block off the door from the kitchen to the dining room and this now gives you an amazing space in which to create a new master suite with bedroom, bathroom and walk in robe. This gives you privacy and space from the other bedrooms. The kitchen/family area can then be redesigned as follows: put the kitchen cabinets around the walls in an L shape, extending along the wall with the rumpus room to the doorway. There's space on that wall to put cabinets to the ceiling, incorporating a fridge and pantry, and still leave you with plenty of bench space. you should be able to keep the sink where it is and centre the stove on the shorter wall that used to house the doorway to the dining room. This leaves you plenty of space in the family room for dining and you may even fit in a small island in the kitchen. I also suggest block the laundry from the new dining room, reinstating the original doorway from the laundry into the rumpus area and adding a new external door out the side of the laundry. This will only work if you suitable space at the side of the house. To give you more usable wall space in the new dining room, block off the linen cupboard and convert the space into an extended robe (or built in desk?) for Bed 2. You could do a similar thing with the linen closet in the laundry, giving you a longer wall space to build a bigger linen cupboard. Of course, if you have the money to move the plumbing for the kitchen, you could redesign that entire kitchen/dining space however you wanted, What I like about removing the pantry and the entry wall is that you can now see through to the back of the house as soon as you enter, and this gives a great feeling of space.
Ryan
Original Author
last year
Michelle, we are located in Canberra. Otherwise would have been great to link up!

Rhys and Maun, really like the creativity. Much more can be done with my space that I first visualised, thanks a lot everyone for opening my eyes to that!

My concern with some of these plans is I think it would be easy for me to overcapitalise and if we were to move in a few years time we would have a hard time recouping our costs. For example, your idea sounds outstanding Maun, and I think I'd be taking this approach if I could guarantee that I'd be staying put for many years to come, but we already have to renovate our existing bathrooms at some point so not sure if it would make sense to also add a third bathroom in from a budget perspective?

For that reason, we are close to being set on the sort of approach oklouise took. Kitchen and dining spaces can be improved with minimal structural changes. We can also gain a sizable fourth bedroom / multipurpose room by essentially just adding a single wall...