Heeelp!! Design advice for extension, it's blowing out
Souzette Lovell
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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bigreader
4 years agoSouzette Lovell
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Weatherboard extension advice
Comments (15)I think it looks good. I would probably just echo a lot of the other comments. If you want a bigger ensuite, I think you can sacrifice some of the space from the main bedroom to make the ensuite bigger. Bedrooms 2 and 3 will probably require more storage, especially with three children. The cupboard in the entry looks a little odd. I would probably just extend it so that it was the same length as the wall. Otherwise, it appears to be pretty narrow, so I would think about how it is intended to function and whether a bench seat with some baskets below the bench and some hooks above the bench on that part of the wall would meet your requirements. I do think the main bathroom needs some work. I don't think three toilets are necessary, but you definitely need to separate the toilet for the main bathroom. I would also consider trying to turn it into a three-way bathroom, perhaps by keeping the powder room toilet in the current position, but flipping it so that you enter from the opposite side (which also means that you won't see a toilet as you're walking from the entry to the living areas). I would have an open double vanity where the shower and single vanity currently is and I would enclose either a combination bath/shower or a "wet room" (perhaps with a frosted glass door to still allow light from the window or include a sky light above the double vanity). I would consider whether the study requires built in storage, whether open shelves or hidden storage. I'm also not sure what the "d" in the laundry is, but I wonder whether a larger walk in pantry wouldn't be more useful. I personally would not like the living room to be completely sectioned off from the kitchen and dining areas by full-height walls and doors. There also appears to be a bit of dead space between the kitchen bench and the dining area. This will facilitate ease of movement, but I wonder whether you could widen the "galley" part of the kitchen by moving the bench towards the dining area. I'd also have a think about how you would furnish and use the living/sitting room. It looks like a large room and it also appears that you're losing a dedicated "play room" (although the study may serve that purpose until the children are all older). Good luck!...See MoreFloorplan layout advice for ground floor extension
Comments (34)Hi everyone, thanks for all your contributions. Siriuskey, really love that floorplan. To be honest, we came up with a similar floorplan where the kitchen, dining and living were all lined up. However, with 10m in length, my partner and I couldn't see it all comfortably fitting without us feeling too cramped. What measurements did you leave between kitchen bench and island, dining and living area? Our current living area is only 4m x 4m and we already feel that it's a bit cramped, let alone our plans to have kids in the near future where we are hoping to use parts of the living area as the play area (either in front or beside). Using your floorplan idea, I've come up with a slight alternative. The kitchen/dining area is approx. 7m long and living is 9m long - saving us approx. 2m x 10m of internal space when compared to our original final. I've moved the bank of pantry cupboards so they extend along the west boundary where the dining is. Gives us a living area of about 5x 6.5m with the proposed smaller study. I like that the kitchen is now closer to the deck with the north sun coming in. I don't like that we lose a WIP as we love the idea of hiding all our appliances in one. Not sure how much this floorplan will save us in build cost. If it is significant enough, we would be willing to compromise. I've sent the floorplans to a couple of builders to try and get a ballpark figure. In the mean time, what do you guys think of the alternative floorplan? Will it make a big difference to our building cost?...See MoreExtension Advice
Comments (8)Unfortunately townhouses like yours are very limited in scope for extending or reconfiguring, especially if you are on a tight budget. When the developer built your townhouse he wanted to squeeze in as many as he could under the planning regulations of the time to make as much profit as possible, which leaves little opportunity to extend. In addition to navigating the council's planning regulations you will probably also have a body corporate to deal with? I would suggest taking your plan to the local council and having a chat with one of the planners who is likely to confirm that you have hardly any options to extend due to the council's requirement that you need a certain amount of parking and private open space (it can vary from council to council). So while there may be some options that could be suggested on this forum it is unlikely that they will get the approval of council and the body corporate. If you are really stuck with no other option then consider getting a tennant in, and renting a larger home, until the market picks up and you can sell. Best of luck with your research Dr Retro of Dr Retro House Calls...See MoreExtension Advice - Living/Dining/Kitchen
Comments (8)Would be good to have more of an idea of context, but generally both Kitchen options I would say have issues. It's a tricky one to resolve and you also have to think about the relationship of the entry and flow around the different areas. I reckon Option 2 will more like an apartment, rather than a larger home. Walking past the island every day to get into the bedroom zone is not great. Option 1 has more formality and class but then has you walking in and out past the kitchen to get to the new living area which feels like it's got everything else has it's back turned to it. So I'd say it's continue to explore options On these projects Kitchen position & configuration are critical & make or break and ideally the kitchen is presenting well to the space and shouldn't feel compromised in terms of either amenity or positioning. Something like option 2 but with the kitchen at one end or the other of the space is probably what should happen, but then you have to think about priorities of aspect and which spaces you prefer to be related to the external areas one way or the other, and then also how the entry comes into play. If you take option 1, & the existing entry is retained, the kitchen could have a pantry where the proposed new entry is and configured on the internal wall, dining in the middle, potentially breaking up dining & living with some form of dividing wall or shelving unit if that's preferred. Whatever you do don't compromise on the kitchen, it needs to be scaled well to the project overall and if it's falling short or feels like it's a bit of an afterthought (like in Option2) you'll be disappointed. You sort of want something like below (completely different project but similar ideas/layout for the main space Good luck PD...See Moreoklouise
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